Seasons of Change As we tentatively begin to emerge from the pandemic, what will the fall orchestra season look like? One thing is certain: It won’t be business as usual. Orchestras have grappled with the pandemic and sought to confront racial injustice while adopting notably different approaches to the new season. Flexibility is key, given the unpredictable nature of the pandemic. By Steven Brown 44 symphony SUMMER 2021 n a simpler, long-ago time—Janu- town Symphony’s live-concert plans: Walker, and Florence Price. One example: ary 2020—the Columbus Sym- Audiences took so well to community William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Sym- phony’s trustees ratified a new concerts by a string quartet and other phony, premiered by Leopold Stokowski mission statement: “Inspiring small ensembles—some of the group’s first and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1934, and building a strong community performances as the shutdowns eased— will be performed by the Baltimore Sym- through music is the core of everything that the orchestra is launching a chamber phony, Cincinnati Symphony, and Seattle we do.” series to keep them in the spotlight. Symphony. New attention is also going I“At first blush, it doesn’t sound earth- After long neglecting music by women to women from the past—such as Louise shattering,” Executive Director Denise and composers of color, orchestras are Farrenc, a French contemporary of Hec- Rehg says. “But that is way different from embracing them like never before. The At- tor Berlioz, and Ida Moberg, a Finnish all the mission statements we used to lanta Symphony’s 2021-22 classical series contemporary of Jean Sibelius. have, which were about the excellence of will include artists from underrepresented the music. It clearly placed us in the role groups in every program as compos- of being a servant-leader of the commu- ers, performers, or both, says Executive nity.” Director Jennifer Barlament. The bounty The Ohio orchestra’s commitment includes 23 works by women and compos- faced an immediate test, of course, when ers of color, including the world premieres COVID-19 upended everything. “I don’t of Conrad Tao’s Violin Concerto, Xavier want to use the word fortuitous in the Foley’s Double Bass Concerto, and the midst of a pandemic,” Rehg adds, but violin-concerto version of Missy Mazzoli’s Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra “COVID offered us the perfect situation” Dark With Excessive Bright, plus pieces The Columbus Symphony is expanding its to prove the group could live up to its by a century’s worth of composers from programs for local schools, Executive Director credo. The orchestra reassigned part of Lili Boulanger and Tōru Takemitsu to Denise Rehg says, and will start giving free its slender staff to create two educational Alvin Singleton and Jessie Montgomery. tickets to people ages 6 to 16 to win them over websites and enlisted its musicians The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and to the live-music experience. to make instructional videos. Thanks Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra are to everyone’s efforts, the orchestra’s among the many ensembles of every size Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, in educational reach expanded from 22,000 that will also perform generous helpings keeping with its emphasis on the Baroque students pre-pandemic to 55,000. When of works from once-minimized groups in and Classical periods, has enlisted an gradual reopening made community addition to “standard” repertoire. artistic partner to help it seek out under- concerts possible, the orchestra played 23 represented composers from the past; it of them in nine days. “The good things we Many orchestras are featuring artists also recently livestreamed the premiere of learned and achieved through COVID— from long-underrepresented groups a work by today’s Jonathan Woody that we’re not planning to discontinue them. as composers, performers, or both incorporates themes by Charles Ignatius We’re adding on top of them,” Rehg says. throughout the 2021-22 season. Sancho, a Black composer of the 18th The Columbus Symphony is just one of century who was enslaved. The Cincin- the orchestras forging ahead with initia- By premiering commissioned works nati Symphony, investing in a new staff tives born during the pandemic and the and spotlighting existing ones, orchestras position, has hired a chief diversity officer societal reckoning that came on its heels: nationwide will highlight the rich diver- to orient it toward equity, diversity, and the demonstrations and soul-searching set sity of today’s composers. The creators on inclusion onstage and off. off by the George Floyd killing and the season lineups include Xi Wang, Leanna All this activity does not mean that alarming rise in violence against Asian Primiani, Roberto Sierra, Viet Cuong, orchestras’ social-justice work is finished. Americans. Caroline Shaw, Jerod Impichchaachaahaˈ Tate, Gabriela Lena Frank, Vivian Fung, Orchestras are moving ahead with Joel Thompson, Unsuk Chin, Clarice initiatives born during the pandemic Assad, Kaoru Ishibashi (also known as Ki- and the societal reckoning with racial shi Bashi), and even a young undergradu- injustice. ate at Indiana University, KiMani Bridges. Forced by the pandemic to stream con- The Las Vegas Philharmonic will devote certs online, groups ranging from Boston’s its season to pairing Beethoven sympho- Handel and Haydn Society to the Atlanta nies with modern-day pieces, including Todd Hull Todd Symphony Orchestra to Houston Sym- Anna Clyne’s Beethoven-inspired Stride “The pandemic forced us to fast-forward some phony to San Francisco’s Philharmonia and a new work by Mexico’s Juan Pablo of these future-oriented and equity-oriented Baroque Orchestra and Chorale are now Contreras. endeavors, which might have taken years to giving virtual performances a permanent Meanwhile, orchestras are rediscovering develop,” says Atlanta Symphony Orchestra place on their schedules. In Pennsylvania, works by long-neglected Black compos- Executive Director Jennifer Barlament. “It’s the pandemic has influenced the Johns- ers such as William Grant Still, George really important.” americanorchestras.org 45 Planning Ahead Amid the constantly changing situa- tion of the pandemic, many orchestras have had to plan and re-plan their seasons, postponing public announce- ments months past their usual timing. The Cincinnati Symphony penciled in a fall season for reduced orchestra and audienc- Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra es, President and CEO Jonathan Martin Photography Melissa Taylor The Cincinnati Symphony recently hired Harold says, then went back to the drawing board The Houston Symphony regularly performed Brown as its first chief diversity and inclusion when it learned that everything could full concerts for live audiences during the officer, a senior-management position return to full-size. pandemic—albeit with social distancing and reporting directly to the orchestra’s president The Houston Symphony in mid-June capacity limits. In photo, David Robertson and CEO. leads the Houston Symphony in works of announced much of its classical season, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Weber but gaps remained here and there, such on May 14, 2021. But the increased presence of women and as weeks that showed the guest con- Black, Indigenous, and other artists of ductor but left the musical works to be to business as usual,” Mangum says. The color in programming is a tangible shift announced. The orchestra may capital- orchestra has gotten copious feedback as part of ongoing efforts to effect real, ize on the experience it gained last year, from its patrons, and “we want to take a lasting change. when it was one of the few ensembles lot of what we learned this year and bake The past year’s storms have had “a that performed full classical and pops it into what we do. Some patrons, espe- silver lining,” the Atlanta Symphony’s series in front of live audiences—albeit cially the weeknight patrons, really like Barlament says. Orchestras had long been with social distancing limiting the sizes when concerts are over before 9:30 p.m. aware of technology’s possibilities and of both audience and orchestra. Because Some people want the traditional concert diversity’s value, she continues. But they of shifting international travel restric- experience, where the bars are open and needed a push, and it finally came. “The tions and unexpected surges in the virus, they can have a drink at intermission. It pandemic forced us to fast-forward some artists sometimes had to drop out at the may be that on Friday night, you get your of these future-oriented and equity-ori- last minute. That forced the Houston 70 minutes of music with no intermission. ented endeavors, which might have taken Symphony to “constantly redo” its plans It may be that on Saturday, there’s an en- years or decades to develop,” Barlament for repertoire and performers, Executive core—or there’s an overture or something points out. “I think it’s a renaissance for Director and CEO John Mangum recalls. that we didn’t announce—and there’s an American orchestras, to come to terms “It was an ongoing process of continuous intermission between the concerto and with what it means to be an American or- reinvention,” and he thinks flexibility will the symphony.” chestra. What does it mean to be the At- remain the byword as the virus charts its After streaming its Saturday concerts lanta Symphony Orchestra, when people own course. last season, treating the virtual perfor- have become so much more aware of how Reinvention is in store for the Hous- mances as an either/or option with the differences and identities—including race ton Symphony’s concert formats, too, live ones, the Houston Symphony will and ethnicity—affect everything in our now that its audiences have experienced experiment in the coming season with world? It’s been a long time coming, and a season of compact programs: roughly subscription and ticket packages that it’s really important." 75 minutes of music without intermis- combine live and virtual events.