The Harlem Quartet Upends the Notion of What a Classical Musician Looks Like You know, lets face it. When you think of classical music, its not really an African-American face that comes to mind, says Melissa White, a violinist and founding member of the Harlem Quartet. In a genre that has been dominated primarily by Europeans, the Harlem Quartet is changing the face and sound of classical music. Founded by the Sphinx Organization in 2008, the Grammy award winning group was created to advance diversity in classical music, while engaging new audiences with varied repertoire that includes works by minority composers. Less than than 4 percent of musicians in American symphonies African Americans and Latino. Diversity in classical music is a very positive ideal, because for so many years, in this country, that ideal was a homogenous thought. By bringing in different cultural values and viewpoints, they are brining an American ideal of melting pot to the stage, said Moses Bernard Phililps, a professor of Ethnomusicology at CUNY Medgar Evans College. After a few personnel changes over the years, the Quartet became even more diverse. Matthew Zelkind, a jewish Cellist from Salt Lake City and Jaime Amador, a viola player from San Juan, Puerto Rico joined the group in 2012. Despite the quartets immense talent, that took years of training to reach a professional level, the diverse look of the group has not always been received well. We had important mentors that would tell us, I dont think you will work in the European market. We knew that meant, not only, hes talking about the quality of our playing, but just the image, explained Ilmar Gavilan, a Cuban violinist and founding member. To accommodate these audiences, the Harlem Quartet has started performances with jazz repertoire and snuck in classical pieces to show that they can perform a variety of music. The Harlem Quartet projects a phenotype that when people see what is happening or when they see who is performing, they begin to change their attitude about what that group is and what theyre capable of doing, said Philips. Follow Lea Zora Scruggs at @LeaScruggs _______ FOLLOW LIPSapp Hits56 Radio _______ FB: r-js/1rlggeQ / TW: r-js/1us3SdS / Listen to LIPSapp Hits56 Radio r-js/1dOIQ18 #thewho #beatles #elvis #jimihendrix #dylan
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 20:22:59 +0000
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