Here is a link that may work: https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2017/12/19/area-musicians-call-bso-diversify-programming/31w7OhQL7wE2ApSsC6UbIM/story.htmle
If you can take the time to read the comments section, they are illuminating. Curious to see what people on this music forum have to say.
Here is one:
Composing is worse than the tech field in terms of gender balance, and not just in the repertoire of orchestras. Composition faculty at some prominent conservatories still lack a single female. One female “emerging composer” told me she attended a festival last summer (2 out of 32 participants were female) and was asked “whose wife” she was.
That said, there are many educational establishments that have achieved balance, and the current generation of composers includes many talented female artists as well as male. There will be a trickle down effect, at least in academia, as diversity evolves both naturally and through more affirmative methods.
That said, history is history. The works from the classical and Romantic eras do indeed form a canon, and that canon is what concert-goers and, most importantly, donors, want. The ONLY way to have female composers, other than a handful of historic ones mostly related to famous males (Fannie and Clara), is to have more late 20th and 21st century works, and those works tend to alienate orchestras’ base of support -regardless of the gender or color of the composers.
Some music organizations have the concert sandwich with a canonical work at the beginning and end and something adventurous in the middle. But even that sometimes results in long term patrons/donors getting up and leaving in a huff. I have seen it many times.
Many young composers don’t write for orchestra anymore. Some orchestras have special commissions for new works by emerging composers and these can be women as often as men. But many developing composers write for smaller ensembles.
It’s going to take time. The solution is NOT to play works simply because of who wrote them, but because of their quality. For now, issues of patron taste and money need to evolve along with the already evolved pool of talented composers.
As bad as the gender and racial balances are, I myself dislike such things as “female composer concerts,” and would certainly resist a “composers of color” concert for the same reason. As soon as a group is singled out that way, I believe it marginalizes them.
So, I propose that the solution for all of this is for those 72 concerts featuring works by while males, to be billed as “male composer concerts.” This term will raise consciousness about the issue without marginalizing women or people of color.
Picture the lights outside Symphony Hall illuminating a sign that says “Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler, ll-male composer concert tonight.”
No comments on this issue?
I can’t get the second link to work. I’ve thought about the issue, but don’t have an answer. I know academia and granting institutions are attempting to address the lack of diversity. It seems that until audiences are built that seek out/demand new classical work, regardless of gender or race, it will be an incredibly slow sea change, no matter how concerts are billed. I don’t have a problem “featuring” female composers, or composers of color. Nothing is more marginalizing than not being played at all. I don’t think Hamilton marginalizes performers of color-it celebrates them. Concerts celebrating female coposers would be the same IMO.
Argh the link worked when I posted it. Thanks for responding even without the article. This link works right now:
Otherwise I give up!!!
That one worked! It looks like the BSO is doing a good job of addressing diversity, or at least making a concerted effort to do so. The mention of diversifying the audiences is interesting…it is kind of a chicken and egg scenario. If the composers featured are diverse, it might follow that the audience will be more diverse?
A bigger issue, IMO, which I haven’t seen mentioned, is donor diversity. And with the changes to tax code regarding charitable giving, the lack of diversity in major donors could become even more pronounced. It seems to me that for real change to occur, the issue needs to be addressed further down in the food chain, maybe even in schools, with more emphasis on education about contemporary classical music. Education creates curiosity creates demand? Which again, would take years. No easy answers, that’s for sure!
I do think you are right: it is a matter of trickle up, not trickle down, meaning it starts with education and also with changes to the balance of gender and ethnicity/race in the student body and faculty. It can be hoped that those composer talks before concerts might help audiences understand and even enjoy newer works, but it is a huge risk for organizations because, as I said, I have seen patrons leave in a huff- and no doubt that translates to no money.
The commenters on this article mainly see it from the side of the audience. Many don’t realize there are hundreds and hundreds of young people devoting their time and energy and making sacrifices in order to compose music. I think people are surprised that anyone is writing music after 1900 at all!!
@indeestudios that is a really interesting comment about diversity of donors. Not something I’d heard articulated quite that way before. Because the arts are so dependent on private support now, so much needs to be done to please the donors. If the donors with the biggest donations don’t like New Music, edgy music, music that doesn’t adhere to the rules of European 19th century, and earlier, classical music, then the presenting organization is going to suffer for funds. One of the great things that the LA Phil has done is to get the community excited about commissioning new work - making them feel a part of it, and that it’s a worthy cause. There are actually donors who fight over which commission they get to fund! I know there are smaller organizations who are trying to emulate that excitement - Boston Modern Orchestra is one, the LA Chamber Orchestra - even the Minnesota Orchestra before their troubles had a micro-commisioning project where thousands of people from all over the world donated amounts as small as $1. I’ve donated to many commissioning projects, knowing I’d probably never hear the music live. Is the donor always going to love the piece that ensues - absolutely not. But there’s always the chance that the piece being created could be the best thing ever, or even change the course of music history.
I absolutely believe that more diverse communities need to be supported - the trick is to get people on all sides to open their ears more, and to widen the tent for what is welcomed in the classical world.
Well Boston Modern Orchestra Project has been going since 1996 so it’s not exactly a new effort, and therefore is not really emulating the excitement generated by the LA Phil 
Who are we referring to when we write “diverse donors.” Audience members? Corporations and foundations? Sponsoring institutions? Kickstarter campaigns? And what do we mean by “diverse?”
I think one of the most basic problems is that some classical music lovers don’t even know anyone is composing anymore !!!
The second problem is that anything new and/or diverse is not going to be in the canon that most audiences, especially orchestral ones, want- simply by being new.
This resistance is not common in the visual arts. Possibly because it takes time to listen to a piece of music and looking at art can be a matter of moments-? Art museums seem to thrive on being adventurous while many orchestras remain quite conservative.
There are venues that can make new music hip, generally smaller ones that draw a younger crowd. Monday Evening Concerts in LA, MATA in NYC, Bang on a Can and so on.
And composers can go to Europe- the solution for some! Especially Berlin.
By the way, BMOP is featuring Joan Tower for her 80th birthday after some criticism of their last all-male season. There IS pressure. And historically BMOP has been fair in gender balance issues.
Thankfully the concert publicity does not mention gender. Again, in my view, that would be an insult to the life’s work of a great composer. I don’t think BMOP would do that, ever.