The New Yorker:

Edmond Dédé’s “Morgiane” shows how diversity initiatives can promote works of real cultural value.

By Alex Ross

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, in 2020, and the cultural upheavals that ensued, classical-music organizations began including more composers of color in their programs. The Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the symphonies of the early-twentieth-century Black composer Florence Price. The National Symphony did the same for the modernist George Walker. The Metropolitan Opera presented two works by Terence Blanchard. Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, Huang Ruo, and other nonwhite composers benefitted from an upsurge of performances. These initiatives elicited predictable backlash from musty corners of the Internet, where it was said that D.E.I. radicals were promoting mediocrities and trashing the canon. Yet apprehensions of a classical “great replacement” proved unfounded. A 2024 report by the Institute for Composer Diversity showed that seventy-six per cent of works played at American orchestras were still by Caucasian males. Furthermore, only sixteen per cent of pieces by underrepresented composers lasted longer than twenty minutes—evidence that administrators were making token gestures of inclusion while saving the prime spots for the usual suspects.

Those who scowled at such modest steps in programming are presumably hailing the Trump regime’s ugly crusade against D.E.I., which has broadened into an assault on decades of civil-rights progress. President Donald Trump has crowned himself the chairman of the Kennedy Center and complained about its “wokey” events. As a result, Renée Fleming, Ben Folds, Issa Rae, and others have cut ties with the center. The remainder of the classical world appears, at first glance, relatively unaffected. But, as 2025-26 seasons are announced in the coming weeks, subscribers might look to see whether progressive programming is being quietly rolled back. Will opera companies become nervous about politically pointed works? Will Trump-friendly artists get a boost? Will formerly disgraced Russian performers return to American halls? Will solidarity with Ukrainians dissipate?

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