For decades, the 25 largest orchestras in the United States have been led almost exclusively by whites.
It will change. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra announced on Thursday that it has selected up-and-coming African-American conductor Jonathon Heyward as its next music director. He will start a five-year contract in Baltimore at the beginning of the 2023-24 season.
Raised in Charleston, South Carolina, Hayward, 29, the son of an African-American father and Caucasian mother, will be the first colored orchestra leader in 106 years of history. In his interview, he stated that he would strive to expand the audience of classical music by strengthening his educational efforts and promoting undervalued artists.
“This art form is for everyone,” he said.
Hayward will replace Marin Alsop, the first female music director of a prestigious American orchestra whose term in Baltimore ended last year. His appointment is made in a broad view of classical music over serious gender and racial disparities.
The choice to hire Hayward is a milestone for Baltimore, where black residents make up more than 60 percent of the population.
Mark Hanson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Orchestra, said: Said in a statement.
Hayward, the principal conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, has earned a reputation as a delicate and charismatic conductor. His appointment is a difficult time for the orchestra, and many ensembles, including Baltimore, are struggling to regain art patrons for a pandemic. The crisis exacerbated the long-term decline in ticket sales, forcing art groups to look for new ways. Reach viewers through live streaming and more.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra recently announced that it will cut 10 concerts from next season at its long-time hometown, Joseph Meyerhof Symphony Orchestra, amid sluggish ticket sales. Baltimore attendance during the 2021-22 season averaged 40% of its capacity, down from 62% in 2018-19.
Hayward said he was confident that the audience would eventually return, by featuring a wider variety of performers and by programming more diverse pieces by moving some concerts away from traditional venues. He added that he would work to make the orchestra more familiar.
“It’s just a knack of being able to really understand what the community needs, ask what the community needs, and put it in the door,” he said.
Hayward has been based in Europe for much of his career, but he has begun to appear more frequently in the United States. Last spring he conducted several concerts in Baltimore. This includes the premiere of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 by the orchestra and a Ukrainian philanthropic concert. He will perform at the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at the Lincoln Center in early August, leading a program featuring violinist Joshua Bell.
In 2017, when Hayward was 25, he was widely admired for a series of performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra when he replaced the sick conductor at the very end. The program included premiere by composer Tania Leon, as well as works by Stravinsky, Glinka and Leonard Bernstein.
“He knew when to lead and when to follow. It’s easy to balance the role of a natural showman serving music with a delicate collaborator,” critic Rick Schultz said. Says. I have written At the Los Angeles Times.
The field of conducting has long suffered from a lack of diversity. In recent years, there has been only one black music director at the top tier of American orchestras, and only a handful of Latin or Asian leaders.
Sales are expected soon in some major orchestras, showing signs of change. Nathalie Stutzmann won the podium with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra this season. She will be the second woman to lead a prestigious American orchestra.
Hayward will also be one of the youngest leaders of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He started studying the cello at the age of 10. He graduated from the Boston Conservatory and later served as Deputy Conductor under Mark Elder, a longtime music director of the Hallé Orchestra in England.
Hayward said his own experience of falling in love with classical music convinced him of its lasting charm.
“If a 10-year-old boy from Charleston, South Carolina, with no background in music education and no musicians in his family, could be absorbed in it and be surprised, he would get the best form of classical music. I think, anyone can do it, “he said. “I plan to prove it in many ways.”