Benedetti defends ‘white male titans’ of music

Violinist says it is wrong to judge composers by their gender or race

BEETHOVEN, Mozart and Bach are among the most celebrated classical music composers of all time, but they also have another thing in common – they are white men.

But while this lack of diversity has been lamented by some in the industry, the violinist Nicola Benedetti has said she does not like to apologise for the uniformity of those who have written some of the most wellknown music in history.

Speaking to Gramophone magazine, Benedetti said: “I don’t like apologising for the look and gender and race of the people who have written most of the music that we celebrate.

“It’s just a fact that in our European history the people who were able to take their skills to the nth degree, or to study something or to effect change, were often white men. I don’t think that lessens the power of their music.”

Earlier this year, a poll by the Royal Albert Hall showed that the top 10 classical composers most recognised by Britons were male, prompting the venue’s director to say that these “white male titans” were putting young people off the art form.

Benedetti, who played a solo in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at this year’s Proms, is dating Wynton Marsalis, the American jazz musician and composer who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. The couple recently released an album together.

Benedetti continued: “To then link that to Wynton, I think his music is likewise of a level that can be studied, owned and enjoyed by anybody who looks like anything.”

She added: “I believe in and support a strong movement for diversity and integration. I also believe in respecting past mastery, regardless of race or gender.”

Her stance has been criticised as “white privilege”.

Chi-chi Nwanoku, the founder and director of the Chineke! orchestra – the first professional orchestra in Europe made up of majority black and ethnic minority musicians – said it was time the industry thought “outside our cosy little box”.

“We live in such diverse times now … it feels a bit archaic to stay stuck in this art form where we don’t appreciate or even explore who else is out there.”

Though her orchestra plays “from the great canon in every concert”, when her musicians play pieces by composers of their own ethnicity, “I can’t tell you what that does for someone’s sense of self ”, she said.

“Most musicians like Nicola, they take it for granted they are able to play music by composers who are like themselves, it’s a definition of white privilege,” she said.

In April, Lucy Noble, director of the Royal Albert Hall, said: “We must make sure that young people are exposed to not just these white, male titans, but women, and … those from minority backgrounds.”