Music, dance, opera and conversations
Details of some of the more ambitious aspects of the community programs will be announced over the next several weeks, but Heyward hinted that they will include a new college campus series that will take the BSO to universities throughout the region, as well as a debut partnership with the Baltimore School for the Arts that will focus on mentorship and education in an effort to develop a pipeline for minority musicians into the orchestral industry nationwide, according to preliminary information released by the BSO.
A 2016 poll by the League of American Orchestras found that just 1.8% of musicians in classical orchestras were African American. But 53% of the teenage students at School for the Arts are Black and an additional 10% are other minorities, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Heyward said he hopes to demystify classical music with a program that resembles the innovative “Off the Cuff ” series created by music director laureate Marin Alsop. Called “Casual Conversations,” it will have a similar format as the previous version: one work of music preceded by a discussion packaged into a relatively short concert with no intermission.
But unlike “Off the Cuff,” the new program will not involve a lecture; instead it will be a discussion among several guest artists. Heyward will lead two of these programs; the leader of the third has not been announced.
“I am looking forward to pinpointing the relatability of classical music to everyday life,” Heyward said, “maybe even discussing how these pieces are relevant to jazz or popular music.”
The 2023-24 season opens Sept. 22 at the Music Center of Strathmore in North Bethesda by celebrating two art forms: dance and music. Heyward will conduct a new commission by jazz great Wynton Marsalis called “Herald, Holler and Hallelujah.” The inaugural concerts will be accompanied by a world premiere performance by the renowned Dance Theatre of Harlem.
The BSO’s annual gala will be held the next night at the Meyerhoff in Baltimore, and on Sunday, Sept. 24, Heyward will lead the symphony in a free public performance celebrating the return of Artscape.
“One of my goals is to infuse multidisciplinary arts into our programs,” Heyward said, “Dance, poetry and everything this rich city has to offer.”