Orchestra seeks to broaden diversity
As a music educator, Stephen Spottswood has noticed a troubling trend through the years.
“I've been teaching inner-city students for 10 or 11 years,” said Spottswood, a 29-year-old native of Silver Spring, Maryland, who moved to Columbus in 2011 to attend Capital University. Trained as a violist and violinist, he currently teaches in Reynoldsburg City Schools.
“Many Black orchestra players quit, whether it's playing strings or even in band,” said Spottswood, who is Black. “I come to that conclusion because, number one, there is not a lot of Black repertoire played. They get bored or they don't feel like they fit in or they lose interest.”
Plus, as young musicians of color start to consider career options, they don't see musicians like themselves reflected in the rosters of orchestras.
According to a 2016 report by the League of American Orchestras, Black musicians constituted just 1.8 percent of professional orchestra members across the country.
“Because only 1.8 percent are on that stage, (young musicians) don't see themselves on that stage,” Spottswood said.
To break the cycle of underrepre
sentation, Spottswood founded the Columbus Cultural Orchestra early last year.
The group — consisting of musicians of color from the ages of 12 to 25 who have a minimum of one year of experience — will give its largest concert to date on Sept. 23 in the Lincoln Theatre. Thirteen orchestra members, all strings players, will be featured; other instrumentalists will supplement the performers.
In keeping with the format of the “Backstage at the Lincoln” concert series, audience members can watch the show in chairs on the same stage as the musicians. Masks will be required for patrons attending in-person. A virtual version will be offered; visit www.lincolntheatrecolumbus.com.
Spottswood, whose father is a jazz pianist, came to recognize the limitations of exclusively playing classical repertoire by reflecting on his own musical history.
“My first introduction to music was in the church and gospel music,” said Spottswood, a resident of the Olde Towne East neighborhood. “I love hip hop music — always had my headphones on, and I was always in the freestyle circles in schools, rapping. I loved the orchestra and going to orchestra
class, but I figured there was more to my story.”
To that end, Spottswood seeks to bring popular music into orchestral settings.
“I have a big message for our teachers: If you’re not teaching Black music in your orchestra classrooms, and you’re playing at these schools that are at least 50 percent Black, that’s a huge problem,” he said. “The music has to reflect your student population.”
This weekend’s show will feature the orchestra playing Spottwood’s arrangements of music by artists ranging from Beyonce to Kendrick Lamar and the Black Eyed Peas. His goal is to offer an eclectic program that resonates with attendees and orchestra members alike.
“That’s why you have the Migos,” he said. “Earth Wind & Fire is a big one that everybody loves. We really listen to Earth Wind & Fire at parties, cookouts — that’s a staple in the Black community.”
In between those pieces, classicalstyle preludes and postludes, composed by Spottswood, will be played.
“They’ve very lush and they’re a large contrast,” he said. “I love Mahler and Tchaikovsky, too. We go back and forth.”
The young arts leader is resolute in his goal to increase the representation of Black artists in orchestra ranks.
“I think that this concert will be a great visual to share with folks in the Columbus metropolitan area,” he said.
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