Five Questions With Black Orchestral Network Founding Board Member Alex Laing

Perhaps the one thing that sets the Black Orchestral Network (BON) apart from similar efforts is how much importance they place on accountability as a key to measuring success. In their open letter to American Orchestras, words are rarely minced. Systemic issues are clearly identified and after reading through their material several times it seems clear this group of musicians have grown weary of the gap between equity word salad and …

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Perspective And Pushback To Tommasini’s Commentary On Blind Auditions

The 9/10/2020 edition of New York Times published a follow-up article to the opinion piece written by Anthony Tommasini in paper’s 7/16/2020 publication. The follow-up is intriguing in that if contains several noteworthy perspectives. The best rejoinders came from groups of respondents. The first, Weston Sprott (recent Shop Talk guest), Alex Laing, Joy Payton-Stevens, and Titus Underwood. It does a superb job at poking holes in the idea that auditions, and …

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ICSOM Presentation Summary

Yesterday’s presentation at the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) convention went very well and for all of the delegates who requested a copy of the presentation, downloadable copies of the PowerPoint presentation are available here in a few different formats…

What The Heck Is IGAMP?

So long as the gods of travel smile on my journey, I’ll arrive in Minneapolis this morning in time for my presentation later in the afternoon detailing eight months worth of effort on a project I’ve been working on for the Musicians of the Phoenix Symphony…

Black Orchestral Network Lays Out Plan For Meaningful Progress On Orchestral Inclusivity And Equity

The Black Orchestral Network (BON), a newly formed organization comprised of Black members from more than forty orchestras, announced Monday, May 9, 2022, as a Day of Solidarity. The campaign has received early support from Gateways Music Festival and Working IDEAL along with community support from the Black Music Action Coalition. BON lays out their goals in an open letter to American orchestra’s stakeholders and right out of the gate, they …

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