League of American Orchestras

The League of American Orchestras is currently offering free membership to U.S. high school and university students, as well as alumni who graduated within the last two years.

I have asked contributors (students) to replace the words “music rehearsal” with other words of their choice that better reflect their values. Their responses are always varied and fascinating; they have ranged from “music jam,” “musical experience,” and “discovery session” to a “deep conversation” and “an exchange of ideas between my friends.” Words matter.

The League of American Orchestras, which supports 700 member orchestras across North America, has recently launched three resources aimed to support equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the orchestra field.

For El Sistema students with aspirations to pursue music as a career, the idea of becoming a professional orchestral musician can seem daunting. It can be a tough, competitive journey, and for Black and Latinx musicians, who currently represent less than 5% of musicians in American orchestras, the journey can present challenges not readily understood or acknowledged by others in the field. To address these challenges, three organizations are working together to support musicians of color in achieving success.

In 1992 I travelled to Caracas with my colleague Tania Leone, the wonderful Cuban-American composer, to begin plans for an American Composers Orchestra festival of Venezuelan music at Carnegie Hall. Tania knew all about El Sistema and José Antonio Abreu, and of course we paid him a visit. It was inconceivable to me then that the principles of El Sistema could ever take hold in America. But since the movement has in fact arrived, its impact on American orchestras has been profound. El Sistema has been an amazing spark, awakening orchestras to their enormous potential for playing an active role in creating a just society.