ARTS/CULTURE
A podium for change Conductors widen understanding of race, culture to choral music
A
s a freelancer, when an editor calls, my default response is “yes.” Always. It rarely matters how much I like the story or the subject or the issues involved. It’s always “yes.” But when this story was suggested to me, I had to think about it a little more. I liked the subjects a lot: Jillian Harrison-Jones is the music director of MUSE: Cincinnati Women’s Choir; Steve Milloy is artistic director of Cincinnati Men’s Chorus; and Jason Alexander Holmes is artistic director of Cincinnati Boychoir. But to my eyes, the primary connection among the three was their race. Yes, they are all choral conductors. And all are relatively new at the helms of their respective organizations, though as he closes in on three years, Milloy can hardly be considered a newcomer. Obviously, I agreed to do the story. But I still felt awkward about it. I mean, would I be writing this story if all three conductors were white?
10
APRIL 2020
Movers & Makers
By David Lyman
So as I sat down with the three subjects at A Taste of Belgium at The Banks, I told them of my qualms. They understood. They are weary of being referred to as “black conductors.” But they are pragmatists. Race, they have come to understand, is simply one more bump they have to navigate in the professional landscape. “I’m a bit older than these other two,” said Milloy, “so I’ve had to deal with a few more issues.” Clearly, he is eager to get into the thick of it.
A matter of ‘Pride’ He recounted his June 2017 “audition concert” with CMC. Named “Pride,” it was a preview to the chorus’ Pride Week activities. The concert’s promotional graphic featured a “Lion King” sort of lion head and then the word “Pride” in cartoonish lettering meant to look African. “If that wasn’t bad enough, one of the songs they wanted to do was Toto’s ‘Africa’,” Milloy said. “Let the record show my face,” Holmes chimed in, grimacing at the memory of the catchy 1980s anthem that had nothing to do with Africa. Now, Toto wasn’t a musical hill to die on. But Milloy steered the group away from the selection, suggesting that they ditch the logo and create a concert about “intersectionality, about AfricanAmerican music and how it intersects with the gay community.” Milloy also added to the concert Joel Thompson’s “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” a sevenmovement work, each quoting the last words of an unarmed black man before he was killed. Milloy was named artistic director a month later. Harrison-Jones and Holmes have similar stories to tell, mixing triumphs and frustrations. Some have been contentious and left permanent resentment. Others have been resolved by judicious compromise, like the time Harrison-Jones conducted Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam” on a MUSE concert. A handful of choir members balked at the song. Was it because of the language? Certainly. Was it further complicated because those singers – most were white – didn’t fully grasp the underlying rage of the song, which was composed in the wake of murders of black Americans during the early 1960s civil rights movement? Perhaps. It’s hard to say. Harrison-Jones felt strongly about the song. But she knew that doing battle with chorus members was
Photo by Tina Gutierrez
Steve Milloy, artistic director of Cincinnati Men’s Chorus; Jillian Harrison-Jones, music director of MUSE: Cincinnati Women’s Choir; and Jason Alexander Holmes, artistic director of Cincinnati Boychoir
not the way MUSE does business. In the end, the objecting singers stepped off the risers and remained on the side until the song was completed. It was an awkward compromise. But MUSE is an organization devoted to all members having an equal voice. So the resolution fit the mission.
Respecting the cultural context Even though none of these music directors leads an Afrocentric music organization, it is inevitable that they are looked on as standard bearers for their race. They become the arbiters of all things black. And, in some ways, they are. “Every piece of music has a cultural context,” said Holmes. “And no matter what the roots of that piece of music are, you need to research it and respect it. I have heard music from ‘my side of the tracks’ completely butchered by people who didn’t bother to do their research. They would research Mozart or any other ‘serious’ music. But they think they can just scream a spiritual at the end of a concert. That’s not OK with me.” “That’s my criticism of lots of Master’s and DMA (doctor of musical arts) programs,” said HarrisonJones. “They don’t teach ‘other’ music there. That was one of my biggest criticisms – even at CCM, as amazing an institution as it is – the only exposure I got to African-American music was what I brought to the class.” Milloy recounted an episode when he led one of CCM’s elite choruses in a performance of Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise.” It is an iconic 1996 song that has become a much-loved staple in black
