On Saturday night, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra delivered an energetic program consisting of Strauss’s Don Juan, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Connession’s Cosmic Trilogy, and Stavinsky’s “Firebird” suite. Maestro Robert Treviño led the orchestra with much enthusiasm, and the audience was able to absorb that energy quite well.
Special shoutout goes to the violinist and concertmaster Yoonshin Song and the entire wind section. Ms. Song brought life to each and every phrase of Prokofiev’s tricky solo line. The orchestra supported her by accompanying her expressively and applauding after the performance, which attested to her leadership ability and trust she gains from the orchestra for her personality.
In addition to the concertmaster, this program highlighted the strength of the DSO’s wind section as a whole. As a wind player myself, I always experience the difficulty of working with such a large section to make one cohesive sound. Stravinsky’s “Firebird” Suite (1919) is a perfect piece to showcase their unity. “Firebird” features each principal player’s virtuosity as a solo player, but it also requires everyone in the section to create the “winds” sound — which they did very well.
But today, I also want to comment on something else that was on my mind during this performance.
I headed over to this concert after an entire day spent at the SphinxCon, the conference intended to spark conversations about inclusion and diversity in arts. For three days, participants like myself were able to listen to many empowering speakers and panelists that worked actively to disturb the dominant narratives and let the minorities’ voices be heard — whether it be race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, indigenous affiliation, (dis)ability status, or otherwise. Then, I looked at the stage in the Orchestra Hall. The majority of the orchestra is white, and the largest racial minority group represented is Asian. There are a couple of Black musicians on stage, but this makeup surely does not represent the population of Detroit.
I have heard of DSO’s efforts to actively include the Detroit community, through frequent live streaming, ticket promotions, and local, more affordable performances. As “a community-supported orchestra,” DSO puts a lot of work into inclusion. However, the reality is rough. Classical music, or any art for that matter, is very expensive to maintain and present, yet making the tickets more expensive would exclude many, many populations. Pursuing arts as a career often takes economic stability, which is not something that everyone has. How do you disrupt that? …That’s the question that looms over the minds of many artists, arts organizations, stakeholders, and leaders.
By coming to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s concert to conclude my busy Saturday, I was able to synthesize a lot of information that I absorbed from the SphinxCon. These thoughts are always work in progress. Maybe one day, we can see the same program performed with an orchestra and an audience that represents the population makeup of the community…
