Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's recent announcement of their Conductor Diversity Fellowship sparked accusations of the ensemble using “racism to combat racism” https://t.co/2pBAYT7DXl
— The Violin Channel (@violinchannel) October 3, 2021
No whites or Asians need apply
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra recently announced a posting for a “Conductor Diversity Fellow,” a position whose responsibilities — if one reads the job description carefully — are virtually identical to those of an assistant conductor in peer orchestras, but for one key difference: that the posting explicitly solicits applications only from those who “self-identify as members of historically underrepresented groups in American orchestras, including but not limited to African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander descent.”
Two major races are conspicuously left off that list of “underrepresented groups,” and the subtext is clear: No whites or Asians need apply. The BPO’s posting is one of the most brazen attempts by an American orchestra to expunge classical music’s history of racism by using the tool of racism.