Famous black conductors I never heard of

I happened upon a very interesting article today, titled: America’s Lost Generation of Black Conductors.

Of course, I knew of James DePreist (I once auditioned for his orchestra, Oregon Symphony, though I didn’t make it past the first round); Calvin Simmons (I was deeply affected by the news of his untimely death in 1982); Michael Morgan (who passed away just this past week); and Denis De Couteau (friends in the SF Ballet Orchestra raved about him; I always hoped I would get to sub there and experience him for myself).

But I only became aware of these conductors once I was majoring in music and freelancing as a classical flutist. In my high school and early college years I had no idea there were black orchestra conductors.

And until this afternoon, I had still never heard of Dean Dixon; Isaiah Jackson; Everett Lee; or Henry Lewis (who was married to opera singer, Marilyn Horne), each of whom was renowned in the 60’s and 70’s!

But then I thought about it. When I was attending Milpitas High School in the early 70’s, the only way I heard about the wider world was from the newspaper and by sometimes watching the news with my parents. The local news — whether print or broadcast — probably didn’t place a lot of emphasis on black conductors from back East or in Europe.

And that brought home to me what an amazing difference the internet has made in the world. True, you can’t always trust it and the sheer volume of what’s out there is overwhelming, but my goodness, how it opens up our horizons!