Why don't black people like classical music? [View all]
I just L-O-O-V-V-E Beethoven, but his fifth symphony is not one of my favorites. I love his third, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth symphonies, and all of his piano concertos, much more. Nevertheless, one of the local orchestras is going to perform the fifth symphony in a few days, so I got on YouTube and found a performance of that symphony by the Vienna Philharmonic. Watching and listening, I noticed something I often notice about classical music orchestras: THEY'RE ALL WHITE PEOPLE! Now I realize there are not a lot of black people in and around Vienna, but there are some. That city and country are not ONE HUNDRED PERCENT white. Yet, it seems that ALL of these European orchestras are one hundred percent white. Well, there are a few Asian people among them, but try to find a black or brown face. That goes for North American orchestras, too. Going to classical music concerts, as I often do, I see very few black people among the audiences too.
Is there some cultural reason why black people don't like classical music? Or are these orchestras practicing some kind of racism?
If I were the music director of one of these orchestras, I would launch a rigorous recruitment effort to try to get more black people into performing in these orchestras. This is something that has been bothering me for quite some time.
-- Ron
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