NEW ORLEANS — In the U.S. orchestra population –– fewer than one in four women hold the coveted position of conductor, assistant conductor, or even music director.
That number grows even smaller when you add in race. This month, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra is putting women and culture on display.
“I started when I was four years old playing a piano,” said Jeri Lynn Johnson, Black Pearl Orchestra Conductor.
At a young age, Johnson was drawn to the sound of orchestral music. She's one of the few Black women to lead an orchestra in the country.
“My job as the conductor is to shape the silence out of which the music emerges.”
But getting that job has been quite the challenge. Johnson says her gender and race were working against her –– she learned that when an orchestra didn't give her the job but instead gave her feedback.
Something she says rarely happens.
“He said we just really didn’t know how to market you. When I asked him to clarify what that meant he said you don’t look like what our audience would expect the “maestro” to look like.”
She says it pushed her to create her own –– The Black Pearl Orchestra. What Johnson experienced is the opposite of what Anwar Nasir of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra is hoping for women and women of color.
“I want our industry to understand that they are great artist first and foremost, but they need those opportunities for people to be able to see them,” said Nasir, LPO's executive director.
This month the orchestra is celebrating Black culture and highlighting two women conductors who are breaking barriers.
“It is important for them to be able to see themselves, specifically for young and up and coming conductors. To be able to know that this is a career path for them,” he said.
“There is such a plethora of incredible talent in the female population, and we are delighted to showcase that in the orchestra,” said LPO harpist Rachel Van Voorhes.
Last month Johnson conducted the Sibelius Symphony No.5 at the Orpheum Theater.
Thursday Kelena Bovell will conduct Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 and Saturday LPO Black Panther Live in Concert. Examples organizers say are pushing the orchestra world in the right direction.
“I feel like so many of us are just ready and waiting for the world to wake up and know that we are here,” Johnson said.
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 tickets can be purchased here. The performance is Thursday, Mar. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater.
Purchase Black Panther Live in Concert tickets here. The performance is Saturday, Mar. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Mahalia Jackson Theater.
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