John McWhorter and Don Baton – DEI in the Orchestral World

0:00 Is Florence Price’s music worthy of its current popularity?

12:20 The decline of blind auditions

18:27 Do diverse orchestras attract diverse audiences and musicians?

23:26 Why Don is protecting his real identity

27:00 Glenn delivers a soliloquy on humanity

32:06 John: Eliminating blind auditions is “bat s**t crazy”

38:22 Should John’s daughters benefit from affirmative action?

Links and Readings

Don’s Substack, The Podium

Don’s series on Florence Price: Part One, Part Two, Part Three

Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3

Van Cliburn’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2

Anthony Tommasini’s NYT piece, “To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions”

George Walker on YouTube

William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony

William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1

Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse’s article “Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of ‘Blind’ Auditions on Female Musicians”

John’s NYT piece, “Stop Making Asian Americans Pay the Price for Campus Diversity”