In LA: A New Fellowship for Orchestra Musicians of Color

It is no secret that African Americans are woefully underrepresented in American orchestras. Since the practice of using blind auditions began in the 1970s and ‘80s, the percentage of female musicians has grown six-fold, from 5 to 30. Unfortunately, the number of musicians of color has shown no such jump.

Three of Los Angeles’ most visible music institutions—the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), and USC’s Thornton School of Music—hope to change that situation.  In August they created the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, selecting four fellows who over the next two years will receive lessons from LACO musicians, play mock auditions, perform in concerts around the city, instruct students in ICYOLA, and pursue a music certificate at USC.

For the first time, an institution of color—the ICYOLA is an African-American-majority youth orchestra and the largest majority African American orchestra in the country—will play a lead role in attempting to diversify the composition of U.S. orchestras. The inclusion of a mentoring component promises to extend the reach of the program’s four fellows.

The first four, all violinists, are Bradley Parrimore, a Huston native who graduated from the Manhattan School of Music; Sydney Adedamola, a Bostonian who recently graduated from USC; Brazilian Ayrton Pisco, who played with the Brasilia National Orchestra as a five-year-old; and Juan-Salvador Carrasco, a Mexico City native who grew up in Santa Monica and has played with Yo-Yo Ma.

The stakes are high, for both the young musicians and the sponsoring organizations. After all, the fellows are expected to convince people of color throughout Los Angeles that classical music is an exciting and vibrant art form. “We’re asking them not only to be virtuoso musicians,” says Scott Harrison, LACO’s executive director, “but to be virtuoso agents of change as well. We’ll measure success through the placement of our young musicians into jobs in American orchestras,” adds the ICYOLA’s director Charles Dickerson III says. “I hope to go four for four.” Now that’s no small challenge.

Los Angeles Magazine