{"id":2016339,"date":"2023-08-30T03:12:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T07:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-embracing-dei-is-causing-classical-music-to-die\/"},"modified":"2023-08-30T03:20:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T07:20:10","slug":"how-embracing-dei-is-causing-classical-music-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-embracing-dei-is-causing-classical-music-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"DEI&#8217;s Impact: Classical Music&#8217;s Demise"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-embracing-dei-is-causing-classical-music-to-die%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2016339&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>The Decline of Classical Music: A Wake-Up Call<\/h2>\n<p>The \u200cdecline of interest in classical \u200bmusic has been a \u200bconstant\u200b theme of discussion in the \u200darts\u2064 world for decades. The\u200b death of music \u200deducation in schools and the chasm that\u200b now separates\u2062 symphonies and operas from popular music was widely understood \u200dto have drastically narrowed the \u200csize of potential audiences. \u2062But in recent years, some bright minds thought they had \u2062found an answer. \u200dBy dedicating\u200c classic\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/definition-of-fully-vaccinated-alters-as-coronavirus-booster-shot-mandates-begin\/\" title=\"Definition of Fully Vaccinated Alters as Coronavirus Booster Shot Mandates Begin\">arts companies<\/a> to\u2064 woke programming and ideology, they thought they \u2064had a path \u200cto relevance that would \u200cbring \u200dthem larger\u2062 and younger audiences\u200c as well as \u200bthe funding they needed to continue operating.<\/p>\n<p>But they were\u200c wrong. And the proof of their folly has\u2063 just been delivered in the failure \u2064of Opera Philadelphia, the company that has\u200d been most invested in the\u200c concept that going woke would save classical music.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>For a dozen years, Opera Philadelphia\u2019s David Devan was the toast of the \u2064American\u2063 classical music world. He took over as general director of Opera\u2062 Philadelphia in 2011 and put the \u200cstruggling\u2062 company on the map. He was praised by leading music critics in publications such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/22\/arts\/music\/opera-philadelphia-soldier-songs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The \u2062New York Times<\/a> \u2064 and \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/classical-beat\/post\/the-other-east-coast-opera-philly-offers-silent-night\/2013\/02\/10\/7c15ae7e-73cb-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_blog.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a> for his emphasis on innovation and new \u200boperas, with his efforts compared favorably to \u200dthose\u200d of far larger and more established arts institutions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He\u200b led the way among arts companies\u200c in the embrace of\u2064 wokeness on stage and off with an\u200b emphasis on operas that appealed to gay people and with outreach\u200d to\u200c minorities. During\u2062 coronavirus lockdowns, he \u2063was lauded for taking the company\u200c online with programming that reflected his belief in nontraditional forms of performance.<\/p>\n<p>No other arts organization was quicker to embrace the \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operaphila.org\/about\/black-lives-matter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Lives Matter<\/a> movement and then to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.operaphila.org\/about\/our-mission\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pledge allegiance<\/a> \u2063 to the woke catechism of \u200ddiversity, equity, and inclusion \u2064(DEI). It <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-embracing-dei-is-causing-classical-music-to-die\/\" title=\"DEI's Impact: Classical Music's Demise\">spent scarce donor \u2064funds<\/a> on hiring an equity commissar\u2064 (a practice that quickly became standard in the arts)\u2062 to\u2062 police the enforcement\u200d of equity and thereby placed\u2064 racial and identity \u2064politics over excellence in casting and \u200bhiring as \u2063well as over \u2064choices of repertory.<\/p>\n<h3>Failure to Create New Audiences<\/h3>\n<p>But\u2063 anyone who thought this would solve \u2063the problems\u200d of an institution\u2063 that aspired to be considered a top-tier arts company\u200b instead of\u2062 a middling minor-league operation was wrong. \u200cFar from fueling a surge\u200c in interest, ticket sales, or funding \u2062from\u200b donors, \u2062the emphasis on wokery has done \u2064nothing to\u2063 create new audiences.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This\u2064 month, Opera Philadelphia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/arts\/opera-philadelphia-kimmel-center-tickets-covid-19-20230815.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> that it had failed to raise enough money to meet its budget\u2063 and was consequently making \u200c20 percent cuts in \u2063its operations. Staff \u200bwas laid off and\u200c its already meager schedule \u2064of performances was\u2064 drastically abridged. It postponed by a year a highly anticipated production of \u2064an opera by \u200dJoseph Bologne, an \u206418th-century composer known as the \u201cblack Mozart,\u201d which \u2062was the centerpiece\u200b of their DEI program. And, rather than staying to guide it to solvency, \u200dDevan announced\u200b he was leaving.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It was a body \u200cblow to\u2063 the company, which is now \u200bscrambling not only to find\u2063 someone to clean up the mess Devan will be leaving behind\u2063 but also to find \u2064a way to survive, with talk of mounting an effort to merge with\u200c some \u2063other arts institution, \u2063and few candidates in evidence. For now, it will continue operations. But barring an\u200d operatic deus ex machina turnabout discovering\u2064 new sources of donations, music drama \u2063in Philadelphia \u2014 a \u200bstill-large \u200cmetropolitan \u2064area with a sizable upscale population that, at least in theory, ought\u200d to contain at least some people who like the art form \u2014 might be headed for extinction.<\/p>\n<h3>Doubling Down on Woke Mistakes<\/h3>\n<p>Nonetheless, the company is\u200b not prepared to draw any lessons from its trials or to ponder whether a\u2064 shift \u200daway from classics and the emphasis on progressive\u2064 cant is hurting rather than helping its \u200ccause.<\/p>\n<p>On\u2062 the way out the door, Devan doubled\u200d down on his\u200d tilt away from traditional audience favorites as the path forward for the \u200dclassical arts. Opera Philadelphia\u2019s board chairman, Stephen Klasko, the CEO of Jefferson, one of the Northeast\u2019s largest hospital and medical education conglomerates, agreed.\u200c Klasko told The\u200d Philadelphia Inquirer that \u2062the \u201cequity piece\u201d of the company\u2019s mission and serving minority populations that have no discernable interest in opera was a priority even\u200c if Devan\u2019s leftist programming was a formula\u200b for red ink.<\/p>\n<h3>Other Struggling Venues<\/h3>\n<p>Opera Philadelphia is far from the only arts company suffering in the current environment. \u200cEven the world-famous \u2062Philadelphia Orchestra, a far more \u2062prestigious\u200d and wealthier institution, has struggled\u2064 to\u200c fill \u2064the seats at its concerts, especially those that reflect its own dedication \u200bto the woke\u200b DEI\u2063 agenda in terms of music composed by favored minorities\u200d regardless of their intrinsic merit, especially when compared to the core repertory of \u2062classics. Budget problems there may lead to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/20\/arts\/music\/philadelphia-musicians-orchestra-strike.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">strike<\/a> by its musicians,\u2064 who are tired of being forced\u2063 to absorb cuts\u200c in salary and benefits after \u2064the company was rescued from bankruptcy in\u200d the last decade.<\/p>\n<p>The same problems are also found in New York, a\u200d city that\u200b is\u200c home to \u200bthe largest and most influential arts institutions in North America, \u2064which were once thought to be immune\u200d to the effect of the\u200d change in musical tastes. The same week that Opera Philadelphia announced its scheduled\u2063 cuts, the Metropolitan Opera served \u2062notice that it was\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/15\/arts\/music\/metropolitan-opera-guild-opera-news.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">closing<\/a> its support organization, the Opera Guild, and\u200b the Opera News magazine, \u200bwhich had \u200cserved as the American bible for opera fans for nearly 90 years. And though the Met can\u2062 fall back \u2062on a large endowment, it hasn\u2019t halted the drastic decline in attendance \u2062in its landmark theater in Lincoln Center tied to a shift toward an emphasis on\u200d contemporary operas, especially those that specifically \u2064celebrate the African-American experience and require all-black casts.<\/p>\n<p>These companies \u2062are suffering from problems that afflict all classical music companies in \u200dthe 21st century as opera\u200b has become\u2062 an increasingly marginal niche entertainment that few Americans can understand \u2062let alone enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>They can\u2064 no longer count on selling tickets with the mass appeal or the allure of \u200ccrossover stars like the late Luciano Pavarotti or the canceled Placido Domingo (over allegations\u2062 of\u200b conducting affairs with young \u200csingers over \u2062the \u200byears).\u200d The \u200dMet\u2019s most famous\u2062 star of recent years, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/giving-russia-the-freedom-fries-treatment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was fired<\/a> for being \u2062insufficiently opposed to the invasion \u2062of Ukraine, a sacred cause among the leftist-dominated\u200b American arts community, and is\u200b now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/04\/arts\/music\/anna-netrebko-sues-met-opera.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suing<\/a> to force the Met to pay what she is owed under \u2063her contract.<\/p>\n<p>While new music should be encouraged, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-senators-condemn-passage-of-covid-relief-bill-bogged-down-by-left-wing-measures\/\" title=\"GOP senators condemn passage of COVID relief bill bogged down by left-wing measures\">single-minded focus<\/a> of major arts groups and the philanthropies that fund them\u2062 on \u200dworks that conform to leftist orthodoxy ensures that the beautiful\u200d and\u2062 the potentially popular haven\u2019t \u200cgot a chance.<\/p>\n<p>As the Manhattan Institute\u2019s Heather Mac Donald \u200cwrote in her recent book, <em>When Race Trumps Merit<\/em>, the pursuit of \u2063equity \u200dhasn\u2019t just made America less safe. It\u2019s also \u201csacrificing excellence\u201d as \u2063well \u200bas \u2062things\u200b that are\u2062 beautiful \u200din the name of a leftist\u200c cause that doesn\u2019t \u2063value the great treasures of Western civilization,\u2062 among them the great operas.<\/p>\n<p>Far \u2062from saving these art forms, the embrace of the DEI agenda is hastening their demise. \u200cThe remnants of \u200cthe core audience for these \u2064performances\u2064 are turned off by the abandonment of favored repertory\u2062 and its replacement\u2062 by\u200c woker fare. If \u200bthere is to be any\u200c hope for \u2062classical music in America, it will have to come from a\u200b recognition that\u200d the embrace of woke values is\u200c a suicide pact for the arts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>, there has been a resurgence of interest in classical music. With the rise of streaming platforms and social media, classical music has become more accessible and appealing to younger generations. Concert halls are seeing a new wave of attendees, and classical musicians are gaining popularity through viral videos and collaborations with popular artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":559,"featured_media":2016340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2016339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2016339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2016340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2016339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2016339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2016339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}