There was a collective sigh of exasperation at the mention of how the blackness in the opera more or less ends on stage. “In 20 years, I have never been hired by a black person; I have never been directed by a black person; I have never had a black CEO of a company; I have never had a black chairman of the board; I’ve never had a black driver, “said Robinson. “I don’t even have black stage directors. None, never, for 20 years. “
The Metropolitan Opera, the country’s largest opera house, in fact, its largest performing arts organization, paints a revealing picture. Its 45 board of directors has only three black managing directors. Of the 10 people on her stereo, one is Black; of the 90-member orchestra, two. The Met has presented 306 operas in its 137-year history, none of them by a black composer. (That will change when I stage Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” next season.)
Last season began with a production of “Porgy and Bess”, which despite having an almost exclusively black cast, as required by the heritage of its creators, the Gershwin brothers, was directed and directed by white men (albeit choreographed by a black woman, Camille A. Brown). At a minimum, Thomas said, that can no longer happen.
“Stop letting whites tell blacks about the black experience,” he said. “That, to me, is outrageous. Don’t tell me how I should feel black and how I should move. “
Ms. Bullock, who at the beginning of the conversation said, “I am so tired of trying to make peace within myself,” asked for an anonymous survey to identify patterns of racial inequality in the field, including conservatories. Ms. Bridges said in a later interview that, similar to sexual harassment workshops, companies should provide training on racism and diversity.
Ms. Slack’s lawsuit, she said in the video, was nothing but “humanity”: “I’m not asking for your seat. I’m asking you to move so I can sit in mine, and you’ll agree to that.
