Music to Our Ears: Gateways’ Triumphant A. D. Lee Koonce
An Exclusive Conversation with ROUTES
During the month of April, the Gateways Music Festival presented a series of concerts at venues throughout Manhattan. ROUTES followed the festival sending several of our correspondents to many of the concerts and music-related offerings of the 2022 season. Like many grassroots nonprofit performance and educational organizations, the pandemic shuttered much of their work. For Gateways, this was compounded by the loss of their music director and conductor Michael Morgan who died suddenly in 2021. Yet, triumphantly, this year’s festival launched in Rochester, NY, at the Eastman School of Music, where the organization is based. And, it culminated with a concert at one of the world’s most prestigious venues for classical music, Carnegie Hall.
ROUTES sat down with Gateways President and Artistic Director Lee Koonce on the heels of the orchestras’ historic Carnegie Hall concert that showcased 130 musicians of African descent.
The Gateways Musical Festival’s Triumphant Return
ROUTES: Mr, Koonce, first of all congratulations for the successful series of concerts over this past week. Yvette Berry and I attended the final concert — we were both enthralled. The offerings were wonderful: the artistic selections in the program, the virtuosity of the musicians, and, not the least, the dedicated educational and audience development component. There was also the realization that we all were witnessing a moment in music history, So… Bravo!
Koonce took a deep breath conveying both appreciation and a sense of just how long a journey this was.
Koonce: Yes, thank you.
ROUTES: Bring me into the fold of the planning of this year’s festival. What were the conversations about programming and the selection of works?
Koonce: Planning began right after the 2019 concert. Clive Gillinson of Carnegie Hall asked to meet with me. Of course, I took the meeting and at that meeting he invited Gateways to appear in the fall season. Almost immediately Carnegie Hall; Michael Morgan, our late music director; and I started working on the program. Because we were being presented by the Hall, they had a significant say in what the artists would perform.
I think a lot of that had to do with, if they got an orchestra performing the Johannes Brahms’ Variation Compositions, they didn’t want us, or, someone else doing the same work a week later. We should do something different. So they were very involved in those conversations.
ROUTES: Did they have specific program requests?
Koonce: I think, they initially wanted a more traditional classical program. At least half and half. But we were able to convince them that our mission was to promote works by composers of African descent. Our musicians, too, felt that those works should have more real estate on the program. I think you saw that on Sunday. Probably 75% of the time was spent on works by composers of African descent.
ROUTES: How did your Conductor Anthony Parnther build the program?
Koonce: The program that the orchestra ultimately played was really Michael Borgen’s program. It wasn’t Anthony Parnther’s program because when Michael passed away, we didn’t change the program. We all felt it was a tribute to him to play the same program that he helped us put together. That was the program you heard on Sunday.
ROUTES: How and when did Parnther join the festival?
Koonce: After Michael passed away, which was such an unexpected shock for all of us. He was more excited about this Carnegie debut than anything else I had ever seen him excited about. And, not just for himself, but for Gateways and the Gateways Orchestra.
Over the summer Michael and I were working on a list of conductors who could serve as assistant/back-up conductors and so we compiled a list of about 12-13 conductors and started asking some of them. Then Michael got sick and then he passed away.
We have a committee of about 20 musicians and we started to meet to talk about the conductor replacement. That group developed a list of about 37-38 conductors of African descent from around the world.
We had conversations with several potential candidates. Then each committee member was asked to submit a secret ballot. With their comments and within their first three choices, Anthony was, hands down, the first choice. Several committee members had worked with him in California and in Hollywood — so they knew his work. He was absolutely the right choice for this concert and for Gateways. The absolute right choice!
ROUTES: Did the number of potential candidate responses you received surprise you?
Koonce: I was surprised that there were so many. We primarily looked at those who had professional experience verses academic careers. And so I thought the list would be smaller. Those that were on that list, the majority, were known for their professional work. We were all a bit surprised that there were so many. There is a wide range of experiences and ages, but none that really made much difference to the group. They really wanted the person they felt connected best with Gateways. And Anthony is a meticulous organizer, and, he studies the music deeply. We also knew he would be unafraid of anything that Jon Batiste might throw at him. Because Batiste’s work was not yet written. So we knew Anthony could handle anything. And he did!
I asked if that meant that Parnther and the orchestra did indeed get the Batiste score at the 11th hour but Koonce gracuously begged off my question and instead responded,
Koonce: I think the thing that really, really sealed the deal was Anthony’s unabashed support and promotion of Black people in classical music. He is proud of that. He is forceful and he is making changes in Hollywood and other places he conducts.
He pointed out that the San Bernardino Symphony, the orchestra that Parnther conducts in California, was founded in 1948 as an all African-American symphony orchestra.
Koonce: Anthony’s commitment for this work goes way back and the musicians were very intent on finding someone who understood and believed in Gateways vision. In addition to his superb musicianship skills, they were thrilled that he had this acknowledgement of Black people in Classical music and a history of supporting them and encouraging them in ways that not all conductors do.
I shared with Koonce how emotional the performance was for us in the audience. Particularly at the end of the concert when the last work segued into the Negro National Anthem. We were invited to stand and share in singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” I noticed that many of the musicians were fighting back tears by the end of the concert. It even seemed that Mr. Parnther needed a moment before he could turn and accept our admiration and thunderous applause.
Koonce: I didn’t see that because I was in awe seeing how many people were responding. I was looking at that. There were people on either side of me who could not stand for “Lift Every Voice” because they were sobbing. They were just uncontrollably sobbing. I don’t remember seeing anything quite like that before.
As I was picked up our press tickets at the stage door, I ran into featured artist Jon Batiste. He was dressed in the yellow sequined suit he would wear on stage that afternoon. He was graciously taking a moment to talk to a few fans and pose for a few photos. But despite the electric energy of his brash stylings, I was struck with what seemed like an unassuming modesty. I asked Koonce about that and the collaboration with him.
Koonce: I think that people see Jon in a certain way. It’s kind of his public persona. In his videos and his dancing and his singing, everything is extroverted. He is such an unusual person. He talks quietly and has conversations with all the musicians. Everyone had a moment with Jon. He never rushed out of that room. They laughed. They carried on intensely. He connected with the musicians even outside of the music, which was really amazing. And so I think by the time they all were able to sit down and play the music together, in many ways, he had already established a connection with the musicians. When he came into the room and he’d hug people, he’d laugh with people. He’d talk quietly with them. It’s just fascinating to be on the outside and watch. It’s not what you would expect. It was fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.
And, that connection certainly evident on stage during his performance with Parnther and the orchestra.
Koonce: Intimate! It was intimate. And that was my big concern about having his camera crew on the stage at that work. I told them that this piece is such an intimate piece and if you mess that up by running all over this stage, the audience won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you. And Jon won’t forgive you either.
As a documentary producer who has filmed a lot of live music performance, I confessed that I related to that delicate balance of getting quality live coverage, but, too, not drawing the focus away from the performance.
Koonce: I think they were just on the cusp of going overboard. Fortunately, they did not. And, that was critical, because the piece was so personal, so uniquely personal.
So much of the performance felt deeply personal. Not just in the works being played but how each musician contributed to them. You could feel and even see how honored the orchestra was to be at Carnegie Hall. You particularly felt that from the younger ones who, presumably were making their debut in this great hall. Koonce shared what the energy was like throughout the concert, even backstage.
Koonce: It’s funny because that’s the very first thing Jon said when he walked out and said in his Louisiana accent, ‘We are here.’ The importance of the occasion was not lost on any of the musicians. The Gateways Orchestra is the first all Black symphony orchestra that Carnegie Hall has ever presented.
And, the profundity of that, the magnitude of that from the venue that is in many people’s mind, the destination venue for many many artists in the world. The fact that the Gateways orchestra would be that orchestra was not lost on any of the musicians. They were quite aware of the historical nature of that moment.
And I think it was very powerful for them, personally, especially for those that had never played at Carnegie Hall before. But they all knew that it was empowering for Black classical musicians everywhere to have such a thing happen.
ROUTES: You stood onstage beside the Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall, Clive Gillinson and you opened the concert together. Talk about that partnership and the significance of Carnegie Hall as your venue partner.
Koonce: That team that has been assembled there, is one of the most ‘woke teams.’ They understood all of these issues, deeply, related to inclusion, related to ‘everybody in nobody out’. They understood that deeply. And you can really see that in a lot of other programs. I mean the whole AfroFuturism thing. They are exploring topics really really deeply. But I think what shocked us the most was how important Carnegie Hall made us feel.
We are the little engine that could. We are this tiny, tiny organization that is based up in Rochester, New York. And they treated us like we were the Berlin Philharmonic or the New York Philharmonic. For instance, we had a site visit in September and 12 of their senior managers showed up to take us on a tour of the facility and to talk with us about our upcoming program. They were always available to us. It was really quite amazing.
ROUTES: Is this the biggest festival or concert in Gateways’ history?
Koonce: In some ways it is and in others it’s not. In Rochester, we only do one orchestra concert and for this festival we did two full concerts in two different cities. But normally we do more than 60 chamber music concerts throughout the city at homes, schools, churches, recreational centers and senior citizen centers. This year, we also just did a film series, a panel discussion, five chamber ensembles. So, in some ways, it was smaller than what we normally do. But in other ways, the Carnegie Hall concert represents like 100 of the smaller events we used to do because it is just such a huge thing for an organization like ours to do.
So much of what Gateways offers by way of performance is also tied to educational events that serve to continue to develop a greater appreciation for the classical form. Koonce spoke to their connection to community.
Koonce: That connection to community, and we’re using that word broadly here, is very much a part of Gateways outreach. The community we work with in Rochester is predominantly African-American. So that is the second part of our mission: to enlighten and inspire communities through the power of performance. It has been part of Gateways DNA since the beginning when our founder, Armenta Adams (Hummings) Dumisani, created Gateways.
Armenta walked all over Rochester with a shopping cart filled with instruments. She gave music lessons in community centers, homeless shelters, and schools. So, from the very beginning, that was part of her vision for Gateways. From the start, she realized that this needed to be a program, a project and an organization that the community owned — not just supported or funded or helped, but owned. And that whole way of thinking is completely different from many, many classical music organizations. Some organizations would call that “outreach,” which is not a word I use. But for Gateways, it is just a part of what the organization is.
Gateways had so many wonderful venue partners like Merkin Concert Hall and the 92nd Street Y. However, it also worked with more community-minded venue partners such as Abyssinian Baptist Church and Schomburg Library.
ROUTES: How involved were venue partners in shaping the various events?
Koonce: All of them were very involved in the events. We always let the artists do the programming. We never, or very, very rarely, make a recommendation on what they will perform or play. So what we asked of the venues was to help us market performances to their constituency and communities. Some were more effective than others. For example, the Harlem Chamber Players at the Schomburg Center was filled to the rafters. Another example is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There we had five sets played by the Gateways Brass Collective in five different galleries.
Koonce described how the ensemble began its program in the Great Hall. The Met normally hosts a small ensemble or pianist at the balcony bar area on Friday or Staurday evenings. It is one of the most enjoyable times to visit the museum. So Koonce admitted that like me, he assumed that this was where the museum would begin their program.
Koonce: Instead, they began their set on the main floor in the museum’s entrance hall surrounded by about 200 to 300 hundred people. They finished their set, and, readied themselves to move on to the next location. The assembled crowd turned and accompanied them to the next gallery. They followed them to hear the musician’s program in next set. It was remarkable!
ROUTES: Can these venues perhaps be the resource partners needed to expand the educational programming on the level Gateways does in Rochester?
Koonce: This is the first time we’ve ever worked with these highly sought after venues in New York. So the fact that they said ‘yes‘ to Gateways is really amazing in itself. But I think we all learned a lot during the process and I think there are things that we will do differently in the future.
ROUTES: What are the takeaways?
Koonce: From the very beginning, I think having a clear understanding of how the audience development will proceed and take place is very important. Partnerships are about mutual benefit and mutual risk. So, if Gateways is providing the artists, what is the venue providing? I think being very clear about the mutual exchange is something we have learned for the future.
ROUTES: What were the crowning achievements of Gateways this year?
Koonce: I don’t think anything could ever top the Carnegie Hall performance. It was extraordinary. But I think for me, the way the audience responded was the most magnificent experience. They got the vision. They got the orchestra. They understood exactly why they were there and why we were there. That, to me, was absolutely extraordinary. They got everything, completely. When the musicians came out in the second half of the program donning African colors, the audience got it immediately! That was not so much the case in Rochester.
ROUTES: What is your hope for next year and what are your needs to make that happen?
Koonce: Well, certainly this undertaking required significant financial resources from Gateways. We made a commitment to pay all of the musicians union wages. We believe in fair wages and commissions for work. Our budget grew from about $400K to $1.7 million dollars since the last full festival in 2019. Raising that amount of money for a small organization, like ours, consumes every amount of energy we have. We have to find ways to attract significant donations to help make this work possible and keep us going forward.
He goes on to imagine what the result of such funds could achieve.
Koonce: What would happen if you brought us all together? What could we create, what could we do? It would allow us to work together to create a new paradigm in classical and orchestral music.
I asked if Koonce felt that this paradigm might already be in the making with orchestras working to cast their nets wider using new practices such as blind auditioning. (This is a selection process where musicians audition behind a screen so the decision maker can only evaluate a musician on the merits of his virtuosity.)
Koonce: Orchestras are so proud of that idea, but that’s not really the full story. It’s not accurate! Almost every orchestra takes down the screen in the final selection process. So… yes, they have the screen up for certain portions, but at the end, the screen comes down. There are very, very few orchestras in this country that during the selection process that a screen stays up the entire time. The Metropolitan Orchestra is one of them. In fact, it is one of the most diverse major orchestras in the country. So, read into that what you will.
He says this with a knowing laugh and adds,
Koonce: Orchestras are not giving the public the full story on how the so-called blind auditions work. I think the public has to delve into that process more deeply to really see where there are opportunities for subconscious bias or even blatant bias.
It gives an even deeper understanding of the work that Gateways is doing and even more resonance to Koonce’s vision for growing the organization to the next level.
Koonce: What we need is an endowment and if there is someone out there that could make that happen, that would be incredible. That would insure our future.
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