When an Orchestra is Biased, We Who Pay the Pipers Should Call the Tune
So, is it okay to censure and/or boycott arts organization on account of “political” questions? A friend forwarded Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman’s gutsy column twitting the Vienna Philharmonic for continuing to limit most of their hires to white guys in a world where female and non-white musicians are increasingly prominent.
In my knee-jerk liberal innocence, I assumed that the sender agreed with the sentiments express therein. I posted the link in The Editor’s Back Fence space last week, and I forwarded it to a list of my musical friends. Well, it seems that the male sender wasn’t quite on the same page—he followed up with a letter explaining from his perspective the justifying rationale for the Vienna orchestra’s hiring polices, and pointing out that they do now have a couple of women in the group, including one in a leadership role.
But my musical friends—at least those who wrote back—didn’t agree with him. Oddly enough, those who answered were all women. I’ll quote them without names because they weren’t intending to write for publication,
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