Endorsements:
“The classical music community is at a vital crossroads in our history. Right now, orchestras and ensembles are playing women-composed music more than ever before, but they are only playing a fraction of the works that women have contributed to the canon for the past thousand years.
Boulanger Initiative has done more to identify and catalogue music by women than any other organization, and through Redefining the Canon they are in a unique position to affect crucial change throughout the industry, and ensure that women’s voices remain heard by audiences around the world.”
— Jennifer Higdon
GRAMMY Award-Winning Composer
“This is a truly exciting moment for our music world - through Boulanger Initiative’s Redefining the Canon we have an exceptional opportunity to redefine and expand our classical canon to include the vibrant works of our time and the unjustly neglected music of the past. Celebrating the diversity of music not only transforms our performing arts organizations but ensures their vitality and relevancy far into the future.
By including historically underrepresented composers in our orchestra audition repertoire, we can engage musicians throughout our field and help introduce them to amazing music that has long been ignored. Boulanger Initiative is perfectly positioned to spearhead this expansion of our audition repertoire, and to bring our musical community together in a dynamic, committed and positive way.”
— JoAnn Falletta
Music Director, Buffalo Philharmonic
GRAMMY Award-Winning Conductor
“Boulanger Initiative’s Redefining the Canon is a transformative project that allows for the alignment of the values purported currently by orchestras to more deeply engage with works of diverse composers with educational institutions that are now interested in teaching future professionals to play diverse repertoire. The initiation of this project that supports both educational and professional entities could not have arrived at a better time.”
— Dr. Louise Toppin
Professor of Music (Voice), University of Michigan
Director of Videmus and the George Shirley Vocal Competition
Founder of the African Diaspora Music Project
Here in the United States, classical music and its institutions have spent over a generation centering a musical perspective and aesthetic that fails to fully engage the sensibilities and experiences of today's vibrant and diverse artist communities. This has not only stifled the growth and evolution of western classical music, but also denied audiences the opportunity to capture the depth of this musical tradition as an art form utilized by far more individuals than dead, European men. Shifting this status quo requires an unapologetic, head-on approach to challenging today's western classical institutions, and the Boulanger Initiative is one of the leaders in this movement. Women and gender-marginalized music creators are vital to the survival of orchestral, chamber, solo, and choral music; I honor the work that the Boulanger Initiative does on the behalf of the legacy of these musicians and consider the organization a partner in the broader push toward heightened equity, cultural competency, and representation in our musical spaces.
-Loki Karuna (formerly Garrett McQueen) - Arts Activist, Executive Producer of TRILLOQUY, President of TrillWerks Media