Walking Through the Valley: Engaging with Black Choral Music as a White Conductor

As a young White conductor recording an album of Black choral music, Baker Purdon encountered numerous moments of internal and external tension as he engaged with the music, the singers, and the larger topics of race, appropriation, and equity. In this session, he will share how he used intercultural dialogue as a framework for his efforts to ethically engage with Black choral music. Participants will hear insights from Black conductors and scholars along with anecdotes from the recording experience, and will leave with an emerging draft of considerations for White conductors before beginning the rehearsal process.