Asian Pacific Islanders in Classical Music

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 6! Do you think all Asian Pacific Islanders play classical music? There are a lot of APIs who play classical music, but not all of us fulfill that stereotype, especially in the professional sector. The truth is, according to the 2016 report The Racial/Ethnic and Gender Diversity in the Orchestra Field by the League of American Orchestras, the vast majority of professional classical musicians are white, and although Asian Pacific Islanders are the most represented classical musicians who are people of color, they are a small minority. The representation drops further for any position of power. So this week we talk about three Asian Pacific Islander composers you should know: Zhou Long, Kenji Bunch, and Cerise Lim Jacobs. To learn more and get involved, we recommend visiting Kenji Bunch's Fear No Music and Cerise Lim Jacob's White Snake Projects which both mix classical music, empowerment, and activism. To open this episode, we discuss the Grammy award wins for the API community. To close the episode we launch a new thematic series called "Not as Asian as You Might Think" where we talk about the Lazy Susan and whether it's as Chinese as most people think. For previous episodes and information, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [email protected]. Segments 00:25 Reflecting on the Grammy Awards 03:31 Asian Pacific Islanders in Classical Music 14:09 Not as Asian as You Think: The Lazy Susan