On Stephen Spottswood鈥檚 music playlists, jazz, hip-hop and R&B tunes rub shoulders with works by Chopin, Mozart and Mahler.
But when he was in high school, Spottswood, a classically trained violinist and violist of color, noticed that the orchestras he played with weren鈥檛 playing his favorite hip-hop and R&B songs. And they weren鈥檛 playing the gospel and blues tunes he heard each Sunday in his family鈥檚 church in West Virginia, either.
鈥淚 just felt there was more to my story than what I was playing in the orchestras,鈥� Spottswood said.
That鈥檚 why he founded the , an ensemble dedicated to exploring and performing R&B, jazz and hip-hop music alongside Western classical repertoire.
Founded in January 2020, the orchestra is gearing up for its Lincoln Theatre debut concert. Rehearsing in a church lobby, the musicians recently practiced a program of Spottswood鈥檚 own arrangements of songs by Drake, Beyonc茅, the Black Eyed Peas, Kendrick Lamar, and movements from Mozart鈥檚 Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Beethoven鈥檚 Symphony No. 5 and Tchaikovsky鈥檚 Serenade for Strings.
A music teacher for the Reynoldsburg City School District, Spottswood says he hopes the Columbus Cultural Orchestra鈥檚 diverse repertoire and membership will inspire young orchestral musicians of color to keep playing their instruments.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen it time and time again. Middle school, fifth grade, sixth grade (music students say), 鈥極kay, yeah, I love the violin. I鈥檓 just going to play it,鈥欌�� Spottswood said. 鈥淥nce they hit eighth grade 鈥� ninth grade 鈥� they look at the stage and they don鈥檛 see themselves. And they say, 鈥榃ell, why would I do this?鈥欌��
Spottswood says lack of retention among young musicians of color is in part to blame for the low number of Black musicians in American professional orchestras.
鈥淎frican Americans represent 1.8 percent of all the professionals in orchestras across our nation, Spottswood said. 鈥淪o we just have to raise that number.鈥�
That number might grow, as young orchestral musicians of color see that they can actually embrace their heritage by playing in an orchestra.
鈥淚 really want them to be able to take away the confidence to tell their story with their instrument,鈥� Spottwswood said, 鈥渘o matter what genre they鈥檙e playing.鈥�
The Columbus Cultural Orchestra performs at the Lincoln Theatre Thurs., Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. More information at .
