DURHAM, N.C. — An orchestra in North Carolina is working to honor marginalized voices in the music world, starting with a tribute for Women’s History Month.
As part of its 48th season, the Durham Symphony Orchestra put on a special concert at the beginning of March titled "Compositions by Her – A Celebration of Women in Music."
Maestro William Henry Curry, the music director for the orchestra, has been working to include neglected pieces by marginalized composers since he accepted the position in 2009.
“When I think of the amount of female or women composers that have been suppressed, their content,” Curry said. “They still compose despite being lost in oblivion, ignored. Your heart breaks over that.”
Founded in 1976, the symphony has always aimed to be "Durham's People's Orchestra" — reflecting the diversity of the community in its programming.
“This is an era now where if there's anything positive, we're having an awakening to these treasures, like these female composers that never should have been buried in the first place,” Curry said.
According to the Orchestra Repertoire Report in the 2022-23 orchestra season, more than 87% of pieces performed were composed by men. Curry said the power of his podium comes in moments like this when he gets to be what he calls a "composer’s advocate."
“To root for the underdog and bring forward the unjustly neglected pieces and performers, to me is kind of a natural, innate,” Curry said.
He said you can feel that these women are saying things through their music that words couldn’t convey and believes sometimes you have to play what people need to hear even if it’s not comfortable or easy.
The report also shows that in 2016 works by female composers and composers of color made up only 4% of programming — today that number has increased to 24% thanks to efforts like those of the Durham Symphony Orchestra.
“These are people that could have given up and they would have been forgiven for giving up, but they wouldn't have forgiven themselves,” Curry said.
The orchestra's next concert is a free outdoor performance the first weekend in May called Pops in the Park. It will conclude the season with a performance with the Choral Society of Durham on May 19 at Duke University.
