Class, not race, is the biggest barrier to a career in classical music in the UK, according to a reader responding to Symeon Brown's interview on class and race. The reader, whose son is a working-class musician, argues that diversity schemes focusing on race overlook class, leaving the poorest musicians of all backgrounds stranded.
Class, not race, is the real barrier
The reader points out that celebrated black classical musicians are often solidly middle class, benefiting from parents who could afford instruments, tuition, exam fees, and travel. Their success is real but mainly shows that class opens doors. The reader's son, who is white and working class, was on free school meals until age 12 and still lives in one of England's most deprived areas. He won a scholarship to a specialist music school and later attended a top conservatoire.
His closest friend, a black working-class classical musician, followed an almost identical path. Both were judged too privileged for widening-participation support at master's level because they had attended independent schools, even though they had bursaries and their families could not fund exam entries or postgraduate fees and living costs. In interviews, conservatoires even disputed the extent of their exclusion.
Venues refuse to pay performers
The reader highlights that many UK recital venues insist on conservatoire-trained performers but refuse to pay them, sometimes even declining to share a substantial retiring collection, claiming the experience is reward enough. This excludes anyone who must work for a living.
Diversity schemes ignore class
The reader concludes that diversity schemes that ignore class will keep mistaking a handful of border-crossers for structural change, leaving the poorest musicians of every colour stranded. The letter was signed 'Name and address supplied'.
