Classical music has a diversity problem and unfortunately, everyone in the industry knows it.
The difference is, someone actually decided to do something about it. That someone is Jason Ikeem Rodgers. And the something is Orchestra Noir, the all-Black orchestra he started in Atlanta.
But the idea started long before that.
When Rodgers landed in Atlanta fourteen years ago, he had three classical music degrees, a teaching stint in the Philadelphia School District behind him, and a very realistic idea of what was missing. He’d grown up in North Philly, trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music and UNC School of the Arts, and spent years moving through predominantly white academic and concert spaces, collecting degrees and credentials, without ever quite seeing himself, or the people he came from, reflected in what was on stage.
“Being a product of two completely different worlds, one drenched in the black urban culture of my North Philly upbringing, and my traversing through predominantly white colleges to attain three degrees in Classical Music, I felt that I could do something very different and impactful in the industry, given my unique circumstances,” he tells ESSENCE. “Being so, I didn’t build Orchestra Noir to fit into those existing systems. I built it to operate independently of them.”
Orchestra Noir launched in 2016, and a decade later, the list of what they’ve done is almost hard to keep up with. The ensemble made history as the first U.S. orchestra to present Red Bull Symphonic alongside Rick Ross, created original compositions for the High Museum of Art, performed at the inaugural Juneteenth Freedom Vibes Festival ahead of the opening of the National Juneteenth Museum, and taken sold-out shows to cities from Houston to New York to LA. Collaborations with Atlantic Records, Lionsgate, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon followed. “I am extremely proud about the scale, impact, and sense of legacy that Orchestra Noir is evoking in black communities throughout the nation,” Rodgers says. “That’s really special and dear to me.”
“I felt that the nation needed to see and hear an all-black orchestra that was playing and performing its own culturally representative music in a very authentic way,” he says, “and not shying away from anything in regards to how we do culture.”
Every element of an Orchestra Noir concert is deliberate, from what’s performed to how the room is set up to what the audience is encouraged to wear. “These are the people that the mainstream classical music scene have major difficulties attracting to the concert halls. They haven’t really figured out a way to tell our stories in a real, authentic way that’s true to the culture. It’s a scenario that I know all too well.”
“That era of music wasn’t just popular, it was foundational. It shaped identity, confidence, culture.” That’s how Rodgers describes the early 2000s hip-hop and R&B at the center of Orchestra Noir’s current Culture 2000 Tour, which has been selling out concert halls across the country.
“The reason this tour works now is because people are ready to hear it differently. When you strip those records down and rebuild them orchestrally, you realize how sophisticated the music always was. What I want people to feel is recognition. Like, ‘this is ours, and it holds weight.’ Not just emotionally, but musically.”
Rodgers thinks about cities like Baltimore differently than most classical programmers would. “These audiences understand the music instinctively, but they haven’t always been invited into orchestral spaces. So, when we come into a city like Baltimore, it’s not about introducing something new, it’s about reframing something familiar to them at a high level. And the response reflects that. People aren’t confused by what we’re doing. They’re locked in immediately.”
“It’s when looking out and seeing an audience that might not normally attend an orchestral performance, completely engaged. No disconnect. No barrier. That’s when you know you’ve done it right. You’ve removed the distance between the stage and the audience without lowering the standard, which is and will always be black excellence.”
A decade in, Rodgers is already thinking about what comes after the tour. “Expansion. That’s the focus. We’ve proven the concept. Now it’s about building this into something that lives beyond touring, new productions, larger platforms, and more visibility,” he says. “I’m not interested in this being a moment. I’m focused on building something that defines a category and prolongs the mission of creating a safe space for black joy through the power of orchestral music, nationally and then internationally. Sky’s the limit.”
The kid from North Philly has a pretty clear idea of how far that is.
