Listen Live
Fantastic Voyage Generic Graphics Updated Nov 2023
Black America Web Featured Video
CLOSE

 

Jason Ikeem Rodgers has emerged as one of the brightest young musical conductors in the world, winning several awards that date back to 2001. Today, Rodgers is the musical director of the Clarkston Civic Orchestra in Georgia and has an assembled an all-Black ensemble he’s named Orchestra Noir.

Rodgers is originally a native a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended school at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he obtained a professional studies degree in orchestral conducting. He then attended the University of North Carolina School of Arts where he earned master’s in orchestral conducting and a bachelor’s in piano performance.

The conductor’s talents have been globally recognized, with his most recent award occurring in August 2015 after he won the first prize in the London Classical Soloists Competition. He’ll also be joining the group in concert as part of their European tour in 2016. A year prior, Rodgers won the International Conducting Competition in Atlanta, Ga., and was also first prize winner of a conducting competition held by the Orchestra, da Camera Fiorentina in Florence, Italy.

According to a recent report from Rolling Out magazine, the orchestra would be the first all-Black orchestra to perform in the Greater Atlanta region. The idea of Orchestra Noir ties directly with the Clarkston Civic Orchestra’s aims to promote diversity and connection via various forms of music including classic, Western and global music.

Orchestra Noir will make its debut this year.

(Photo: Jonell Media PR)

Like BlackAmericaWeb.com on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.