Black conductors

Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head.

But the project failed for financial reasons..." Steinberg established an orchestra of 36 black and 52 white musicians, when he formed the Symphony of the New World in 1964.

Leonard Bernstein asked Lee to conduct On the Town, which marked the "first time a black conductor led an all-white production".

[4] Isaiah Jackson (born 1945) was the first black principal conductor of The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, in 1986, and became its music director 1987–90.

Canadian-born black conductor Kwamé Ryan, who studied music at Cambridge University and in Germany, made his professional conducting debut in 2004.

[5] In the United Kingdom, the research by Scott Caizley argues how through the systemic removal of quality music education in UK state schools, many young people are losing opportunities which is contributing to fewer black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) young people participating in classical music.

James DePreist (1936–2013), one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage, is congratulated by President George W. Bush after receiving the National Medal of Arts in 2005.
Benjamin Steinberg conducting the premiere concert of the US's first racially integrated orchestra, the Symphony of the New World at Carnegie Hall on May 6, 1965
William Grant Still (1895–1978) was one of the first African Americans to conduct a major American symphony orchestra in the Deep South.
Henry Lewis and Marilyn Horne in 1961, photo by Carl Van Vechten
David Baker (left) leads the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra during the NEA Jazz Masters awards ceremony and concert in 2008.