On Friday, June 7, Jonathon Heyward did what he does often: he directed a group of orchestral players with flourish and triumph. Heyward is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO)’s Music Director. He is the first Black person to serve in this position. His five-year contract with the organization began with their 2023-2024 season.
The day was already set to mark the conclusion of this year’s Symphony in the City series. But organizers decided to dedicate it to everyone affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. Six men were killed in the collapse, and one survived. In the days and weeks that followed the collapse, the city was united in a holding pattern of shock and reflection.
“Hope was certainly a part of this,” Heyward told Baltimore Beat in an interview held a few weeks after the event. “Out of darkness, there is always light. I think this idea of recognizing what had happened, and the tragedy that comes with loss, any loss. But also remembering that, essentially, there is always going to be hope at the end of the day.”
At the performance, Heyward was also joined by spoken word artist Wordsmith, members of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras, and members of BSO OrchKids, a program that provides free music education to Baltimore City children.
Heyward led the Star-Spangled Banner as an ode to the historic site. But as he often does, the young conductor also added a selection of contemporary pieces of music, including Marsalis’ Herald, Holler, and Hallelujah and Wordsmith’s Welcome Home. His conduction was a bridge between worlds that Heyward knows are not so far apart – classical music is Black music, as is jazz, as is country as is, the blues.
“It was so very clear to us the morning after the bridge collapsed that we needed to dedicate this concert to the victims and to the first responders in our community,” Heyward said.
“I think that’s the power and responsibility of an arts organization – particularly one of our size. To remain relative, and relatable to a community, you have to react to what the community is going through.”
Symphony in the City concerts are free, however, the BSO asked attendees for donations that would support The Maryland Tough Baltimore Strong Key Bridge Fund at the Baltimore Community Foundation, which provides money to support recovery efforts for lives and communities that were impacted by the Key Bridge tragedy.
Both the Symphony in the City series and the OrchKids program are ways that the BSO is pushing classical music outside the sometimes stuffy and segregated confines of a symphony hall and into Baltimore, where it can be more accessible to more people.
Heyward said that the OrchKids program was one of the primary reasons he was excited about joining the organization.
Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, Heyward said he became obsessed with classical music and learned to play the cello after being exposed to it in a public school program similar to OrchKids.
“My family members don’t play classical music. None of that was a part of my upbringing,” he said. “The only reason why I got involved [with classical music] was through a public music school system.”
Once he heard it, he became obsessed. “I was fixated on it. It was my outlet. I think for me, this stereotype of classical music belonging to one group has really always confused me, because I think that there’s so much there’s so much relatability within classical music….There’s so much relatability of even just physically feeling what an orchestra can feel like in a concert hall, everyone can relate to the power of that.”
Heyward said he wants to use his position to transform the lives of Baltimore City students, just as his was transformed.
That’s why having young people participate in performances like the one at Fort McHenry is so important.
“Being able to sit next to professional musicians and say, ‘Oh, I can do this. I’m on stage with a professional musician,’ it means so much,” he said. “I remember when I was in youth orchestra and sitting next to a professional musician – and you never forget that moment.”
“Being able to sit next to professional musicians and say, ‘Oh, I can do this. I’m on stage with a professional musician,’ it means so much,” he said. “I remember when I was in youth orchestra and sitting next to a professional musician – and you never forget that moment.”
Jonathon heyward, music director of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Heyward said that he’s excited to continue working in community and with the community – and it’s the perfect time to do that work.
“I say that the BSO is very aligned at the moment,” he said. “But also what I feel is that the community is really aligned with us at the moment. I think that it is great to be able to reflect on, to understand, how we do that and how we do that better. How do we even go further? Because I think reflecting is the only way to clearly see the next steps.”
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