Meghann Oglesby is changing the face of classical music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a genre that skews older, white and male, Oglesby is none of that. Young, gifted and Black, Oglesby is the producer of American Public Media Group\u2019s \u201cPerformance Today,\u201d the largest syndicated classical music program in the nation. The program can be heard on more than 300 public radio stations spanning 41 states. Oglesby is the only Black female producer in national classical music programs at American Public Media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her role since October of 2017, the Rust College (Mississippi) graduate with a master\u2019s from Arkansas State selects the music heard on the program, writes program scripts, voices scripts and creates digital content for social media. Oglesby\u2019s impact \u2026 and imprint \u2026 is noticeable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The show\u2019s \u201cMy Name Is\u201d series \u2013 a series highlighting Black classical music artists \u2013 was the brainchild of Oglesby. It debuted last year during Black Music Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted people to know who these (Black artists) are,\u201d explained the producer. \u201cI want the classical music world to know these people exist and they are incredible artists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another initiative of Oglesby was to diversify the program\u2019s \u201cYoung Artist in Residence\u201d series. Because of her efforts, this year is the most diverse the Young Artist Program has ever been in terms of race, musical organization and type of instrument. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis year we have two Black women \u2026 one just 16 years old \u2026 one person of Chinese origin and another of Italian origin,\u201d said Oglesby, who also initiated a celebration of Hispanic classical artists. \u201cWe had our first harpist and first trombonist. Part of my responsibility to the program is to be inclusive in our content. I feel passionate that we demonstrate diversity; as our audience, too, is diverse. We have to show our audience that we have artists who look like them, sound like them and come from a similar place as them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Park Center High School graduate, who is a native of Chicago, said she has always had an appreciation for classical music and grew up playing the clarinet and piano. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always liked classical music, but it wasn\u2019t a part of my daily life like it is now,\u201d said Oglesby, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With her efforts, classical music will become a part of more people\u2019s daily lives \u2026 more people of color who might not have been exposed to the genre if it were not for Oglesby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meghann Oglesby is changing the face of classical music. In a genre that skews older, white and male, Oglesby is none of that. Young, gifted and Black, Oglesby is the producer of American Public Media Group\u2019s \u201cPerformance Today,\u201d the largest syndicated classical music program in the nation. The program can be heard on more than 300 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2316,2317,2315],"class_list":["post-3400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-american-public-media-group","tag-black-music-month","tag-meghann-oglesby","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3401,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3400\/revisions\/3401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}