Is Music Safe From Dissonance? : Riots: A symphony conductor who is black hopes for wholeness--his and the city’s--in the cold ashes of ‘L.A. hell.’

On Saturday I will have the opportunity of conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a community concert. While this would normally be an occasion to look forward to, I find myself approaching this concert with some trepidation. This is for two reasons: The concert will take place in one of the most riot-torn areas of South Los Angeles; and I am a black man.

At least, that is how I have been pigeonholed by my own society. I, who would rather be known as a musician, a citizen of the world and a decent human being, have found that, due to the hate-based racist polemics that pass for presidential politics in today’s “by any means necessary” approach to power, how I consider myself is irrelevant. Rather, due to genetics and an accident of birth, I am deemed to be part of the problem. Even though I frequent the so-called highest strata of society, I know the indignity of being told by the LAPD to get up against the wall, a position that I (according to them) should be familiar with.

Now that the tattered veneer of civilization has dissipated in the heat of L.A. hell, I find myself wondering how I should react to my Korean colleagues, since we now seem to live under the shadow of an unofficial race war. Yesterday I knew them as violinists, or maybe pianists. I cannot conceive of them as “the enemy,” and despite the bitterness in the air, I feel no need to change. I have had a phone calls from friends around the world that eventually end in silence. The riots have forced us all to examine these relationships and wonder why all of a sudden our racial background matters.

In the three days when the decay that has seeped through society because of 12 years of greed and right-wing self-righteousness exploded onto the world stage, there was only one voice that spoke with feeling for the needs of the country. It was not Tom Bradley, Daryl Gates or any local official. It did not come from Washington, where the posturing and political melodrama in the executive branch was nauseating to behold. It was right here, in Los Angeles, and it was, ironically, the voice of Rodney King.

“Can we all get along?” is a question that has particular resonance to any musician. Without a feeling of commonality, it is impossible to create great music or, for that matter, great art. Even the solo performer must reach out to the audience and somehow create a reflection of the greater society that we all live in. Yet the responsibility of acting as the conscience of the society, something demanded of artists in most cultures, is denied to us in this one; we are accused of being a waste of taxpayers’ money.

And for all the myriad promises that have been given and then broken to the people of South L.A., and by extension to all who dwell in poverty in this country, it is the artistic community that first reaches out to them. It should come as no surprise that the members of the Philharmonic voted to donate their musical skills to the rebuilding of the ties that bind this society. Musicians instinctively understand that if society is being torn apart by racial strife and economic division, then their profession becomes a playground for those affluent enough to support it, rather than a means of communication and enjoyment common to people of different backgrounds. And, as in any great orchestra, the most important intangible in a healthy society is communication and understanding.

Which brings me back to my first point. If, over the past 27 years, we had enjoyed enlightened leadership and developed a general tolerance toward minority and alien cultures, the Los Angeles riots of 1992 would never have happened. And a performance by an ensemble such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic would be much more commonplace, maybe even encouraged, in South L.A. And this would be just another community concert to enjoy. And I would be just another young musician starting a career.

Instead I must worry over the question: How many more times will I journey past the ashes of a Los Angeles before my country will accept me for what I am, rather than fear me for what I am not?

The Los Angeles Philharmonic, divided into two orchestras, will give free neighborhood concerts Saturday at 7 p.m. in St. Brigid’s Church, 5214 S. Western Ave., with mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar as featured soloist, and at Wilshire Ebell Theater, 4401 W. 8th St., with violinist Michelle Kim.