The Gateways Music Festival is back in town.
That event, which focuses on connecting and supporting professional classical musicians of African descent, has activities all week through Oct. 18 in Rochester at the Eastman School of Music.
It also has a relatively new president and artistic director; clarinetist Alexander Laing began filling that role last January.
The Gateways Music Festival came to Rochester almost 30 years ago, and Laing is looking to the future, including how digital technology might be used in the distribution of classical music.
“There's a history of marginalization of Black people in this art form that Gateways is well versed in,” Laing said, “but I think the opportunity for the future is to build things differently, so we don't have to build the digital infrastructure necessarily the same way as we built the brick and mortar infrastructure for classical music.”
Laing also noted that among the goals for the festival is to help connect seasoned musicians with those who are just starting out in their classical music career.
“In the last 10 years or so, that tradition has grown, and we have what we call the Young Musicians Institute,” Laing said. “So every Gateways Music Festival includes some activities for young musicians. We are a big believer in trying to create intergenerational exchange.”
Most of the activities this week take place at Kilbourn Hall and Hatch Recital Hall.
There will be another Gateways Music Festival in Rochester next April, and later that month, Gateways musicians will perform at Carnegie Hall, something they did for the first time in 2022.
You can get more information about the festival at gatewaysmusicfestival.org.
