Gateways Music Festival returns

By Evan Dawson,

Megan Mack, Patrick Hosken

Published April 4, 2025 at 2:50 PM EDT

A bald man with a dark mustache and beard wearing glasses and blue button-down shirt. He's holding a clarinet.

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Alex Laing

Jared Platt / Provided

Four smiling men wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man front left has long black hair, a grey beard and mustache, and is wearing a maroon shirt and black pants; a man back left is bald and is wearing glasses and a blue pullover; a man back center has short brown hair and is wearing glasses, a yellow t-shirt with a blue design, and a blue blazer, a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing a white button-down shirt under a blue vest, jeans, and brown shoes

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(foreground) Herb Smith, (background) Armand Hall, and co-host Patrick Hosken on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, April 4, 2025

Mary Hussong-Kallen / WXXI News

A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.

A smiling man sits in front of a microphone in a radio talk studio: he has short brown hair and is wearing glasses, a blue long sleeved button down with a red pattern and a red t-shirt with white writing. — Patrick Hosken guest hosting "Connections with Evan Dawson"

Amid the White House's attack on diversity initiatives —including in the arts — the new dean of the Eastman School of Music says it would be a mistake to put the Gateways Music Festival in that category.

Gateways is continuing its mission of celebrating the work of Black musicians and the past, present, and future of classical music. This year's events kick off in Rochester at the Eastman School of Music and include performances across New York City, including at Carnegie Hall.

This hour, co-host Patrick Hosken joins Evan for a preview of the festival with our guests.

Alex Laing, president and artistic director of the Gateways Music Festival
Armand Hall, director of programs for the Gateways Music Festival
Herb Smith, trumpeter for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, leader of the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, and founder of Herb’s City Trumpets