Schott signs diverse British composer
OrchestrasThe German publisher Schott moves slower than most in pursuit of new talent, and seldom puts a foot wrong.
Today it signed Daniel Kidane, a UK composer of Russian and Eritrean parentage.
Kidane, 36, is former member of the children’s chorus at English National Opera.
Recent works include Woke, premiered by the BBC in the 2019 Last Night of the Proms, and Sun Poem, which opened the London Symphony Orchestra’s current season, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
What exactly is a diverse composer? Can one person be diverse? Or is this just a trendy way of saying ‘hired a black composer’? Or does the adjective imply that he writes different kinds of works? Or are you implying that he’s diverse because his origins encompass three nationalities? In that case, Chopin was equally diverse.
Why can’t he be classified simply as a composer and stand or fall on the basis of his music?
“Schott signs diverse British composer”
Any one person, by definition, is not diverse.
Dan’s a very good composer, a real and genuine talent. I even forgive him calling his Proms piece ‘Woke’.
My (admittedly pre-woke) Chambers dictionary defines ‘diverse’ as ‘various, assorted, different, distinct, distracting’.How can one person be ‘various’ or ‘assorted’? As for ‘different’ and ‘distinct’, this applies to all human beings, irrespectivie of their race. To paraphrase Dr King, why can’t we judge a musician by the quality of their music, and ignore the colour of their skin?