The December 10 session of this series presents two outstanding speakers who will discuss their path-breaking scholarship on the performance history of classical music in Washington, DC.

Daniel Boomhower, Research Director at Dumbarton Oaks, will outline Musical Capital: Sound and Power in Washington, D.C., the forthcoming book he co-edited, and describe the seminal role played by his and other exclusive DC institutions in presenting classical music from the 1930s on. His publication offers a holistic picture of the simultaneously hyper-local and globally connected musical culture of our city across several decades, communities, and genres. An important part of this history is how presenters of classical music concerts often limited access to their venues, based on race, class, and social status.

Carol Oja, William Powell Mason Professor of Music and American Studies at Harvard University and current Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, takes on this topic, presenting her research on Jim Crow policies of Washington DC’s concert venues, culminating in contralto Marian Anderson’s landmark 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial.

Daniel Boomhower is the Director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and a musicologist whose research, scholarly papers, and publications focus on the formation of musical institutions in the United States and the transmission and reception of the music of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and Johannes Brahms.

Carol Oja, William Powell Mason Professor of Music and American Studies at Harvard University and current Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, is an internationally renowned scholar and prize-winning author who has led scholarly societies, chaired major music programs, and judged national competitions. Her recent books include Bernstein Meets Broadway and the co-edited volume, Sounding Together: Collaborative Perspectives on U.S. Music in the 21st Century. Her next book is provisionally titled Civil Rights in the Concert Hall: Marian Anderson and the Struggle Against Racial Segregation in Classical Music Performance.