Since the death of longtime conductor Michael Morgan in August 2021, guest conductors have led the Oakland Symphony. After three years without permanent leadership, the symphony named 29-year-old Kedrick Armstrong, the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony in Illinois, as its next music director.
Armstrong’s journey with the Oakland Symphony began in 2022 when he served as a guest conductor for the Summer Stage at Oakland City Hall. He returned in 2023 for the Family Hype concert and again in early 2024 for the world premiere of Here I Stand, an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder.
Born in Georgetown, S.C., Armstrong has a bachelor of music degree in History and Literature from Wheaton College and a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He was also the music mentor for EmpowerYouth! Igniting Creativity through the Arts, a collaboration between the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Urban League.
“I can say, even as a Black queer kid from Georgetown, South Carolina, there was something so magnificent about the first time that I listened to Beethoven and Mahler and started to learn about these large forms,” Armstrong told the Oaklandside during his first interview after being named music director. “But recently, there’s been so much more enrichment in finding artists I love because they make albums. And, because that same journey of going through an artist’s album is the same as going through one of Beethoven’s symphonies. How do we draw that same connection of storytelling and overarching artistic expression for students who are stuck in this quick-paced digital age, but we want them to be able to truly be cultural participants on the grandest scale possible?”
Armstrong takes over the music director role effective immediately. His first appearance as the new conductor will be on Oct. 18, 2024, to open the 2024-2025 season.
The Oaklandside sat down with Armstrong to talk about his upbringing and vision for the symphony. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Calvin Simmons was 20 years old when he became the music director. He was the first African American conductor of a major U.S. orchestra. Michael Morgan was 34, and he led the symphony for three decades. How does it feel to follow in the footsteps of these two prolific figures?
It is one of the most inspiring things for me, but also one of the most encouraging as a young Black conductor; knowing that I’m coming into an organization that has valued and prioritized uplifting diverse voices and diverse leadership for decades is something that I feel it’s a runway that has been created for me where I can truly soar. Thinking about the work that Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons had to do, not only in Oakland but broadly throughout their careers, and the things that they had to overcome. I’m grateful for their legacies and how it’s positioned my ability to so easily come into this position in an orchestra that feels like it’s so normal to have a Black male conductor.
Michael Morgan was a Black gay man, and it is representation on all fronts and a full-circle moment for you.
Absolutely! I got the chance to meet Michael Morgan in 2017. He was the first Black conductor I got to work with and be around, especially at the level Michael Morgan was in his career. It opened the door for allowing me to dream bigger and see myself in a position like a music director of an orchestra, which, in my life, was not a common thing.
You’re no stranger to Oakland, as you have guest-conducted here before. Given what you may have read in other media outlets, what has been your impression of the city?
That juxtaposition excited me the most about Oakland because I knew very little about The Town until I started coming and guest conducting here. And, of course, as many Oaklanders know, if you go on Google, YouTube, or TikTok to learn about Oakland, it’s nothing but this doom cycle of “beware of this town.” But even during my first visit in 2022, there was this immense wealth of love, creativity, determination, and perseverance that I felt immediately coming to this town. I saw so much of the beauty and the resilience of Oakland, and even in the limited time I’ve been here now, and in this position, I’m still seeing so many sections and communities of this brilliant, vibrant, socially active, and justice-oriented town. I’m so honored and so excited to be able to call myself an Oaklander and get to know this community and plug myself in.
Do you see any similarities between Oakland, your hometown of Georgetown, or other places you lived?
The biggest similarity is my connection to the communities of people outside of classical music. Growing up in South Carolina, I grew up in an athletic family and no one in my family is a musician or pursued music or the arts; they are all baseball players. But I’m constantly thinking about what kinds of programming I am doing that speaks to my family in South Carolina? What kind of program would I do in Chicago that was connected to my friends and colleagues who studied music and left music or weren’t musicians at all? And even being in Oakland now, there’s such a rich cultural community. But I’m already thinking about how I can connect to the people who don’t know the Oakland Symphony and don’t know about this phenomenal institution in this incredible town. As I’ve traveled, that throughline of connectivity keeps me humbled and grounded. And truly, what am I doing this for, and who am I doing this for?
You learned how to cook from your grandmother. How do you see your connection to your grandmother, cooking, and music? How do music and cooking intertwine in your life?
The best way I know how to talk about this is that my favorite dish to cook is shrimp and grits. For cooking anything, the ingredients are perfect on their own. Most of these ingredients stand so beautifully as individual things, and the goal of a chef is to figure out how to balance everything on a plate so that each individual ingredient shines through and not one thing overpowers the other, but it all comes together in this beautiful, harmonious dish. I feel like that is my responsibility and my job as a conductor. You’re standing in front of a group of musicians, and each one of them is a beast on their own. They bring so much to the table, they have so much knowledge and so much passion within them. And your job as a conductor, firstly, is to figure out how to balance all of these personalities, and all of these musical ideas, all of the cultural backgrounds of the ingredients, and truly figure out how to present something where everyone feels like they are responsible, that they are part of the process.
Back to my grandmother, it wasn’t enough just to cook a great meal. You have to be nourishing your community, and you have to be feeding your community. There was an emotional connection beyond the food, and that is what I love the most about cooking. Cooking for myself does nothing for me. But it’s when I’m able to gather people around the table and the stories that come from that the community that comes from that, looking at the history of my family, the history of people, the organization, the activism, the organizing, that all emulates from the dinner table, from the lunch table, from the breakfast table, and I’m always trying to find that connection to the orchestra. How can the concert function the same way that my dinner table does?
Who are some of your musical influences?
One of the first people that comes to mind is another prominent Black conductor Paul Freeman, who was the founder of the Chicago Sinfonietta. I didn’t get a chance to meet Paul Freeman, but my time in that program was instrumental in helping me figure out my standing and positioning as a Black conductor. Gospel artists like the Clark Sisters, Elbernita “Twinkie” Dionne Clark to be precise. I grew up as a piano player and watching her bring her skills from her classical training and gospel training behind the Hammond B-3 organ made my soul so happy as a kid. My dad was a huge funk and R&B person. I grew up listening to Luther Vandross and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. There are all of these influences that make up who I am. These are artists that I continue to go back to as a North Star.
You’re a huge advocate for minority voices in classical spaces. You’re a mentor for kids. Have you already considered how you want to help Oakland youth get into these still white and privileged spaces?
One of the biggest things I always have to remember is my upbringing. I grew up as a gospel musician. I grew up playing in churches. For most of my training, as I was coming up, I had two teachers, one who taught me how to read music and play classical music and one who taught me how to play by ear and navigate that genre of music. For me, bringing my own history, my love of gospel, jazz, hip-hop, funk, and all of these popular genres to figure out what students are listening to, what music inspires them, and what conversations they’re having. And how can I incorporate that into what we’re doing instead of just bringing the orchestra to them. How do I meet them where they are and try to figure out what kinds of things speak to their sensibilities? And that’s what I am excited about in this process—learning about the youth of Oakland and what makes them tick.
Besides getting kids more involved in learning about the rich history of music, what do you think is missing from public schools if funding weren’t an issue? What would be a successful path to getting kids excited about classical music?
One of the most powerful tools I’ve ever witnessed in my life is inviting them into the creative process. Even when I was first coming through the education system, a lot of impetus and a lot of importance was put on learning this foreign music, music history, music theory, and even general music education became all about learning about these dead white European composers that for so many kids is such an esoteric idea. I would love to see a world where music education stems from American music and the history of American music. If we start our students thinking about hip-hop, jazz, the spiritual, and folk music. If that becomes the basis of music education, and if we’re truly not only stewarding intellectual creatives but stewarding people who will tell the history and honor the history of American music, it’s so important. It’s something that I’m even trying to figure out how, in my love of Western classical music, how do I strip back some of the layers, the prestige, and the barriers that have been created for students to truly see themselves reflected in orchestral music?
I admire this about artists like Beyoncé, who is teaching the origins of house music in the queer and trans communities, and country music, which is Black music, on her latest albums.
It is about realizing the source of this music is in people of color and indigenous people. As a Black classical musician, I’m always trying to figure out, yes, we love Mozart. Yes, we love Beethoven, but as an American, Black, queer conductor, where’s the source of our music? And where’s the source of our music in the orchestral realm? And how do we tell that story and empower students to see that perspective as valuable with or without our counterpoints from across the sea?
What is one fact about you, besides your love of cooking, that you want the community to know?
One big fact is that I grew up wanting to be a preacher. That’s a fun fact. I grew up in a very religious household, and faith is still a big part of my life. But I say that because what has been so important in my life is intersectionality. What it means to be a man of faith, to be queer, to be Black, to be American, to be a classical musician, and how I navigate through all of those identities, but also how all of those identities live inside of me and make-up who I am and what my responsibility is in relating to the communities of Oakland. I want everyone to know I am trying my best. I hope to touch hands and meet with as many different perspectives and backgrounds as possible because I believe that intersectionality of humanity is truly what heals and sustains communities.
Correction: Paul Freeman founded the Chicago Sinfonietta in 1987.
