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On the stage of a historic Paris opera house this week, a 30-member chorus will help the Atlanta Opera make its international debut, performing the 1935 classic "Porgy and Bess."

The chorus, though, will not be typical for the Atlanta Opera. In keeping with George Gershwin's original plan for the tragedy set in old Charleston's impoverished Catfish Row, all the opera's choristers must be African-American. That meant recruiting 20 singers not part of the opera's regular chorus.

Théâtre national de l'opéra-comique (ENLARGE)
For the production of George Gershwin's opera 'Porgy and Bess' in Paris, the Atlanta Opera Chorus recruited 20 African-American singers in order to comply with Gershwin's mandate that the cast be all black. Elsewhere in classical music, African-Americans are rare.
William Struhs (ENLARGE)
Victor Ryan Robertson, who currently sings Don Ramiro in 'La Cenerentola' at Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., is one of the few black men working in opera.
William Struhs (ENLARGE)
Victor Ryan Robertson, who currently plays opposite Sandra Piques Eddy at Spoleto Festival USA, says 'a different generation's baggage' about race hasn't hindered his success.
Shelley Emling/Cox Newspapers (ENLARGE)
Atlanta Opera chorister Gregory Caldwell (left, with chorus master Walter Huff) calls himself simply a 'soul musician.'
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When the Atlantans look into the orchestra pit, they'll see an American orchestra that reflects classical music's usual demographics: a handful of black musicians in the mix.

The contrast points up a racial line in classical music that remains infrequently crossed. Many in the classical community question whether enough is being done to attract African-Americans to the field.

In 1955, eight years after Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's color barrier, contralto Marian Anderson dissolved the divide at New York's Metropolitan Opera. But in the half-century since, while several African-Americans have found stardom — soprano Leontyne Price and pianist André Watts among them — the number of blacks in classical music has remained low.

Most American orchestras are approaching gender parity, according to the League of American Orchestras. Asians account for more than 6 percent of musicians in the league's 250 professional ensembles. African-American musicians make up just 1.66 percent.

This despite the fact that musicians in unionized orchestras, such as the Atlanta Symphony, play behind a screen in "blind" auditions to eliminate bias.

Few observers find blatant discrimination in the classical community. They cite instead a combination of factors, from entrenched perceptions of classical music's exclusivity to cuts in music education to peer pressure among students.

Some decry the divide in a town like Atlanta, with its powerful black music traditions from gospel to hip-hop. Others suggest the numbers don't signify a problem as much as easily explained cultural or class differences.

More to be done

Attracting African-Americans to classical music has proven difficult in Atlanta, as everywhere else.

University music programs, including those at Morehouse College and Georgia State, draw talented black students, but a small percentage pursue careers in classical music. Programs to nurture minority musicians, such as the ASO's Talent Development Program or Detroit's Sphinx Organization, have made little impact in professional ranks.

"It's as much an issue of class and education as culture," suggests Emory University professor Dwight Andrews, a composer and minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown Atlanta. "Where not so long ago access to classical concerts and formal music education hadn't been available, now it's a narrowing of young African-Americans' aspirations, where commercial pop culture is seen as the whole culture, as an end point."

Among the Atlanta Symphony's 95 unionized instrumentalists today, only one, trombonist Stephen Wilson, is black. The Cleveland Orchestra, with 105 members, employs two African-Americans. Those numbers are typical for major orchestras.

In the 200-voice, all-volunteer ASO Chorus, the average is eight African-American singers, or 4 percent. By comparison, the Atlanta Opera Chorus is remarkably integrated, with typically a quarter of its usual 40-member group being African-American.

But Atlanta chorus master Walter Huff says "relatively few black singers audition for the [regular] opera chorus, for a town this size. Many who are invited to join can't make our demanding rehearsal schedule. There's still work to be done."

Always a 'first time'

The "Porgy" chorus' trip to Paris, along with other high-profile events, such as the Atlanta Ballet's collaboration with hip-hop's Big Boi, might signal a new era in integrating fine-arts communities with black performers.

Or it may be just another step. On Sunday, Emory's Andrews will lead a concert of music by African-American composers, the latest edition of what began in 1910 as the Atlanta Colored Music Festival — an early showcase.

"It's a good thing if [this concert] seems like a significant 'cultural moment,'" Andrews observes, "but every cultural moment seems like a first time, going back 100 years."

David Morrow, choir director at Morehouse and the first African-American hired to lead one of the region's top-tier, mostly white choirs, the Atlanta Singers, agrees with that perception.

"Most of our Morehouse and Spelman music students are classically trained," he said, "which gives them the skills needed for any career. [But] there's still a perception among students that they'd be trailblazers in classical music. Somewhere along the path, they diversify to pursue a career, into jazz or R&B or studio work."

Efforts see little payoff

Fourteen years ago, the ASO launched its Talent Development Program with the goal, initially, of attracting more faces of color in the audience. Organizers discovered a chicken-egg conundrum: More minorities might attend if they saw minorities on stage, but too few African-American children were learning instruments early enough to earn entry into top conservatories, and possibly into a major orchestra.

So promising students were provided with instruments, taught by ASO musicians and mentored toward the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, summer music camps, conservatory training and professional careers.

Since the program started in 1993, some 45 youngsters have graduated; 22 percent went on to conservatories. But just one program alum has earned a spot in a professional orchestra.

'Future has to be better'

Terrance McKnight, a classical radio host who recently left Atlanta for New York, was an aspiring classical pianist at Morehouse, but says he felt pressures that discouraged his ambition. While he practiced a Beethoven piano sonata one day, a classmate told him, "Keep it real, man."

"I don't know too many black musicians who only play classical," said McKnight. "So it's easy to call yourself a 'jazz musician' as a generic term and identify yourself with your African-American heritage, as a point of pride."

Gregory Caldwell, one of the Atlanta Opera choristers singing "Porgy" at Paris' Opéra-Comique, doesn't consider himself a classical musician, though he's received such training. "I'm a soul musician," he says, "in whatever genre that may lead me."

Opera chorusmaster Huff says prominent classical music companies haven't done enough to reach into the community and diversify. Programming is a factor: Huff estimates that the opera's 2005 production of "Porgy" led to a 20 percent increase in the number of African-Americans who auditioned for the regular chorus.

For some black artists who have found success in classical music, the issue comes down to personal choice more than cultural politics.

Victor Robertson, an African-American tenor who emerged from the Atlanta Opera chorus in 2000, is currently singing the prince in Rossini's Cinderella tale "La Cenerentola" at Charleston's Spoleto Festival USA. He sidesteps suggestions of racial bias as "a different generation's baggage."

"At Spoleto, I'm a black man kissing a white woman in the Deep South, and we get nothing but standing ovations."