The Sound of Difference

What happens when the elitist space of 'Western' classical music seeks to diversify itself? And what are the social effects worked through diversity discourses in classical music institutions? Sounding difference addresses these timely concerns by critically examining how diversity work takes shape in a cultural sector so deeply implicated in hierarchies of class, structures of whiteness, and legacies of imperialism. Against persistent social exclusions in the sector, and sharpening inequality and upsurging ethnonationalism in Europe, the book draws from ethnographic and interview data to analyse how diversity discourses become constructed in the organisational and creative processes of music production. From rehearsal and performance practices to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the sector's commitment to change, Kolbe reveals the institutional constraints and precarious labour relations that form around diversity work in classical music and skilfully considers what these processes can tell us about the remaking of class, race, and racism today. Overall, Sounding difference makes visible the contingent ways in which diversity discourses in the cultural industries contribute to the endurance of white middle-class social domination, yet also draws out under which conditions they may unlock a more radical cultural politics predicated on creative and social justice.