Reginald Mobley on Transforming Classical Music: Advocacy, Diversity, and New Works

Reginald Mobley

Diversity has become a hallmark of countertenor Reginald Mobley's career. Not only does he deliver captivating performances of a wide range of music — from Baroque megahits to Black spirituals and freshly inked works of today — but he's also become a leading advocate for diverse programming in classical music. 

In recent years Mobley's worked with ensembles on both sides of the Atlantic to uncover music by performers from underrepresented backgrounds and bring those works to the stage. And as I learned in a recent conversation, the GRAMMY-nominated singer was inspired to make his advocacy work a central pillar of his career after experiencing a moment of casual racism at a gig.

"There was an instance several years ago, where I was headed to a rehearsal," Mobley shared in our conversation. "Someone stopped me in the hall, thinking I was a janitor, and asked me to unlock a hall for a rehearsal I was a part of. This is basically the story of my career, and I think I had dealt with these incidents enough by that point that it inspired me to ask every artist of color I knew to tell me their stories."

After weaving together the responses he received from other artists who had experienced similar moments of prejudice on the job, Mobley commissioned composer Jonathan Woody to write a motet based on these stories: Nigra Sum Sed Formosa: I Am Black but Beautiful (A Fantasia on Microaggressions).

"This work musically answered the issue of casual racism brought upon not just artists of color, but also female artists and queer artists," he explained. "From that point forward, it gave me the inspiration to steer my career towards making the arts a safer place for people who should be able to casually come into a space, feel comfortable, and experience joy."

Mobley's important work in programming diversity continues this spring with two major events. First up is Shall We Gather Together at the River at New York's Park Avenue Armory, which considers the power of water through music by Johann Sebastian Bach and songs from the Black American spiritual tradition. Then the countertenor heads to England for a touring program with the Academy of Ancient Music that explores Baroque music by British-born composers alongside those who freely immigrated to England or were brought to the country as slaves.

For Mobley, these programs prove that the powerful voice of Black artists is by no means a modern concept.

"Black people didn't just start composing in 1920. The fact is we've always had a seat at the table — it's just that someone else was sitting in it. Classical music and the arts in general has always been diverse, we've just been focused on a subset of the very vocal majority, and ignored the rest that existed out there. The time is now to widen that focus and see that everyone is represented."

Shall We Gather at the River will be performed at Park Avenue Armory on May 21. Mobley and the Academy of Ancient Music tour their Sons of England program in London, Cambridge, Liverpool, and Bristol, May 25–31.

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