“When this ensemble began in 2009,” said Charles Dickerson, executive director and conductor of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), “I thought it was a summer project that would last six weeks.” 16 years later, Dickerson is bringing his ensemble — the largest predominantly Black orchestra in the United States — to The Wilshire-Theatre Ebell on Feb. 9, for a concert celebrating Black History Month. Additional performances are Feb. 7 at CSU Dominguez Hills, Feb. 8 at La Sierra University, in Riverside, Feb. 15 at Los Angeles Technical Trade College, and Feb. 17 at L.A.’s California African American Museum. Admission is free.
The program for these concerts features Margaret Bonds’s Montgomery Variations, inspired by pivotal moments in the civil rights movement, Florence Price’s arrangement of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (informally called “the Black national anthem”). The orchestra will also perform Festival Overture, by one of its members, Kenichi Fortune, and Trial and Triumph by Kenichi and Kevon Fortune.
Dickerson got his start conducting church choirs at the age of 21; while his current orchestra varies in size, he reported that there were some 140 musicians onstage when the group performed in Disney Hall in July 2024. “The youngest is 11, and in terms of the core orchestra, the eldest is about 24. We have a group of mentors in their 30s, and those young people also play with the orchestra. We might have a few [members] approaching 40, but the core of our ensemble is in high school and early college.”
Now 72, the conductor, who earned a Master of Music degree from California State University, Los Angeles, as well as a law degree from American University, has directed ensembles throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has prepared choruses for concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestras. Yet he doesn’t think of himself as a maestro, but as someone who’s “privileged and honored to [make] music with the most wonderful kids in the world.”
Out of all those ensembles, ICYOLA remains closest to his heart. “These young people, they’re the greatest young people in the world. They’re not just excellent musicians. We do not do what we do with this orchestra with the expectation that young people will necessarily become professional musicians,” he added. “We know that that’s a very difficult track to ride upon. But what we do, is we want the principles and practices and habits that we develop to transfer to all aspects of their lives: First of all, show up; second, show up on time; third, be prepared; four, be ready to take the lead when it’s your turn; and five, be ready to support everyone in all aspects of what we do.”
Dickerson likens this approach to “teaching civics. If we are successful in conveying those kinds of issues and having them adhere to the highest standards of those principles, we’re uplifting the community from which we emerged.”
Dickerson, who is on the board of the League of American Orchestras, said that, out of about 700 youth orchestras in the country, ICYOLA is, as far as he knows, the only ensemble of its kind based in a predominantly African American area. “My mantra,” he exclaimed, “is there needs to be this kind of organization in every city where there’s an NFL team, where there’s a critical mass of people of color.”
Before the pandemic, Dickerson explained, there was a movement toward that goal. “We’d begun a program on the South Side of Chicago where we did a few concerts, and outside Johannesburg, South Africa. But then came COVID, which basically destroyed everything we’d built. Since then, we’ve concentrated on rebuilding what we have in L.A. before we do it in other communities.”
The good news, though, is that ICYOLA recently purchased a building on Martin Luther King Boulevard, and has initiated a capital campaign to raise money for renovations. In the interim, the Ebell concert, which will be followed by a March 2 performance as part of the LA Phil’s Mahlerthon at Disney Hall, promises to be an ear-opener.
Indeed, Dickerson said that he wants the audience to walk away with a new understanding of what a predominantly African American youth ensemble is. “All too often images of African Americans that are developed from media are not always in our best light. My god, these people are just as others are. They’re pursuing excellence and want people to achieve the highest heights. Whether people walk into a symphony concert at Disney Hall, or [we play] in the middle of the ghetto, they’re going to get an excellent performance.”