Violinist Lara St. John on how to make classical music safer for everyone

The New York Philharmonic came under fire recently after Vulture published an article detailing how the orchestra handled allegations of a sexual assault that happened in 2010.

Now, a group of musicians are advocating for change, demanding the orchestra dissolve a reported non-disclosure agreement involving the musician who made the allegations in this ongoing case.

Lara St. John is a Canadian violinist who helped lead the demonstration in New York. She is also a member of the Order of Canada and a survivor of sexual assault. She joins host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about how to make music schools and orchestras safer, more inclusive spaces.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. Trigger warning: this conversation deals with sexual assault and rape.

Elamin: You're currently working on a documentary. You're speaking to survivors of abuse, both in music schools and in orchestras here in North America and around the world. What is it about these institutions, you think, and the way that they're run that can make women and also musicians of other marginalized groups feel vulnerable and unsafe?

Lara: Well, schools I can firsthand talk about. There is a problem with the hierarchy. Some of these teachers are considered gods, and they're given godlike power, actually. And you don't have 12-year-old lawyers or eight-year-old physicists, you know what I mean? It's one place where you do start very, very young, and these gurus of learning are given so much power over the student that it's really ridiculous. You absolutely have to do what the teacher says. You see it also in gymnastics and dance, but classical music, especially violin, piano and to an extent cello, you have to start very, very young. 

It's a breeding ground for predatory behavior, and not only children, but also at the college level. I heard from hundreds of women, and there are some people like Stephen Shipps, who's now in federal prison in Michigan, who had 40 years of complaints against him and it wasn't until a student reporter brought out an article in the student newspaper. Another problem is institutional complicity — not only in schools but also in orchestras. It's such a small profession and it's very, very competitive. It starts very, very young, and in a lot of places it's incredibly male-dominated. And so, there's no place for women to speak up. There's nobody to talk to without it getting back to, say, your perpetrator or their friends, and then they can blacklist you and ruin your career. So, there goes your livelihood.

Elamin: I know it may seem obvious to some folks, but can you lay out the stakes and the huge cost to orchestras and to music schools if women and girls do feel unsafe there?

Lara: Well in schools, for example, the hierarchical problem they have is if you say, "My teacher harassed me," that teacher will be on your jury. He will probably be at various competitions or auditions that you do. He's got friends who are going to be in those places. If he says, "Oh, she's problematic," they start whisper campaigns — and because the profession is so small and so competitive, those work. A lot of times in orchestras you'll have all-male sections, and they want their buddies to get in if there's an opening, so they'll actively go against. It really makes it impossible for anyone to come forward about these things.

I came forward in 2019, 35 years after what happened to me, and I had to know that if I never played another note in my life, I would still survive; I wouldn't starve. So then I see that I was sort of representing people in a way who are just 20 or 25 or so, and they feel as though they cannot come out because this kind of abuse has been accepted for so long. And there's still the old boys club almost everywhere, especially in various instruments. It's a fallacious hierarchy, and somehow that patriarchy has to be brought down. Otherwise women will never be safe.

Elamin: You're in the process of making this documentary. What are some of the best practices you've come across?

Lara: Well, I really do hold up Amsterdam Conservatory as a beacon of hope because when they built the new building in 2007, every single classroom door is glass, and there are no locks whatsoever in the entire conservatorium. You can't teach at home, and they also have something called "team teaching" so that no one professor has complete control over the life of any one student. They've realized at this point the serious problem in classical music and they've done something about it. They've certainly done way more than anyone in Canada or the U.S.A. 

I was recently playing a concert at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. I went and looked around at their classrooms and yeah, there's a window, but it's seven feet above ground and there are locks on all the doors. Why isn't there a window where people can see in? Why do you have to be a basketball player to see in? It doesn't make sense.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Lara St. John produced by Danielle Grogan.