Comments on: Cancel Culture Reaches “Land des Lächelns” At Manhattan School Of Music

By: Yara Haddad

Yara Haddad — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 23:50:24 +0000

Donna Vaughn was on the chopping block already as far as holding her position at MSM. This “call-out” event was unfortunately the last straw and perfect storm for her termination. They were already waiting to fire her.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 16:49:02 +0000

If MSM terminated a faculty luminary over a shocked response to a Zoom-Bombing, followed by her subsequent apology on social media, it is obvious that the school had its own agenda.

By: Becca

Becca — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 03:00:12 +0000

There has been a wide misrepresentation of the online class in which Dona Vaughn was teaching when she made her comments. I would like to provide some clarification on the circumstances of the class. This was not an open Q&A. It was a high school masterclass, put on by a Colorado based after school program, on performing musical theatre. This was not an MSM class, nor was it connected to MSM in any way. Students had paid for a 20min time slot to perform and receive critiques from Ms. Vaughn. Auditors were allowed to join the class and there would be an open Q&A at the end, if time allowed, for them to ask questions. At the time of Ms. Vaughn’s comments a student had just finished being critiqued. Ms. Vaughn asked if “There were any questions about what we had just done” and that was when the auditor interrupted with their question. It caught everybody by surprise since it was not on topic and we had 3 more singers to get through. I am not posting this to excuse the response, but I do think that it is worth clarifying the circumstances around which it occurred.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 12:18:16 +0000

MSM’s strategic plan which is public on their website very clearly states their position on equity diversity and inclusion. It began in 2019 so it should have been clear to this teacher that they weren’t going to stand for her cutting off someone who wanted a dialogue on this topic. Shouldn’t educators want to engage in discussion?

By: meche kroop

meche kroop — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 02:19:56 +0000

That’s a well considered article that deserves to be widely read. I am appalled by this entire affair. Letting students dictate to administration is like letting the lunatics fun the asylum. We are not painting over the paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, nor should we destroy the history of our culture in other areas. I get enough “current events” an “relevancy” from newspapers and essays. For me, opera is about entertainment and gorgeous music. I have reviewed the operetta in question for my website (vocedimeche.reviews) and found it charming. As a consequence of this kerfuffle, I have terminated my association with change.org and am reconsidering my support of MSM.

By: Claudia Friedlander

Claudia Friedlander — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 01:13:22 +0000

Opera companies and training programs must do everything they can to evolve beyond the structural racism that plagues our industry.

Had MSM publicly committed to a program to promote greater equity and started a anti-racism conversation within their own community, as I wish all our institutions would, I believe that this scenario with Vaugn would never have come to pass. Or had it, the overall outcome would be very different. Our institutions have typically been reactive to embarrassing situations, rather than proactive about improving their culture. Had MSM implemented a program to raise consciousness, they could have convened a discussion about the Lehar that explored all of the angles covered in this article. The discussion could even have been led by Vaughn, who could have explained how her choices might be different now, and there could have been room for opposing points of view, and so on.

Instead, Vaughn and MSM were completely caught off guard by someone who wants to expose the structural racism in our music institutions. Their initial response was tone-deaf and inadequate, because neither Vaughn nor MSM had been doing any soul searching about this aspect of our culture. The tone-deaf response poured gasoline on the fire the activists started, and this was the outcome.

The story here is not about how Vaughn was unfairly targeted and cancelled. The story is that our institutions still aren’t taking the lead on this issue, and so they remain part of the problem rather than part of the solution. It creates a vacuum that activists try to fill. That is why this went down the way it did.

By: John Yohalem

John Yohalem — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 18:44:39 +0000

Excellent column, excellent, thoughtful suggestions of ways to deal with traditional music-theater — and theater for that matter, though it’s easier to rewrite Shakespeare’s lines than Lehar’s music. (I’ve noticed they bowdlerize the Joan of Arc scenes in Henry VI these days.)

Yes, I am reminded very much of, for example, the rewriting of Handel oratorios in Nazi Germany so that the Jews are not praised or, indeed, mentioned. And the elimination there of operas like Der Templar und die Judin, Marschner’s version by the way of Scott’s Ivanhoe. Indeed everything about this event reminds me of Germany in the 1930s.

And I’m terribly sorry to lose Prof. Vaughn, who has provided me with many delightful evenings at MSM. I suppose, as a Pagan, I might have objected to her production of Offenbach’s satirical “Orphe aux Enfers.” But it honestly didn’t occur to me to do so. I had a wonderful time!