Invisible Player – The History of Rosemary Sanders

 
Rosemary Sanders was born in 1921 in Chicago and at age five moved with her parents to South Bend, Indiana. Her mother, Helen, worked for Gertrude Oliver Cunningham who recognized Rosemary’s talent and bought her a Stradivarius in the 1930s. With no African American string teachers in South Bend at the time, Rosemary studied privately in Chicago at the Sherwood Music School. She was a member of the Riley High School Orchestra, serving as secretary. She auditioned and was accepted into the South Bend Symphony in 1940, where she played for 15 years, sitting in the last row of the second violin section. She performed during a time when segregation was prevalent in South Bend; the city’s cultural and social institutions, hotels, and restaurants did not admit African Americans. Rosemary’s name was never listed in any Symphony programs, and in formal photographs she was seated behind the orchestra, with only her head visible. In addition to her Symphony membership, she taught private students from Notre Dame and performed at her home church, Greater St. John’s Baptist Church. She was a composer, teacher, and lover of music. She passed in 2017 at the age of 95. We honor her contributions to the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.

Invisible Player By Dr. Marvin V. Curtis

 In 1940, 19-year-old Rosemary Sanders became the first African American musician in the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and probably in America.  This project, Invisible Player, is designed to present the historical narrative of Rosemary Sanders and highlight the racial barriers African Americans face in American orchestras. The film uses Rosemary’s story as a jumping off point to explore where the American orchestral industry is today, how we got here, and possible paths forward.  

Sanders prepared for her audition with years of private study with South Bend’s concertmaster, the lead violinist of the Symphony. During high school, she traveled from South Bend, Indiana, to Chicago with her mother on the segregated South Shore train line to study as the only African American student at the Sherwood School of Music at Columbia College. Through the generosity of her family’s employer, Gertrude Oliver Cunningham, she was given a Stradivarius violin, one of the most prized string instruments in the world. Despite her obvious talent as a violinist, when she joined the South Bend Symphony, she was assigned to the last seat in the second violin section. The audience could not even see her. For the fifteen years she performed with the orchestra, her name was never listed in the program. She was never included in formal pictures of the orchestra. Her musical background and first-class instrument notwithstanding, she was never allowed to advance from the last seat, where she was invisible to the audience.  Upon her leaving the orchestra, the next African American member of the South Bend Symphony would not join until 1995, 32 years later.   

 With Rosemary excluded from orchestral history, records list Denver Symphony bassist Charles Burrell as the first African American player in an American orchestra in 1949.  The deliberate exclusion of Rosemary Sanders from the history of the South Bend Symphony is emblematic of racist policies of the Jim Crow era. Yet many these policies have persisted long past the formal end of Jim Crow, and have resulted in the continued racial disparity between African American players and white players. Even when included as members of American orchestras, many players find themselves to be “invisible” among their fellow musicians.  

In 2014, there were 1,224 orchestras in the US, and African Americans comprised just 1.8% of the players, based on data provided by the League of American Orchestras.  In 2024, there were roughly 2,000 orchestras in America, and the number of African American players had grown to 2.4%, while other racial groups, such as Latino/Hispanic players, expanded from 2.5% to 4.8%, and Asian players grew from 9.2% to 11%.     

The history of Rosemary Sanders and South Bend in Invisible Player will show why American orchestras have remained so out-of-step with the demographics of their communities. The film explores Sanders’ background and life in South Bend, her relationship with her benefactor, Gertrude Oliver Cunningham, her symphony experience, and how she dealt with the racial climate in the city after leaving the symphony. Her life story exemplifies the continuing lack of diversity in American orchestras. Our project covers topics such as the past and present racial challenges that African Americans face and have faced, including the lack of arts education in communities of color and its effects on the pipeline of potential players. I survey solutions that are being developed to address the problem. Orchestras still look much as they did when Rosemary Sanders was playing. Will things ever change?  

I am traveling the country looking for answers. I began working locally in the archives with the South Bend History Museum and the St. Joseph County Library. Working with the film team of videographer Ryan Blaske and director Chuck Fry and my co-producer Justus Zimmerman, we have recorded extensive interviews with Sanders’ daughter, Helen Binion-Ursey. We visited the Detroit Conference of the Sphinx Organization, whose mission is to address the systemic lack of access in classical music by Black and Latino communities, and interviewed many participants, including Aaron Dworkin, its founder.  Simon Woods, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, the 700-member service organization, sat for an interview at their Houston conference. Former Executive Director Lee Koonce and new Executive Director Alexander Laing of the African American Gateways Music Festival Orchestra gave their insight. Lee Pringle, the founder of The Colour of Music Festival of Charleston, South Carolina, outlined his distinctive views. Interviews are being scheduled and conducted with many African American players and managers who are navigating the current landscape and dealing with current challenges. All share their hopes and fears about the future. They are charting a course whereby American orchestras can reach their full, diverse potential.   

The story of Invisible Player will be told in a 90-minute film, with me serving as guide, narrator, and executive producer.  Since Sander’s history was not readily available, I researched her South Bend story using primary source materials provided by her daughter and Sander’s writings. Additional research has been conducted into the racial climate that led to the inclusion of African Americans in the five largest American orchestras. This complicated history focuses on the orchestral and musician union climate that left many of these players feeling invisible. I’ve had discussions with arts leaders concerning the role of arts education, access, and different schools of thought for diversifying the orchestral landscape. These discussions have yielded contentious viewpoints revolving around the fundamental conflict: should African American ensembles be self-sustaining, or should players pursue immersion into the orchestral landscape, or is there a compromise?  The South Bend Symphony will provide a musical soundtrack utilizing music Sanders would have performed, as well as works of African American composers. We have commissioned a new work by African American violinist and composer Jessica Carter of South Bend.   

Invisible Player seeks to expose an injustice, examine the rationale for that injustice, and offer solutions to create a more equitable and inclusive art form. This film tackles a subject with broad implications for the future. I anticipate very extensive dissemination of the film, beginning with its submission to film festivals. From there, it is designed for viewing everywhere high-quality documentaries are available. The film is designed to be a tool for American orchestras to acknowledge the past and make changes for a positive future.