Music: Negro Conductor

A broad-faced, close-cropped, 26-year-old Harlem musician named Dean Dixon was well on his way last week to doing what no Negro has ever done—conduct a first-rank symphony orchestra. Musician Dixon had already waved a crisp, confident baton over the New York City Symphony (see above), the National Youth Administration radio orchestra, and an amateur symphony of his own in Harlem. At a Town Hall recital, Conductor Dixon made more news. He directed a 38-piece white outfit which he had founded—the New York Chamber Orchestra—in concertos with a debutante pianist, Vivian Rivkin.

Critics gave...

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