The SCC will annually commission a work from a Black or Latino composer; the season following the work’s completion, each member orchestra will perform the commissioned piece. Currently, works by composers of color account for less than 1 percent of music performed annually—the SCC’s goal is to increase that percentage.

“The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is proud expand its relationship with the Sphinx Organization and take part in this effort to increase the presence of Black and Latino composers in the nation’s orchestral arena,” said André Gremillet, NJSO President and CEO. “Our Orchestra and its communities are wonderfully diverse, and this new initiative is an exciting opportunity to see that diversity manifest itself in our repertoire.”

The Sphinx Organization will serve as an SCC financial partner, and the organization projects that the consortium’s annual resources will exceed $70,000.

The other founding members of the SCC are the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony. -- www.njsymphony.org