The Baltimore-Washington Musical Pathways (BWMP) is a new collaborative initiative that seeks to champion a collective approach to diversifying American orchestral classical music and musicians. The program is funded through a visionary grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This initiative brings together key partners from the Baltimore-Washington region—the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), the DC Youth Orchestra Program, and Levine Music— and seeks to transform the field of classical music through their sustained and combined efforts to support and serve young musicians from diverse backgrounds who aspire to careers in music.

Through the BWMP, talented and highly motivated students from the Baltimore and Washington, DC areas, will receive intensive, high-quality, individual instruction from the region’s leading instructors. Among the activities that students will also participate in are performing with regional youth orchestras, master classes with professional musicians from the NSO and Peabody Conservatory, side-by-sides and on-stage performing, and attending professional concerts. BWMP will offer experiential opportunities including regional convenings, internal and external summer learning, immersive cultural experiences, coaching support, instrument support, and support for parents and families as students develop and deepen their musical learning. BWMP is excited to bring in other organizations whose missions align with the work of the collective to provide experiences and services outside of the cohort’s purview.

The mission of the Baltimore-Washington Musical Pathways (BWMP) is to prepare and support student musicians in grades 8 through 12 from communities historically underrepresented in U.S. orchestras for study at music conservatories or as music majors at four-year colleges and universities, leading eventually to professional opportunities with the country’s leading ensembles.