Take the players far away from the hallowed halls of the Kennedy Center. Plop them in a high school auditorium in the socioeconomic stew that is Columbia Heights. Have them play some Dvorak, Debussy, Vivaldi. Then, observe: Who would show up? Would anyone?
Warren Williams, who manages community outreach for the orchestra, was nervous that Friday night earlier this month. Then he was amazed.
There were young black children, clinging to their parents. The local postman and some business owners were there, too. Thirty minutes before the performance, they waited in the hallway of Bell Multicultural High School along with an overwhelming mass of the skinny-jeaned, a line that stretched from the metal detectors at the entrance to the seats in the auditorium.
Over the past decade, much has been made of the transformation of Columbia Heights, thanks to the extension of Metro’s Green Line; the opening of big-box stores, such as Target; and a crop of new condos. Housing prices soared; young professionals moved in. Then came the inevitable tension between the working-class African Americans and Latinos who lived in the subsidized housing that once defined the neighborhood.
