Honoring the recipients of the BPO Diversity Council IDEA Award
Come to the BPO Diversity Council’s annual Opening Doors event, taking place at Kleinhans Music Hall. Awardees of the BPO Diversity Council IDEA Award will be honored in an event raising funds to promote inclusion, diversity, equity, and access in classical music. We hope to see you there!
BPO Diversity Council IDEA Award
Honoring those in our community who create an inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible environment in which music flourishes
The orchestral music world should reflect, and be accessible to our whole community. We seek to break down barriers for participation, especially for those who are underrepresented in the artform.
We recognize that we must all work together as a community to create an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible environment in which music flourishes.
To these ends, this award aims to recognize and lift up individuals and organizations in our local community who love any and all genres of orchestral music and embody the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity and access (IDEA) while promoting, supporting, and/or practicing this artform.
Congratulations to our 2024 IDEA Award Winners!
2024 Awardees
Karen Saxon
Karen Saxon was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. A company member and Musical Director of the Ujima Theater Company, she is a graduate of Buffalo State College (B.A. Vocal Performance, 2003) and the University of Scranton (M.S.Ed. Educational Administration, 2008). A music educator in the Buffalo Public Schools for 25 years, Karen is a vocal music instructor at City Honors School and adjunct voice professor at Buffalo State University. An accomplished pianist, professional vocalist, and expert choral conductor, Karen was the first ever Musical Director for Shea’s award-winning production of “Once On This Island,” and Ujima Theater’s partnership with Second Generation Theater for the box office-breaking, “The Color Purple.”
Karen serves on the Board of Directors for Starring Buffalo and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. She is the Minister of Music at the First Shiloh Baptist Church, Music Coordinator for the Baptist Ministers Conference of Buffalo and Vicinity, and Chair of the Buffalo Branch NAACP ACT-SO Committee. She also directs the Buffalo United Community Choir, alongside co-directors Ella Robinson and George Brown.
Karen is happily married to Darrell M. Saxon, President/CEO of the Thomas T. Edwards Funeral Home, Inc. The Saxons have three amazing children: Nathalie (Terrence), Christnell, and Karrengton Williams.
Henri Star Muhammad / Muhammad School of Music
Henri Star Muhammad is an award-winning concert violinist, conductor, composer, recording artist, author, scholar, educator, founder and maestro of Muhammad School of Music (MSOM). Born and raised in Buffalo, New York Henri Star’s parents began his violin studies at the age of seven. He studied with members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Eastman School of Music, and graduated high school with honors from the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.
Henri Star completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music at the University of Rochester. As a professional educator, Henri Star holds a Master’s of Science in Education, and is a New York State certified teacher of Violin and Music. In his 25 years of teaching, he has led violin programs in over 25 schools throughout Western New York and beyond; including the Arthur O. Eve School of Distinction, the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, Frederick Law Olmsted School, City Honors School, the Buffalo State University Upward Bound Program, the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth, and the Eastman School of Music Community Program. The students and alumni of MSOM have gone on to excel in every field of endeavor, including academia, medicine, law, education, and politics.
During Henri Star’s classical music and violin study, he often found himself to be the only Black and minority musician in the various orchestras he was selected to perform with. In 1999, a year after graduating from college he founded Muhammad School of Music (MSOM). MSOM has made its mission to inspire Black and minority youth to take an interest in classical music. One of Henri Star’s goals is to establish institutions throughout America to make classical music study more accessible to young people.
Now celebrating 25 years, Henri Star and MSOM continues to serve students from Buffalo, the larger Western New York region, virtually through MSOM’s Virtual instruction platform, and students who travel into Buffalo from all over the country. In addition to weekly classes and instruction, Henri Star and MSOM present regular concerts, recitals, and performance experiences throughout Western New York and nationwide.
Thank you to our 2024 Sponsors:
Supporter
Arthur W. & Elaine I. Cryer
Partner
Cindy Abbott Letro and Francis Letro
Philip Rumore
Mrs. Mary Wilson
2023 Awardees
The BPO Diversity Council honors Ella E. Robinson for her incredible lifetime of work connecting people across communities and musical genres, and promoting music-making and music appreciation for all who come in contact with her.
The BPO Diversity Council honors the Community Music School of Buffalo (CMS) for creating access and opportunities for music learning regardless of age, socio-economic status or geographic location with a special focus on breaking down real or perceived barriers for our underserved community members.
