As the CSO’s Sheila Jones retires, her cause lives on

As the adage goes, “When one door closes, another opens.” With the recent retirement of Sheila Anne Dawson Jones, director of community stewardship for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and founder of the CSO’s African American Network, her colleagues, friends and fellow music lovers wondered who could possibly follow in her stead.

“Sheila’s gone? Now what?” was the consistent chorus from a dozen well-wishers from as far away as London and Montreal when news leaked that Jones would be hanging up her hat. In newsrooms, we’re trained to answer a question early. In classrooms, we’re more likely to address it gradually after studying context and evidence. Often, it’s best to do both.

What seems to be certain is that the African American Network will thrive, even after its beloved founder, Sheila Jones, has retired to continue dabbling in her painting and study of Italian, German and Polish languages. 

A former choir conductor and string teacher at Milwaukee’s Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts, Jones rose up through the ranks of the CSO’s ticketing and patron services department before she was promoted in 2018 as the full-time director of community stewardship of CSO’s African American Network. Her energetic charm and warm persona endeared her to friends and associates along the way.

Here are some of their testimonials:

“Sheila Jones, her late husband, Terrence Jones, and I saw the need for the creation of an African American Network to follow up on the long-delayed implementation of the CSO’s diversity goals that were developed and announced as far back as the year 2000 when the Community Advisory Council was created. Maestro Riccardo Muti also saw the mission of diversity as crucial to the CSO and fully endorsed the creation of the AAN with Sheila as the director. Sheila and I worked very closely together on planning various activities and events in Symphony Center and in venues elsewhere to promote the goals of diversity in music and the CSO. I wish Sheila goodwill, good health and much enjoyment as she retires from the AAN. Her hard work and commitment to the diversity goals of the AAN is deeply appreciated, will long be remembered and will be continued by those of us who are members of the African American Network.” — Barbara Wright-Pryor, member of the artistic planning committee of the African American Network (as well as the AAN’s archivist and publicist)

“Sheila Jones was a tireless champion for Black music representation in the programming and CSO activities. During her time coordinating the African American Network, she brought in new patrons, organized cultivation events, and brought performers and audience members together. Her impact was significant. I speak from a longitudinal perspective, having been a pre-concert lecturer for 23 seasons at the CSO.” — musicologist Dr. Johann Buis 

“I went to Chicago in April 2017 to conduct archival work on composer Florence Price. The Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Center was on my itinerary. The night I spent in the emergency room of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, however, was not. And so, when I eventually managed to attend a Chicago Symphony concert, I was in a frail and exhausted state, and feeling even more introverted than usual, was therefore surprised to see a woman I did not know walking toward me with a welcoming smile. Sheila Jones immediately introduced herself and told me about the African American Network. I told her about my research on Florence Price and the Black Chicago Renaissance. We exchanged details and went to the concert. A year later, Sheila coordinated my first major lecture-recital A Celebration of Women in Music: Composing the Black Chicago Renaissance. Her support, advocacy and friendship have inspired me throughout my journey, from my CSO lecture, through the completion of my Ph.D., to my current position as a research fellow at the University of Oxford. Sheila’s mission to make classical music a welcoming and uplifting space shines bright, and I am thankful for all that she has done.” — composer-pianist Dr. Samantha Ege

“Trailblazer, teacher, coordinator, mentor, organizer, docent, musician, singer … what one word best describes Ms. Sheila Jones? There is none, no, not one to begin to describe the talent, wisdom and the humor Ms. Jones possesses and has shared with all who have had the pleasure to make her acquaintance. We met her during the early days of the African American Network, and it was immediately evident that she was a person on a mission to share her love of classical music with the world, and through her work at the AAN, she made every effort to do just that!” — Howard and Darlene Sandifer, directors of Chicago West Community Music Center

“It has been such a pleasure to work and interact with Sheila Jones over the last few years in her work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and specifically with the African-American Network. Sheila’s joy and spirit in the work that she has done in diversifying the audience and offerings at CSO is contagious. I am personally thankful for the opportunities to have attended and also to have performed at various concerts at Symphony Center, through the AAN. Brava to Sheila Jones, and I wish her well in her retirement.” — tenor Cornelius Johnson

“Sheila Jones is a gifted woman who, because of her passion for the arts and wanting to make sure it is accessible to her people, established the African American Network at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Because of her diligence over the past few years, many doors have opened to artists to present their work to the city of Chicago, with the blessing of Riccardo Muti. As the photographer for the CSO’s AAN, I have worked alongside Sheila for the past four years. I thank her for this opportunity and count her as a dear friend who has impacted many lives with her love and generosity.” — photographer DuRhonda Palmore

“I’m in awe of what Sheila Jones has accomplished in founding and developing the CSO’s African American Network. On an artistic level, she has addressed the breadth and range of African-American musical culture. On a social level, she has welcomed into Symphony Center audiences that did not necessarily feel comfortable going there. And on a personal level, she has served as a warmly inviting presence, encouraging everyone — from connoisseurs to casual listeners — to share her intense love of music. Sheila will forever be remembered for having proven to Chicago and the world that Symphony Center is a home for everyone who values culture, and that the definition of culture itself is forever expanding.” — Howard Reich, author, filmmaker and former Chicago Tribune critic

“I met Sheila Jones in 2017. We were both attending a screening of the unfinished documentary For the Left Hand about pianist Norman Malone. We have been friends ever since. She is a marvelous pianist and a musical inspiration. In 2018, we collaborated on a wonderful event sponsored by Symphony Center Presents in association with the African American Network. I performed several original works in honor of the world-renowned jazz composer and conductor James Reese Europe, arranged for a nine-piece band. Congratulations on your retirement, Sheila!” — composer-pianist Reginald Robinson

“Correcting societal ills is a movement that needs a master touch of an organizer. Sheila Jones is that special force. Confronting reluctance of societal inclusion, she along with Maestro Riccardo Muti and CSO President Jeff Alexander created a taste and platform for the palette of education, enlightenment and entertainment, all tastefully done and tastefully served. The embrace of the African-American community came to life and became real through the CSO AAN. The largesse shown to me by Sheila Jones and the entire CSO family shows that genuine change and inclusion of all cultures is a very reasonable goal that the CSO takes seriously. Sheila Jones assumed the mantle with the organization’s blessing and new directions are courted every day. Thank you, Sheila Jones, Madame Director, for grabbing the reins and pulling us all toward a more inclusive future for classical music.” — composer-violinist Renée Baker

Author’s note: In full disclosure, this reporter was first recruited in 2018 by Sheila Jones to present on the late great World War I composer James Reese Europe and later to moderate pre-concert panels with contemporary music greats such as Reginald Robinson, the Soweto Gospel Choir, Bramwell Tovey and twice with Renée Baker — a one-time-only concert on Josephine Baker that in 2020 I opened in French and a 2019 neo-opera on James Baldwin, two Black expatriates, who, like me, had lived in France. For the latter, Baker invited me to open in English with a Baldwin poem that found its way in my book, James Baldwin’s Black Lives Blues Are Mine (Kendall Hunt), and at the end to co-moderate a panel.

One of the first audience members to speak during the Q&A was a South African, who compared Baldwin’s exile during segregation to South African exile during apartheid. Sheila nudged me to speak to her in Zulu, a language I studied prior to my reporting in that country. The speaker was South African Consul General Phumzile Pride Mazibuko! Afterward, Sheila and I mused about the hilarious drama of our collaboration. She will be missed.

African American Network milestones

Established in 2016, the African American Network has grown to encompass more than 5,000 members. As part of its mission, it presents an annual series of curated and hosted events to create connections and conversations through music. Sheila Jones, AAN founder, oversaw and planned the programming, which has included:

• Its annual Black History Month events, anchored by world premiere presentations about historic Black artists such as Josephine Baker and James Baldwin, featuring new scores by Chicago-based composer-conductor Renée Baker.
• A reception celebrating the world premiere of an SCP Jazz commission by ragtime composer-pianist Reginald R. Robinson of a work dedicated to the life and legacy of African American bandleader James Reese Europe, whose “Hellfighters” regiment brought black American music to France during the Great War.
• A multimedia event with the South African Consulate in Chicago to celebrate the centennial of human rights activist Nelson Mandela’s birth, before an SCP Concert featuring the historic Soweto Gospel Choir in “Songs of the Free.”
• A preconcert discussion and recital to honor William Grant Still’s In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy, with guest conductor Bramwell Tovey and baritone Thomas Hampson, along with baritone Robert Sims and scholar Stan West.
• A recital and lecture by musicologist Samantha Ege on Chicago-based composers Margaret Bonds and Florence Price titled “A Celebration of Women in Music: Composing the Black Chicago Renaissance.”
• Attendance as special guests of Maestro Muti at dress rehearsals of concert operas stagings of of Verdi’s Falstaff and Aida.
• A community open rehearsal with Maestro Muti and the Chicago West Community Music Center, founded and directed by Darlene and Howard Sandifer, at the Columbus Park Refectory.
• “Bridge Over Muddied Waters,” an original concert work created and performed by African American mezzo-soprano and educator Cynthia Clarey and award-winning concert artist Beckie Menzie.
• “A Tribute to the Role of Music in the Battle for Civil Rights,” a concert program featuring music of the 1950s and 1960s, performed by young musicians from the Chicago West Community Music Center.