Chineke! Orchestra


Chineke! Orchestra is a British orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority black and minority ethnic musicians. The word Chineke derives from the Igbo language meaning “God”. The orchestra was founded by musician Chi-chi Nwanoku and their debut concert was in 2015 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Background

Nwanoku, the orchestra's founder, coined its name from the word "Chi'" in the Igbo language, which refers to "the god of creation of all good things", or "the spirit of creation". She was inspired by the use of the term in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Nwanoku has acknowledged that inspiration for founding the orchestra came from a conversation with Ed Vaizey, then the UK Minister of Culture, who noted to her that she was one of the very few musicians of colour on stage in a classical orchestra. She also took inspiration from attending a concert of the Kinshasa Symphony, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the orchestra was all-black, but the audience was virtually all-white.

History

The Chineke! Foundation was established in 2015, and its parallel orchestra followed in the same year, with the express purpose of providing "career opportunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic classical musicians in the UK and Europe". The ensemble debuted at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre in London in September 2015, conducted by Wayne Marshall, and highlighting works by Black British composers, such as Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade for Orchestra and Elegy: In memoriam – Stephen Lawrence by Philip Herbert. The orchestra was initially an entirely BME-member orchestra, but has since included white musicians. Chineke! became a resident orchestra at the Southbank Centre in 2016. The orchestra made its debut at The Proms in August 2017, conducted by Kevin John Edusei.
Chineke!'s patron is Baroness Patricia Scotland QC.
The orchestra has performed in various UK venues, and operates without a principal conductor. The orchestra made its first commercial recording for the Signum label, conducted by Edusei.
In November 2019, the Chineke! Foundation became the first-ever recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society's Gamechanger Award, presented to an individual, group or organisation who in unique and contemporary ways has done inspirational and transformative work breaking new ground in classical music.

Premieres

Chineke! has given world premieres of important new works by leading black composers including: