Chi-chi Nwanoku
Founder & Artistic Director
Chineke! Orchestra
GirlTalkHQ
September 8, 2017
If you are familiar with the classical music world,
you know will know that many of the major orchestras and composers are
predominantly white. It is an industry where minorities are exactly
that, but one particular group of musicians is disrupting this arena to
give visibility to underrepresented people.
Collectively they are called Chineke! and they are Europe’s first
black and minority orchestra. They made their debut in September 2015 at
London’s Royal Festival Hall, according to a profile on the Telegraph.co.uk
by Ivan Hewitt. The classical music critic reports that the performance
was made all the more significant because they played a piece by a
black composer named Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Since their debut, they have done numerous performances, gone on a
tour, recorded an album, and established themselves as a force to be
reckoned with in the classical music world. And it’s all thanks to
Chineke!’s founder 61 year-old Chi-chi Nwanoku, of Irish and Nigerian
heritage. Chi-chi has been involved in the world of music since she was 7
years old when she started playing the piano, and today is one of
London’s best known musicians.
She studied at the Royal Academy of Music and has worked all over
Europe and her instrument of choice is the double bass. Throughout her
career she has become particularly passionate about addressing
inequalities within classical music
in the UK, which is why she started the Chineke! Foundation. Chi-chi
was awarded the Black British Business Awards, Person of the Year 2016.
She told Ivan Hewitt the idea for the Foundation came about after a
conversation with the Minister of Culture in former UK Prime Minister
David Cameron’s government who made a remark that made her realize there
was something missing in many orchestras.
“He said to me, ‘Why is it only you we ever see on stage in
orchestral concerts?’ and at first I didn’t know what he meant. Then I
realized he meant musicians of color. I had never really thought of
myself in that way. I spend my whole life surrounded by white people in
orchestras, I defined myself by what I did, not the color of my skin.
But of course he’s right. How often do you see a black person in an
orchestra? Almost never,” she said.
She began thinking about this issue more but it wasn’t until after
attending a performance by the Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra from the
Congo the following year that made Chi-chi want to do something similar.
She decided to put together an orchestra made up entirely of people of
color. Finding musicians who fit the parameters to try and recruit
wasn’t easy, however.
"I am not going to say our orchestras are racist; I have never used
that word. But there is a problem that young players of color who might
come into the profession have no role models. Many have looked at that
sea of white faces and they think, ‘this isn’t for me’. I wanted to
create an orchestra where all those people could feel they belonged,”
she told the Telegraph.
Chi-chi says the increase in diversity on stage will only be seen
more when aspects pf the industry behind the scenes are changed.
“It’s all about redressing a balance, and changing perceptions. We
have to do that because there is a bias in the system. It’s there in
things like auditions,” she said.
It’s also about the ethnic makeup of the early pipeline into the classical music world.
As part of her mission, Chi-chi has also created a junior orchestra for
ages 11-18 which aims to fill the gap and encourage more black and
minority youngsters to be immersed in this genre from an early. age.
Along with giving a platform to black and minority classical music
performers, Chi-chi says Chineke! is also about exposing audiences to
classical pieces written minority composers.
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