Sergio A. Mims: Black Legacies: Chineke! Orchestra with Jeneba Kanneh-Mason at Royal Festival Hall now available at BBC Radio 3 website for 25 days

BBC Radio 3 in Concert, Chineke! at the Royal Festival Hall

 

Kevin John Edusei conducts Chineke! Orchestra

Sergio A. Mims writes:

The Chineke! Orchestra acclaimed latest concert which took place last week at the Royal festival hall in London and conducted by Kevin John Edusei can now be heard on the BBC radio 3 website for the next 25 days.

The concert which was entitled Black Legacies was made up of works by black composers including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a new edition Florence Price's piano concerto  the premiere of new work by James B. Wilson and Beethoven Symphony No. 5.

London-born Samuel Coleridge-Taylor often made reference to his Sierra Leonean ancestry in his music. His African Suite imagines the energy and vitality of the continent he dreamed of visiting, using the vocabulary of his European classical training.

As the first African-American woman to have her work performed by a major American orchestra, Florence B. Price enjoyed widespread acclaim during her heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. The Piano Concerto in One Movement is a new edition of the composer’s original 1934 orchestration, and we're delighted that Jeneba Kanneh-Mason will make her debut solo performance with Chineke!.

Chineke! Also presents the world premiere of James B.Wilson’s latest commission, a collaboration with poet Yomi Sode. The work is inspired by a seminal moment in the recent Black Lives Matter protests in the UK.

Beethoven’s celebrated Symphony No. 5 opens with the ominous notes of ‘fate knocking at the door’, marking Chineke!’s final nod to the composer in his 250th anniversary year.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: African Suite
James B Wilson/Yomi Sode: New Work (World Premiere)
Florence B. Price: Piano Concerto in One Movement
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason piano
Chineke! Orchestra
Kevin John Edusei conductor