Chineke! Orchestra brings diversity to classical music

DW (English)

The Chineke! Orchestra from the United Kingdom, an ensemble with predominantly Black and minority ethnic musicians, has decided to break the mold and bring more diversity to the world of classical music.

Transcript

00:00Classical music is changing.

00:04The Chineke Orchestra is bringing diversity to the concert hall with international acclaim.

00:12Their scholarships, network, and Chineke Orchestra are powerful tools on this quest,

00:17with non-white musicians still underrepresented in the world of classical music.

00:23We really just wanted to make classical music, but weren't previously given the opportunity.

00:31I would say in general, a person of color has a lot more difficulty getting into anything.

00:39Playing with people like me, it was just empowering.

00:44One thing that Chineke stands for is diversity.

00:49Double bassist Chi-Chi Nwanoku, who has Irish-Nigerian roots, founded Chineke Orchestra in London in 2015.

00:57She has been part of the classical music world for decades.

01:01Here, musicians of color are still a minority.

01:04I decided, well, I'm going to look for people.

01:08Because so many people did say, it's not your sort of music,

01:12and any black people who play classical music, they're not very good.

01:16And so they were very confident with this.

01:18So I thought, I have to find out for myself.

01:22And the more I looked, the more I found, the well of talent runs deep.

01:35American conductor Kazim Abdullah has worked with many famous orchestras around the world.

01:41This is the first time he's rehearsed and performed with the Chineke Orchestra.

01:46He says it's a uniquely beautiful experience.

01:52Hopefully this new generation that's coming up will realize the importance

01:56of making sure that the arts and music is really accessible to everyone.

02:01And I think Chineke, it makes people realize,

02:03ah, I see people playing the violin, the cello, all these instruments,

02:07in a really high-level professional way.

02:10And so that's what I think what Chineke does best.

02:19Some musicians who started out in the Chineke Orchestra have become sought-after soloists,

02:24like British cellist Sheku Kanemason and his sister, pianist Aista Kanemason.

02:34I mean, I'm always sad when people move on,

02:37especially enormous talent like this, but they sit on our shoulders,

02:43and we sit on their shoulders.

02:45It's, you know, we support each other.

02:54South African cellist Abel Salaucho also started his career with the Chineke Orchestra.

03:00Today he's a globally recognized soloist and composer.

03:04He still feels deeply connected to the Chineke Orchestra.

03:15I'm a cellist from South Africa.

03:18There's probably another cellist in the group from another country,

03:22you know, with a totally different perspective.

03:24You know, our color doesn't make us have the same ideology, simply.

03:29So we're all exploring ourselves, and within speaking to each other and playing with each other,

03:35we find answers of what we want to be in the society.

03:41Chineke Orchestra plays about 35 concerts in Europe and the United States each year.

03:48The musicians mainly perform compositions by multi-ethnic composers,

03:53like this piece from 1903 by British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,

03:58whose father was from Sierra Leone.

04:08We are not a niche. We're not niching at all.

04:10What we're doing is amplifying what is already there.

04:14We're playing music by Elgar, Brahms, Beethoven, Dvorak, Sibelius, etc.

04:22side by side with their black counterparts.

04:29The Chineke Orchestra encourages young musicians of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds

04:34to enter the world of classical music,

04:37and their concert hall audiences are every bit as diverse.

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