Chineke! Orchestra

The Chineke! Foundation was founded in 2015 by Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE with the goal of supporting Black and ethnically diverse musicians and opening up better career opportunities for them. “Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music” is the motto of the organization, whose name comes from the Nigerian and means “creator of the world and of good.” Its flagship is the Chineke! Orchestra, Europe’s first orchestra comprising a majority of people of color; its repertoire includes music by ethnically diverse composers on an equal footing with the classics. Following its inaugural concert, which took place at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in September 2015, the ensemble was immediately appointed Associate Orchestra at the Southbank Centre and has since performed in many music centers in the UK and Europe as well as in Australia; it made its first guest appearance in North America in 2023. In the summer of 2024, the Chineke! Orchestra has already performed at the Dresden, Rheingau, and Schleswig-­Holstein music festivals, and their tour program will conclude with a performance at the BBC Proms. The members of the orchestra work closely with the junior formation, the Chineke! Junior Orchestra: within this framework, they teach and act as mentors. In 2019, the orchestra received the inaugural Game Changer Award in recognition of its work as a pioneering initiative for classical music. The Chineke! Orchestra has released several CDs; their most recent album includes works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Florence Price, and Duke Ellington.

One previous appearance at Lucerne Festival: on 11 September 2022, the Chineke! Orchestra made its debut here under the direction of Kevin John Edusei in a program of works by Nabors, Shostakovich, and Dawson.

July 2024