Chineke! Orchestra
The Chineke! Orchestra has a motto, "Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music," and the stated goal of its sponsoring Chineke! Foundation is "to provide career opportunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) classical musicians in the U.K. and Europe." In its inaugural performance, the orchestra's 62 musicians represented 31 different nationalities.
The Chineke! Orchestra and Foundation were launched in 2015, both the brainchild of double bassist Chi-Chi Nwanoku. The name is Igbo for "God creates." Nwanoku was a founding member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, has taught at the Royal College of Music, and has been well known in the U.K. as a broadcaster, putting together programs like one for the BBC Radio 4 network on the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. She was aware of the work of the U.S.-based Sphinx Foundation, which has worked to train and to increase opportunities for young musicians of color. Her moment of revelation came when she attended a concert by the Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra at London's Southbank Centre. "One thing I noticed at that concert," Nwanoku told the London Independent, "was the incredulity on the faces of the philanthropists and politicians in the audience, looking at a stage filled primarily with Black people."
The Chineke! Foundation sponsors not only the Chineke! Orchestra but also the Chineke! Ensemble, a chamber ensemble made up of the orchestra's principal musicians, and the Chineke! Junior Orchestra, which is aimed at providing training and encouragement to talented young musicians. Yet the performing organizations have proven to have more than an educational or career-development function. The Orchestra has attracted support from the likes of the BBC, the Association of British Orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Society, and Arts Council England from the beginning. It gave its debut concert in September of 2015 at Queen Elizabeth Hall and was appointed an Associate Orchestra at London's Southbank Centre in the spring of the following year, returning to perform there at the Royal Festival Hall.
The year 2017 saw several festival dates, the orchestra's first international appearance (in Ghent, Belgium), and performances at the Royal Albert Hall in its first BBC Proms concert. That year, the Chineke! Orchestra was signed to the Signum label and released its debut album, featuring music by Sibelius (Finlandia, Op. 26, which had been the Biafran national anthem) and Dvořák. Many of its concerts have featured music by composers of African descent, including several world premieres by Hannah Kendall and Roderick Williams, among others. In 2020, the Chineke! Orchestra released The Spark Catchers on the NMC label.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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The New Four Seasons - Vivaldi Recomposed (2022)
Max Richter, Elena Urioste, Chineke! Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 10 Jun 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Florence Price: Piano Concerto in One Movement; Symphony No. 1 in E Minor
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, Chineke! Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 23 Jun 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Nutcracker Suite
Chineke! Orchestra, Andrew Grams
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 27 Oct 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bob Marley & the Chineke! Orchestra
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Chineke! Orchestra
Reggae - Released by Universal-Island Records Ltd. on 22 Jul 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Coleridge-Taylor
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 30 Sep 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stewart Goodyear: Callaloo & Piano Sonata - Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Stewart Goodyear, Chineke! Orchestra, Wayne Marshall
Classical - Released by Orchid Classics on 7 Jun 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Spring 1 (Levitation Mix)
Max Richter, Elena Urioste, Chineke! Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 22 Jun 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Nutcracker Suite
Chineke! Orchestra, Andrew Grams
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 27 Oct 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' / Sibelius: Finlandia
Chineke! Orchestra, Kevin John Edusei
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 7 Jul 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The New Four Seasons - Vivaldi Recomposed (2022)
Max Richter, Elena Urioste, Chineke! Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 10 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Redemption Song
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Chineke! Orchestra
Reggae - Released by Universal-Island Records Ltd. on 8 Jul 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Florence Price: Piano Concerto in One Movement; Symphony No. 1 in E Minor
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, Chineke! Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 23 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
One Love / People Get Ready
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Chineke! Orchestra
Reggae - Released by Universal-Island Records Ltd. on 25 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bob Marley & the Chineke! Orchestra
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Chineke! Orchestra
Reggae - Released by Universal-Island Records Ltd. on 22 Jul 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spark Catchers
Classical - Released by NMC Recordings on 17 Jan 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Satisfy My Soul
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Chineke! Orchestra
Reggae - Released by Universal-Island Records Ltd. on 10 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Get Up, Stand Up
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Chineke! Orchestra
Reggae - Released by Universal-Island Records Ltd. on 22 Apr 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Nutcracker Suite: IV. Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)
Chineke! Orchestra, Andrew Grams
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 13 Oct 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Nutcracker Suite: III. Dance of the Floreadores (Waltz of the Flowers)
Chineke! Orchestra, Andrew Grams
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 29 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spring 1 (Levitation Mix)
Max Richter, Elena Urioste, Chineke! Orchestra
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 22 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Coleridge-Taylor
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 30 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo