It's possible historians will look back at 22 November 2017 as a pivotal moment in our cultural history.
On this day Cambridge audiences will have their expectations about classical music shattered in a few short hours. For the ancient seat of classical music, King’s College Chapel, will host a top quality orchestra, but one with a key difference: most players are Black and Minority Ethnic (BME).
What’s more, they will perform music by black composers such as Joseph Boulogne (the ‘black Mozart’) and Errollyn Wallen – as well as the actual Mozart, and Tchaikovsky.
The concert is the final event of Cambridge Music Festival, the boutique festival that brings some of the world’s top musicians to Cambridge every November.
There has been a real buzz about the orchestra, called Chineke!: the video of its recent, and first, performance at the BBC Proms in London went viral. The number of views it received has exploded from two million to nearly ten million. As Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, founder of the orchestra, said: “If I were Beyonce I might not think twice about getting 10 million hits, but we are just a small classical orchestra. Something is in the air and it’s very exciting!”
Chineke! was founded in 2015 and is Europe’s first professional orchestra of BME musicians – not only in the UK, but in the whole of Europe. The impact is being felt. In their first ever concert on the continent last week, in Ghent, Belgium, the ‘sold-out’ audience gave them a standing ovation. “A couple even came up to me and told me they had travelled from Kentucky, USA specially to see us! It was astonishing,” says Nwanoku.
In her campaign to change perceptions, she has her work cut out. Research by Christina Scharff at King’s College London shows the narrowness of representation running throughout the classical music industry. Of 629 orchestral players, “only 11 (1.7%) could be identified to be from a BME background,” Scharff reports.
“Young black people see nobody who looks like them playing classical music,” explains Nwanoku, “So they assume it’s not for them.” To counter this the Chineke! Foundation also runs a junior orchestra. Already alumni from the juniors have started feeding into the senior orchestra.
“Young players tell me how incredible it is on the first day to have that sensation of feeling at home, something they had never felt before in an orchestra.” Chineke! now has 40 nationalities among its members, and includes white players too.
But not all audiences are ready to have their perceptions altered. In the lead up to a recent concert at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, some of the regular concert-goers said they would not be coming to see Chineke! because of the ethnicity of the orchestra. “I was very sorry that some people actively decided not to attend. It’s quite shocking, but confirms the cultural divide that still exists amongst us, and further focusses Chineke! to pursue its mission.” says Nwanoku.
In the end, the incident had a good outcome. The word spread and the audience on the night looked very different to the usual white audience. “Most people in the audience were BME, and included some of our Chineke! Juniors and their friends,” tells Nwanoku. “And the audience loved the music”.
Nwanoku is hugely looking forward to bringing Chineke! to King’s College Chapel. “It’s spectacular that Justin Lee has programmed us to play there. The building has the weight of history and we will certainly astonish many concert goers!”
Come along to witness what may be one of the most important concerts Cambridge has hosted in recent times.
Chineke! Orchestra
King’s College Chapel
Wednesday 22 November 2017 7.30pm
King’s College Chapel
Tickets £17 - £40 from www.cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk
(Save 20% when you buy 5+ events across the Festival; save 10% for 3 or 4 events)
Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik K525
Joseph Boulogne Violin Concerto in G Op 8 No 9
Errollyn Wallen Concerto Grosso
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings Op 46
Shaun Matthew, conductor
Tai Murray, violin
Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
Chi-chi Nwanoku, OBE, double bass
Three more surprises at Cambridge Music Festival
For tickets go to www.cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk
ENSEMBLE BASH
If you fancy some stirring stuff in your lunch hour, don’t miss this free lunchtime concert at Anglia Ruskin Uni. Dynamic percussion group Ensemble Bash will blow your socks off as they take percussion to a new level, from classical jazz to the rhythms of Ghana and Senegal. Friday 17 November, 1.10 – 2pm Mumford Theatre, ARU
HARPISCHORD AS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD IT
Multiple BBC Music Magazine Award-winner Mahan Esfahani brings you the harpsichord as you’ve never heard it before. He performs two short new works in a programme that displays the elegance and virtuosity of this neglected instrument.Saturday 18 November, 7.30pm Old Divinity School, St John’s College
RARE MOZART
World-renowned clarinettist, Michael Collins, assembles a super-group of London’s top wind players especially for the Festival to play Mozart’s rarely performed masterpiece for 13 instruments, the Gran Partita. Tuesday 21 November, 8pm Trinity College Chapel
REST OF THE PROGRAMME
Tuesday 14 November, 8pm Trinity College Chapel
VENETIAN CORONATION 1595
Thursday 16 November – ‘Rush Hour’ Concert, 6pm Old Divinity School, St John’s College (wine served beforehand)
BBC NEW GENERATION ARTISTS 1
Thursday 16 November, 8pm West Road Concert Hall
JOSHUA BELL & ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS
Friday 17 November, 7.30pm Jesus College Chapel
BACH: GOLDBERG VARIATIONS
Saturday 18 November – 3pm (followed by tea) Old Library, Emmanuel College
YOUNG COMPOSERS NETWORK
Tuesday 21 November – ‘Rush Hour’ Concert, 6pm Old Library, Pembroke College (wine served beforehand)
BBC NEW GENERATION ARTISTS 2
For tickets go to www.cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk