Chineke! Orchestra Earns Its Exclamation Point, Heads to Town

After a Pandemic Cancellation, the All-Black London-Based Chineke! Orchestra Plays The Granada Theatre

Chineke! Orchestra | Photo: Chuko Cribb

Five years ago, Santa Barbara music lovers were poised to catch the acclaimed London-based Chineke! Orchestra, consisting of Black and underrepresented musicians and composers, a notable first step of racial parity and inclusivity in the programming history of the CAMA presenting organization. The COVID monster intervened in that plan, and the eagerly awaited makeup date finally arrives at The Granada Theatre on Thursday, April 3.

Subsequently, CAMA has made bold strides to diversify its presenting agenda, including last season’s memorable Lobero Theatre appearance by the American Sphinx Virtuosi ensemble, also boasting underrepresented musicians. Color and gender barriers are gradually blurring in classical circles, including in the 805.

The orchestra, a proud product of the Chineke! Foundation, launched its life at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall a decade ago and has since toured extensively and gained a deepening reputation for its high caliber of musicianship along with a designated agenda of promoting Black classical music and musicians. The term “Chineke!” is taken from the West African language of Igbo, as an exhortation of praise and celebration to the creator.

As Sir Simon Rattle said, “Chineke! is not only an exciting idea but a profoundly necessary one.”

The group’s founder, double bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku — who faced discrimination as a Black person, a female, and a woman of short stature on an instrument often played by tall men — addressed the orchestra’s inspiration and mission statement in an interview on the American Composers Forum’s “I Care If You Listen” website.

“For the first 35 years of my career,” she said, “I often found myself as the sole person of color on stage. This isolation underscored the glaring diversity gap and the immense, untapped potential within Black and ethnically diverse communities. Chineke! emerged from a necessity to address this imbalance. It’s more than just an ensemble; it’s a pioneering movement dedicated to celebrating diversity and enabling musicians of varied backgrounds to excel and redefine the classical music narrative.

“Our goal is not only to provide opportunities but to foster an environment where these musicians are recognized for their talent, irrespective of their race, gender, or physical stature.”

Aaron Azunka Akugbo | Photo: Olivia Da Costa

Fittingly, given the group’s COVID cancellation, the orchestra’s provocative program opens with Valerie Coleman’s COVID-related piece Seven O’Clock Shout, which takes its title and concept from the pandemic-timed practice of homebound Italians singing from their windows, an idea that spread around the world. (Coincidentally, the same piece will open the inaugural orchestra concert at this summer’s Music Academy of the West festival, also at the Granada, on June 28. It’s an ultra-rare situation when a new work appears twice in the same Santa Barbara venue within a few months.)

Coleman, a flutist and member of the famed Imani Winds, which appeared recently at Hahn Hall, is one of several Black composers on the program. Young Birmingham, Alabama–born Brian Raphael Nabors is known to incorporate elements of jazz and R&B in his concert music, as we’ll hear in his orchestral piece Pulse for orchestra. Cross-generational vibrations connect the Symphony No. 1 in A minor of well-known composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor — whom some called “the African Mahler” — with the Sussex Landscape by Taylor’s daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor.

From the European white classical composer orthodoxy we know so well, the program also includes Haydn’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E-flat, a showcase for Nigerian-Scottish trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo.

As an added incentive to expand the potential audience for this significant and unique orchestral occasion, CAMA has made $10 tickets available and offers free tickets for concertgoers aged 7-17. See https://bit.ly/4hr6H94 for tickets and information.