Making classical music more diverse
Britain’s Chineke! Orchestra is made up almost exclusively of black musicians and is out to introduce more diversity into the world of classical music.
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00:00 In 2015, the Chineke Foundation set out to make the world of classical music accessible
00:06 to all, regardless of skin color.
00:11 Their scholarships, network and Chineke Orchestra are powerful tools on this quest, with non-white
00:17 musicians still underrepresented in the world of classical music.
00:22 I really just wanted to make classical music but weren't previously given the opportunity.
00:32 I would say in general, a person of color has a lot more difficulty getting into anything.
00:39 Playing with people like me, it was just empowering.
00:44 One thing that Chineke stands for is diversity.
00:49 Classical bassist Chi Chi Nwanoku, who has Irish-Nigerian roots, founded Chineke Orchestra
00:54 in London in 2015.
00:56 She's been part of the classical music world for decades.
00:59 Here, musicians of color are still a minority.
01:04 I decided, well, I'm going to look for people, because so many people did say, it's not your
01:11 sort of music, and any black people who play classical music, they're not very good.
01:15 They're not very good.
01:16 And so they were very confident with this.
01:18 So I thought, I have to find out for myself.
01:22 And the more I looked, the more I found the well of talent runs deep.
01:34 American conductor Kazim Abdullah has worked with many famous orchestras around the world.
01:40 This is the first time he's rehearsed and performed with the Chineke Orchestra.
01:43 A uniquely beautiful experience, he says.
01:52 Hopefully this new generation that's coming up will realize the importance of making sure
01:58 that the arts and music is really accessible to everyone.
02:01 And I think Chineke, it makes people realize, ah, I see people playing like the violin,
02:06 the cello, all these instruments in a really high-level professional way.
02:10 And so that's what I think what Chineke does best.
02:17 Some musicians who started out in the Chineke Orchestra have become sought-after soloists,
02:22 like British cellist Sheku Connie Mason and his sister, pianist Isata Connie Mason.
02:29 I mean, I'm always sad when people move on, especially enormous talent like this.
02:40 But they sit on our shoulders, and we sit on their shoulders.
02:48 We support each other.
02:55 South African cellist Abel Salaucha also started his career with the Chineke Orchestra.
03:00 Today he's a globally recognized soloist and composer.
03:06 He still feels deeply connected to the Chineke Orchestra.
03:15 I'm a cellist from South Africa.
03:18 There's probably another cellist in the group from another country, you know, with a totally
03:23 different perspective.
03:24 You know, our color doesn't make us have the same ideology, simply.
03:30 So we're all exploring ourselves, and within speaking to each other and playing with each
03:35 other, we find answers of what we want to be in the society.
03:41 Chineke Orchestra plays about 35 concerts in Europe and the United States each year.
03:46 The musicians mainly perform compositions by multi-ethnic composers, like this piece
03:51 from 1903 by British composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor, whose father was from Sierra Leone.
04:08 We are not a niche.
04:09 We're not niching at all.
04:10 What we're doing is amplifying what is already there.
04:15 We're playing music by Elgar, Brahms, Beethoven, Dvorak, Sibelius, etc., side by side with
04:24 their black counterparts.
04:30 The Chineke Orchestra encourages young musicians of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds to
04:35 enter the world of classical music, and their concert hall audiences are every bit as diverse.
04:41 (dramatic music)