Chineke! was founded in 2015 as Europe’s “first professional orchestra of black and ethnic minority musicians”. It now describes its members as “majority Black and ethnically diverse” but that majority is large. A concert marking its tenth anniversary was bound to be noisy; so it proved.
The name comes from Nigeria’s Igbo language; with the exclamation mark, it could translate as “Oh my God!” – a shout of exaltation? Or perhaps shock, that such ensembles are still rare. All UK orchestras may be working to diversify their personnel but it’s a slow process; Chineke! shows what’s possible.
