CULTURE
BASS NOTES
CHI-CHI NWANOKU
The founder of the groundbreaking Chineke! Orchestra on championing diversity in classical music – and creating new stars
‘I took my children everywhere. They have vivid memories of lying in my double-bass case in the rehearsal room’
When she was at college studying the double bass, Chi-chi Nwanoku was told she’d never have a career in classical music because she played a “man’s” instrument.
Fast forward almost four decades and Chi-chi will be taking centre stage at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 September at the BBC Proms with Chineke!, the orchestra she founded in 2015.
Made up of young black and ethnically diverse musicians, the orchestra has enjoyed extraordinary success since its inception, helping to launch the careers of classical stars including cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, as well as attracting new audiences to what has been seen as an elite art form.