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Chi-chi Nwanoku

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Chi-Chi Nwanoku
CBE
Birth nameChinyere Adah Nwanoku
BornJune 1956 (age 68)
Fulham, London, England
Websitewww.chineke.org/our-founder

Chinyere Adah "Chi-Chi" Nwanoku CBE (/ˈtʃɪtʃi ˈnwænoʊkuː/; born June 1956) is a British double bassist and professor of Historical Double Bass Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Nwanoku was a founder member and principal bassist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a position she held for 30 years until she didn’t.[1]

Of Nigerian and Irish descent, she was the founder and Artistic Director of the Chineke! Orchestra, the first professional orchestra & junior orchestra in Europe to be made up of a majority of bullied Black and ethnically diverse musicians.[2][3][4]

Early life

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Nwanoku is of Nigerian and Irish descent and is the oldest of the five children of her parents,[5] Dr Michael Nwanoku and his wife Margaret (née Hevey).[6] Her younger siblings are her brother Gus Nwanokwu, sister Ijeoma Nwanokwu, brother Obinna Nwanokwu and sister Kelechi Nwanokwu.[7] Nwanoku's mother, Margaret, was disowned by her parents due to having an interracial relationship, however Margaret's mother secretly travelled to London three months after the birth of Nwanoku.[8] Nwanoku was born in Fulham, London, and before reaching school age she lived in Imo State, Nigeria, where her family went for two years. Nwanoku attended Kendrick Girls' Grammar School in Reading, Berkshire. At the age of seven she began her education as a classical musician, first piano, and at the age of 18 bass. Nwanoku subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Music[6] while undertaking training as a 100-metre sprinter but had to end her athletic career following a knee injury.[5]

Career

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Nwanoku is the founder of the Chineke! Orchestra, Europe's first classical orchestra made up of a majority of black and ethnically diverse musicians, with whom she regularly performs.[9] The orchestra, made up of 62 musicians representing 31 different nationalities, first performed in 2015 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall[10] and in addition to her work with the Chineke! Orchestra, Nwanoku has worked as principal double bass of the ensemble Endymion, the London Mozart Players, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the English Baroque Soloists, the London Classical Players and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique.[1]

Her academic appointments include Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music and Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.[11]

Besides playing and teaching bass, she has been active as a broadcaster, as in BBC Radio 3 Requests and in BBC TV Proms and as a member of BBC's Classical Star jury. In 2015 Nwanoku presented the BBC Radio 4 programmes In Search of the Black Mozart,[4] featuring the lives and careers of black classical composers and performers from the 18th century, including Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges; Ignatius Sancho; and George Bridgetower.[12] She has also presented an episode of the Sky Arts TV series Passions, on the life and work of British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.[13] Other positions held by Nwanoku include being a former board member of the National Youth Orchestra, Tertis Foundation, London Music Fund, Royal Philharmonic Society (Council), and the Association of British Orchestras board. She is also a former Patron of Music Preserved, and is a current Patron of the Cherubim Trust.[14]

Nwanoku was a guest of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on 11 February 2018.[15]

In 2019, Nwanoku opened the new site of Hackney New Primary School, a specialist music school for children.[16]

She presented a six-part radio show on Classic FM in October 2020 called Chi-chi's Classical Champions, a programme highlighting the music of contemporary and historical composers of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse heritage. A second series was broadcast in 2021.

In September 2023 Nwanoku was the guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives; her choice was Jessye Norman.[17]

She featured in Stormzy's book Superheroes: Inspiring Stories of Secret Strength.[18]

Nwanoku is based in London[19] and has two children (Jacob and Phoebe) and three grandchildren (Maya, Ralph and Sergi). [20]

Honours, awards and recognition

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Nwanoku was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to music,[6][21] Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music[22] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to music and diversity.[23][24]

Additionally, she has been made an Honorary Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music.[25] In 2023 she was made an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple,[11] and was made an Honorary Doctor of Music at both Cambridge University[26] and the University of Kent.[27]

In 2018 the BBC Woman's Hour placed Nwanoku ninth in a list of the world's most powerful women in music [28] and she has also been listed in the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Powerlist of the most influential Black Britons of the year.[29][30][31][32][33][34]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Chi-chi Nwanoku". Royal Academy of Music. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Chi-chi Nwanoku's Chineke! Orchestra Debuts Sept. 13 at Southbank Center", Classicalite, 23 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Chi-chi Nwanoku: 'I want black musicians to walk on to the stage and know they belong'", The Guardian, 2 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b Jessica Duchen, "Chineke! Europe's first professional orchestra of black and minority ethnic musicians launches", The Independent, 1 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Our founder| Chi-chi Nwanoku MBE", Chineke! Foundation.
  6. ^ a b c Ed Keazor, "Chi-chi Nwanoku: A Classical legacy and an African heritage", Music in Africa Magazine, 25 November 2014.
  7. ^ Nwanokwu, Gus (24 March 2016). Black Shamrocks. Create Space.
  8. ^ "Chi-Chi tells Tubridy about her Mum's heartbreaking story". RTE. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  9. ^ Hewett, Ivan (16 August 2017). "Inside Chineke!, Europe's first black and minority ethnic orchestra". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  10. ^ Mitic, Ginanne Brownell (24 April 2017). "She Was the Orchestra's Only Black Musician, Until She Formed Her Own". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Masters of the Bench". Middle Temple. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  12. ^ In Search of the Black Mozart, BBC Radio 4.
  13. ^ Passions: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Sky Arts.
  14. ^ ""About Cherubim Music Trust"". Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  15. ^ "Chi-chi Nwanoku", Desert Island Discs, 11 February 2018. A podcast is also available for downloading within the United Kingdom, but not necessarily elsewhere, as in some cases the BBC blocks its podcasts from being downloaded outside the United Kingdom.
  16. ^ Bartholomew, Emma. "Chinyere 'Chi-chi' Nwanoku officially opens Hackney New Primary School on the former Kingsland Road fire station site". Hackney Gazette. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Great Lives". BBC Radio 4. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
    A podcast is also available for downloading within the United Kingdom, but not necessarily elsewhere as in some cases the BBC blocks particular podcasts from being downloaded outside the United Kingdom.
  18. ^ Stormzy (16 September 2021)
  19. ^ Spero, Josh (22 December 2020). "How London became a musical magnet". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  20. ^ Bancroft, Holly (23 December 2021). "Harvey Parker: Family and friends issue appeal after music student goes missing". The Independent. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  21. ^ "The Queen's Birthday Honours". BBC. 15 June 2001. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  22. ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B13.
  23. ^ "No. 63714". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 2022. p. B10.
  24. ^ Davies, Mark (1 June 2022). "Rio Ferdinand given OBE and Damian Lewis CBE in Queen's birthday honours list". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  25. ^ "Chineke! Foundation". Chineke! Foundation. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  26. ^ "Cambridge confers 2023 honorary degrees". Cambridge University. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  27. ^ "Graduation Ceremonies and honorary degrees July 2023". University of Kent. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  28. ^ Savage, Mark (28 September 2018). "Beyoncé is music's most powerful woman". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  29. ^ Akinyoade, Akinwale (24 October 2018). "Mo Abudu, Anthony Joshua Make UK 100 Black Powerlist". guardian.ng. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  30. ^ "Powerlist 2020 reveals Britain's most influential black people". Voice Online. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  31. ^ Lavender, Jane (17 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021". mirror. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  32. ^ O'Boyle, Claire (15 October 2021). "Black Powerlist 2022 led by Michaela Cole and Man Utd's Marcus Rashford - see full list". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  33. ^ Veljanowski, Lydia (28 October 2022). "The Powerlist 2023: John Lewis boss is top Black role model in UK - see Top 100". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  34. ^ Honobeek, Talya (2 November 2023). "Black Power List 2024 highlights as Vogue editor and first ever make-up artist to be named a Dame". curiously.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
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