Chineke! BBC Proms

-Tonight at the Proms...

-ALL:

-Chineke!

Chineke! is a professional orchestra and a junior orchestra

that is majority black and minority ethnic.

In September 2014, I went to the Africa Utopia festival

at the Southbank Centre to see the Kinshasa Orchestra

from the Congo.

They played music by Berlioz, music by Beethoven.

And the penny dropped, because I saw the looks of incredulity on many of

the audience's faces and I just thought,

hang on, this is the 21st century.

Why shouldn't people that look like that

be able to play classical music? I mean, it's a no-brainer.

So not only did we start a professional orchestra,

but we've created a junior orchestra as well.

Most of us, in fact,

had never played in an orchestra with other people of colour.

The most amazing thing that happened after our first concert in 2015

was, at the end, everybody went home feeling quite jubilant,

and I think we all felt changed in some way.

There is a special kind of frisson that happens.

there's something that happens in this orchestra

were no two people play on a regular basis together,

but when we come together we all feel this sense of responsibility

for the rest of mankind, really, who are interested in classical music.

Chineke! represents well over 40 nationalities now,

which I'm really proud of and just goes to prove how inclusive

it can be, how inclusive it should be.

I want the work of Chineke! to go so far

that in five, 10 years' time, we won't be having to have

this conversation about trying to diversify the industry.

Music itself does not discriminate,

so we've just got to get used to the fact that it's there for everyone.

It means so much to have a Prom. This is our debut,

and I've been told it's making history as the youngest orchestra

in existence to be given a BBC Prom.

That, for me, says a lot.

Not only is it a debut for the Chineke! orchestra,

it's a debut Prom for our soloists

Jeanine De Bique and Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Our conductor, Kevin John Edusei, it's his debut as well,

and so there's this whole feeling of newness and freshness that I really

hope that we're able to share with our possibly quite new audience.

We open the concert with a brand new BBC commission

that we've given to the young British composer Hannah Kendall.

It's a piece that's been inspired

by Lemn Sissay's poem of the same name

and it's bold and punchy and energetic,

apart from a contrasting slower and more lyrical section

in the middle, ending on a sparkling flourish.

I hope you enjoy it.

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING

Hello, my name is Sheku Kanneh-Mason and I'm a cellist.

Tonight I'm going to be playing Dvorak's Rondo in G minor,

and then I'm going to play one of my favourite pieces,

the fun and virtuosic Hungarian Rhapsody by David Popper.

So I look forward to it.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING

CHEERING

-HE SINGS

-..off!

We'll be playing a very, very moving piece

by the African-American composer called George Walker.

He turned 95 last June.

Of course, we really wanted to have George here because everybody else

who's involved that's alive is here with us.

Unfortunately George wasn't quite well enough to be here,

and so we beamed him in.

-Everybody, this is George Walker. ALL:

-Hi!

-'Hello!'

-Welcome.

-You know Kevin already.

-Hello, George.

-'Hello, Kevin.'

Good to see you.

'It's great to be able to be a part of this.'

Today we'll be playing this piece called Lyric for Strings

and it's absolutely beautiful.

It's taken from the slow movement of his string quartet

that he wrote in response to the passing of his grandmother,

and then shortly after she passed away,

Martin Luther King was murdered, and so it's like a double dedication

to his grandmother and Martin Luther King.

I'm delighted that there's the opportunity

for this work to be heard in the United Kingdom,

and I hope that there will be many persons

who have the opportunity of hearing it.

Thank you so much.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

My name is Jeanine De Bique and I'm a soprano from Trinidad and Tobago.

This evening I will be performing Da Tempeste from Giulio Cesare

by Handel, Rejoice Greatly from the Messiah, also by Handel,

and I am excited to perform the piece Au Penchant Qui Nous Entraine

by a black composer, Chevalier de Saint-Georges,

that is not very often done.

So I hope you enjoy.

APPLAUSE

SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

SHE SINGS IN FRENCH

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Rejoice, rejoice Rejoice greatly

# Rejoice, o daughter of Zion

# O daughter of Zion, rejoice

# Rejoice

# Rejoice

# O daughter of Zion Rejoice greatly

# Shout, o daughter of Jerusalem

# Behold, thy King cometh unto thee

# Behold, thy King cometh unto thee

# Cometh unto thee

# He is the righteous saviour

# And he shall speak peace unto the heathen

# He shall speak peace

# He shall speak peace

# Peace, he shall speak peace unto the heathen

# He is the righteous savour

# And he shall speak

# He shall speak peace

# Peace

# He shall speak peace

# Unto the heathen

# Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice greatly

# Rejoice greatly

# O daughter of Zion

# Shout, o daughter of Jerusalem

# Behold, thy King cometh unto thee

# Rejoice

# Rejoice

# Shout, shout, shout, shout

# Rejoice

# Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion

# Shout, o daughter of Jerusalem

# Behold, thy King cometh unto thee

# Behold, thy King

# Cometh unto thee. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING

My name is Kevin John Edusei

and I'm the conductor of the Chineke! orchestra.

The last piece on our programme

is the Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Rimsky-Korsakov travelled extensively

and captured the melodies of Spain

and the atmosphere of that country within his music.

The audience went completely wild when piece was performed

for the first time in 1887,

and that's what we hope's going to happen tonight as well.

So enjoy the ride.

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING

CHEERING

CHEERING

CHEERING AND WHISTLING

CHEERING