Shaldon Festival Outreach 2021
Chineke!
The renowned Chineke! Ensemble opened the 2021 Festival season on Thursday 24 June and earlier that day held a workshop for Year 6 pupils at Shaldon Primary School. Chineke! is currently one of the most exciting and ‘talked about’ orchestras in the UK. It was founded in 2015 by the double bass player, Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE to provide career opportunities for young Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe. Chineke!’s mission is ‘Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music’. Chineke! Proms debut was in 2017 and they returned to the Royal Albert Hall in August 2019 for the CBeebies Proms in a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landings.
The ensemble, featuring Zara Benyounes, violin, Stephen Upshaw, viola, Ashok Klouda, cello,
Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, double bass and Stewart Goodyear, piano, performed exerpts from the evening’s repertoire and invited questions. The children listened to Schubert’s popular Trout Quintet and were thrilled by all the variations played to them. Dancing ensued as violinist Zara Benyounes encouraged the children with movement and voice! The epic battle between trout and fisherman is told through this piece and the children were able to identify, by listening to the changes in the music, when the battle began. And, the jazzy encore thrilled!
https://www.chineke.org/chineke-orchestra
Our thanks to The Arts Society Teignbridge for supporting this workshop with a Young Arts Grant https://theartssocietyteignbridge.org.uk/