Collaboration, innovation and defiance: Chineke! at the BBC Proms

Jonathon Heyward conducts Chineke! Orchestra

By Eleanor Knight, 08 September 2025

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“Fanfare for Uncommon Times echoes Shostakovich in its portrayal of the martial and the sardonic”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 5 September 2025

Coleridge-Taylor, The Bamboula, Op.75

Coleman, Fanfare for Uncommon Times (UK premiere)

Lee III, Visions of Cahokia (UK premiere)

Shostakovich, Symphony no. 10 in E minor, Op.93

Chineke! Orchestra

Jonathon Heyward, Conductor

Chineke! gives world premiere of Joan Armatrading's First Symphony

Alexander Hall, 24th November

Chineke! Orchestra likes to do things differently and this concert, conducted by Andrew Grams, pairs symphonies by Tchaikovsky and the singer-songwriter-guitarist Armatrading.

***11

A mixed bag of treats from Chineke! at the BBC Proms

Alexander Hall, 1st September

No hard hitters or big beasts in this colourful potpourri from the remarkable Chineke! Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Parnther, but a chance to savour both the unknown and the familiar.

****1

Bold, brash and Bacchic: Chineke! Orchestra undimmed as ever

Alexander Hall, 25th February

The Chineke! Orchestra always aims at mixing the old and familiar (Beethoven, Ravel) with lesser-known corners of the repertory (Coleridge-Taylor, Walker). Anthony Parnther conducts with Kenneth Thompkins as soloist.

***11

Kalena Bovell conducts Chineke! in inspired performance of Hailstork

Timothy Robson, 14th December

The excellent program opened with Coleridge Taylor's Ballade and also included favorites by Haydn and Dvořák.

***11

Black legacies explored by Chineke! at the Royal Festival Hall

Mark Pullinger, 19th October

Chineke! Orchestra returns to the Royal Festival Hall with a programme that explores the legacy of black composers, as well as marking Beethoven's 250th anniversary.

***11

If music be the food of love, play on Chineke!

Alexander Hall, 23rd February

Music is the ultimate universal language, here reflected in the latest Chineke! programme offering playing of richness and vitality.

****1

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Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.