“It’s Proms season—a chance for the classical music world to show that it’s moving with the times—and just as relevant today as it has always been,” writes Chi-chi Nwanoku in Friday’s (7/26) Guardian (U.K.). Nwanoku is founder of Chineke!, a U.K.-based black and minority-ethnic orchestra. “But it is yet another missed opportunity. I welcomed the BBC’s declaration last year that there would be a 50/50 gender balance in all new commissions of contemporary composers by 2020…. But more must be done. This year’s season includes work by 29 female composers, out of a total of 160. If we add ethnicity into the mix, the numbers become even more stark: of the BBC’s 13 new commissions for the season, only one is by a black female composer and one by a black male composer…. I have heard all the talk but action seems rare and slow…. Chineke! [played] this year’s two CBeebies Prom concerts … aimed at children aged two to six…. Chineke! could be the first live music experience for many in that audience of 13,000, and therefore what they see becomes the norm: a completely diverse orchestra…. Every single person in the auditorium had a blast.”
Posted August 1, 2019
