FollowThe great and good from the music world got together at the swanky Gore Hotel in Kensington last night, for a fancy dinner and then walked across the road to the Royal Albert Hall to enjoy a Prom.
MUSIC INDUSTRY GUESTS …AND FORMER ARTS & CULTURE MINISTER ED VAIZEY AT DINNER AT THE GORE HOTEL PRE LATE PROM!
Not just any old Prom, but a prom with a difference! This was Europe’s first majority Black & minority ethnic (BME) orchestra; & the youngest to take part in BBC Proms!!
In addition, we were also celebrating a new work commissioned for the Prom by BBC Radio 3, from composer Hannah Kendall, who recently has joined the PRS Foundation as trustee. We were all really excited to celebrate her Proms debut!
We were all gathered to celebrate The Chineke! Foundation, which was established in 2015, to provide career opportunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) classical musicians in the UK and Europe.
Set up by the inspirational Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, Chineke!’s motto is: ‘Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music’.
At the Royal Albert Hall, we thoroughly enjoyed The Chineke! Foundation Prom:
Guests who joined us for the Prom and dinner beforehand included;Peter Leathem (CEO PPL)
Jonathan Badyal (Universal)
Ayesha Hazarika (BPI consultant and broadcaster)
Richard Thomas (Richard Thomas Foundation)
Caroline Norbury (PRS Foundation trustee)
Vanessa Reed (CEO PRS Foundation)
Naomi Belshaw (PRS Foundation Grants and Programmes Manager
Hannah Kendall (composer) and members of her family
Kanya King (MOBO Awards)
Kevin le Gendre (BBC Radio 3 Broadcaster)
Gillian Moore (Director of Music, Southbank centre)
Chineke! is the brainchild of renowned bassist, educator, and activist Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, FRAM (Principal Double Bassist and co-founder of the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, Professor of Double Bass Historical Studies at the Royal Academy of Music), and is backed by key cultural organisations such as the British Council, Conservatoires UK and Southbank Centre.
Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE
The PRS Foundation have been doing some amazing work behind the scenes and have supported Chineke! in May 2017 through their International Development Funds to take the orchestra to the International conference ‘Classical NEXT’ in Rotterdam, where they opened the conference celebrating their championing diversity in the UK and showcasing the work of the wonderful UK Composer Errollyn Wallen.
Furthermore, Chineke! is currently being supported further for the same work, by Errollyn Wallen through the PRS Foundation’s Resonate programme, with a series of concerts in the UK through winter 2017.
Resonate is a fantastic new initiate from the PRS Foundation “Celebrating the best British orchestral repertoire of the last 25 years – a new scheme which invites orchestras from across the UK to perform and promote the best of British music written in the past 25 years.”