Chi-chi Nwanoku, CBE ~ Double Bassist

To everyone who made Chineke! what it is today.
September 2026

By now, many of you will have heard that I’ve stepped down as Artistic Director and have left Chineke!, the organisation I founded eleven years ago. I wanted to write something separately and personally, because an official announcement cannot fully express what I feel about you all, or what we’ve shared together.

I founded Chineke! in 2015 because I knew how many excellent Black and ethnically diverse musicians were out there, yet there was no real classical music network bringing us together. What I couldn’t have known was quite what this orchestra would become, or how deeply all of you would come to mean to me.

From those first rehearsals, you made the idea real. You found one another, played together, and built relationships that simply hadn’t had a space to exist before. Some of you have said over the years that what we built felt like a family, and that means more to me than I can say. Every concert, recording, tour, rehearsal, difficult moment and extraordinary musical experience became part of something much bigger than any one of us.

There are so many moments I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. Seeing you find one another through Chineke!, watching younger players grow in confidence, seeing so many of you move into opportunities that had once seemed closed, hearing audiences respond to repertoire that had been neglected for far too long, and hearing you play with that unmistakable energy and spirit that was ours. One of my favourite review headlines came from The Times in 2021: “Nothing can stop this party!” It made me laugh then, and it still does.

Chineke! was always about more than representation on a stage. It was about changing what people thought an orchestra could look like, changing who felt they had a place in classical music, and recovering music and histories that should never have disappeared from our concert halls. You helped make all of that happen. You gave Chineke! its sound, its character and its life. I’m immensely proud of what we built, but my greatest pride has always been in you.

A huge thank you, too, to the institutions and organisations that believed in my vision and championed it, particularly in those early days when Chineke! was still getting off the ground. Their willingness to open doors and offer stages, partnerships, funding, trust and practical support was invaluable. That early belief and backing made so much of what followed possible, and I will always be enormously grateful for it.

Many of you have been part of this journey for years. Some joined us when you were very young, some came later, and some have gone on to remarkable careers all over the world. Watching you grow and flourish has given me enormous pride and joy.

Of course this is an emotional moment for me. Chineke! has occupied such a huge part of my life for more than a decade. But the reasons I founded it are still very much part of me. My commitment to musicians, to overlooked repertoire and to creating opportunities hasn’t changed. I’ll always want to know how you’re getting on and to celebrate what you go on to do.

Most of all, thank you, every one of you who trusted me, who brought your musicianship, your personalities and yourselves into this orchestra, and who helped turn an idea into something that reached far beyond anything I could ever have achieved alone.

Whatever comes next, I will always treasure what we built together and the difference it made.

With much love,
Chi-chi

Chi-chi Nwanoku welcomes your questions and comments! CLICK HERE to contact her.