"Why didn't I question anyone? Why have we never talked about it? Was I just tolerated or did people not care and preferred the status quo?" on the place of black people, wonders this British woman in an interview with AFP in New York.

In 2015, Nwanoku took the bull by the horns to build a more diverse classical music orchestra, from musicians to conductors, in an environment traditionally dominated by white people.

She founded Chineke!, Europe's first predominantly black orchestra, which performs this week at the prestigious Lincoln Center in Manhattan, whose David Geffen Hall houses the New York Philharmonic, the "Phil".

American clarinetist Anthony McGill of the New York Philharmonic rehearses with the European Chineke!, a predominantly black European classical music orchestra that came to play in the David Geffen Hall of Lincoln Center in New York on March 20, 2023 © ANGELA WEISS / AFP

The Covid pandemic has forced the orchestra to repeatedly postpone its North American tour in the United States and Canada, in New York, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Worcester and Ann Arbor.

In the American cultural and economic megalopolis, Chineke! plays a symphony composed by the American pianist Florence Price (1887-1953) as well as a Mozart concerto for clarinet with the first clarinetist of the "Phil", Anthony McGill.

Best representation

What Chineke has managed to achieve! in London echoes what has already been done on this side of the Atlantic with the Sphinx organization in Detroit which promotes a better representation of black and Hispanic artists in classical music.

British double bassist Chi-Chi Nwanoku founded her mostly European classical music orchestra and performs in the David Geffen Hall of New York's Lincoln Center on March 20, 2023 © ANGELA WEISS / AFP

In 2014, the Union of American Professional and Amateur Symphony Orchestras pointed out that only 1.4% of their musicians were African Americans and black people.

"Since the vast majority of American orchestras lack transparency about their racial and ethnic statistics, we do not know the percentage of black artists today," laments the Network of Black Orchestras, a collective of musicians of 40 formations launched in 2022.

However, he notes "small and significant progress".

For Nwanoku, "it seems that the only colleagues of color who earn their place in an orchestra in this country are those who are exceptional."

Musicians from the predominantly black European classical music orchestra Chineke! during a rehearsal in the David Geffen Room at LincolnCenter in New York City, March 20, 2023. © ANGELA WEISS / AFP

For black people, "you have to be much better (than whites, editor's note) to get a job," criticizes the British.

While the effect on the younger generation is immediate: seeing more diversity on stage "immediately opens doors," she believes.

"It's the best reward to feel represented on stage," enthuses the musician between two rehearsals in New York.

"When you see someone who looks like you anywhere -- at the supermarket, at the train station, at the concert, at the cinema -- you immediately feel confident to go!"

"We are what we see," concludes the British double bass player.

© 2023 AFP