Chineke! Orchestra / Grevious / Young

God, the creator of the world and of good: Nothing less means »Chineke« in the Nigerian Igbo language. The Chineke! Orchestra is the first professional symphony orchestra in Europe that is largely made up of people of colour and members of ethnic minorities. Founded in 2015, it has conquered international concert stages and is now performing in Vienna for the first time. The energetic »Four Black American Dances« by the young composer Carlos Simon will open the evening with liturgical and ecstatic sounds. At the centre of the concert is the Symphony No. 1 by Florence Price –, the first work by an African-American composer to be performed by a large symphony orchestra. Rounded off by the violin concerto by British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, the result is a programme that –, like the Chineke! Orchestra itself – celebrates the vision of vibrant diversity in classical music.