Strauss (arr Hasenöhrl) Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders!
Errollyn Wallen Nnenna
Mozart Oboe Quartet in F, K. 370
Saint-Saëns Septet in E flat, Op. 65
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Nonet in F minor, Op. 2

The Chineke! Ensemble comprises the principal players of the Chineke! Orchestra which was founded in 2015 by the double bass player, Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, to give career opportunities to black, minority ethnic musicians in the UK and from across the world. Chineke!'s mission is "championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music."

The Chineke! Ensemble has performed in many chamber music series across England and abroad, including Bristol, Chatham, Cheltenham, Rome, Rotterdam, Ryedale, Manchester, Tonbridge, Wimbledon and at Wigmore Hall in London. The Chineke! Ensemble is delighted to be making its debut at The Petworth Festival.

In every programme, Chineke! features a work or works by composers of BME heritage. In this case there are two such works: the Nonet by the teenage Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The son of a doctor from Sierra Leone and an English mother, Coleridge-Taylor was a contemporary of Elgar, Holst and Vaughan Williams. The work is scored for four string players, four wind players and piano, and abounds in delightful melodies and virtuoso writing.

Errollyn Wallen's NNENNA was premiered at the Cambridge Festival in November 2018 and is scored for Septet forces.

We begin the concert with a virtuosic arrangement of Strauss’s tone poem Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders!. Saint-Saëns' Septet was written in 1879-80 for the Parisian Chamber Music Society "La Trompette" - hence the unusual instrumentation of trumpet, string quintet and piano, in this attractive work full of catchy tunes. Mozart's ever popular Oboe Quartet completes the programme.

This concert is generously sponsored by the Franks Family and Belinda & John Horley.