Chineke! Junior Orchestra will perform as part of the Southbank Centre’s fifth edition of Africa Utopia.

This festival, running from 13 - 15 September, is a multi-genre celebration of the culture and creativity of Africa and the diaspora.

Chineke! Junior Orchestra has appeared in each of the annual festivals, and this year will present a FREE ‘Passenger Seats’ concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall at 3pm on Sunday 15 September.

Audiences will be able to hear the music up close as a they choose a seat next to the musicians on stage. This immersive experience is a unique and wonderful way to enjoy the programme of well-known pieces, which include:

Joplin: The Entertainer
Coleridge-Taylor: Petite suite de concert, Op.77
Vivaldi: Allegro moderato (1st movement) from Concerto in G minor for 2 cellos & orchestra, RV.531

The orchestra will be conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren.

Programme:

Gustav Holst St Paul's Suite

J.S. Bach Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor, 1st movement

Philip Herbert Elegy, ‘In Memoriam Stephen Lawrence’

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor The Othello Suite - Dance, Children's Intermezzo, The Willow Song and Military March

Stephanie Childress conductor

The Chineke! Junior Orchestra perform as part of the Chineke! Foundation's commemorations for the first Stephen Lawrence Day, conducted by upcoming talent Stephanie Childress. It will be the first time the Juniors will play Philip Herbert's Elegy: in memoriam, Stephen Lawrence as they help to carry Stephen’s legacy through the power of music. The Chineke! Orchestra will perform the same piece at 7.30pm on the same day. The Chineke! Juniors concert will showcase some of the UK's exceptional young BME musicians as they also perform Bach’s concerto for 2 violins, Holst's St Paul's Suite and the rarely performed Othello Suite by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.