Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Program One | Adelaide Festival 2022 review

Indigenous Australian composer William Barton’s work The Rising of the Mother Country dominated this Chineke! program.

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble performs at Adelaide Town Hall with founder Chi-chi Nwanoku, centre, on double bass. Picture: Andrew Beveridge, supplied

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Program One

Classical music – UK

Adelaide Town Hall

March 16

In its world premiere performance, Indigenous Australian composer William Barton’s specially commissioned work The Rising of the Mother Country dominated Chineke! Chamber Ensemble’s entire program through the sheer tensile strength of its instrumentation and its powerful, evocative messaging.

Barton’s canvas is roomy and expansive as it gathers pace and momentum throughout, the initial mosaic-like construction moving towards greater cohesion as the work and narrative progresses.

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble founder Chi-chi Nwanoku on double bass at Adelaide Town Hall. Picture: Andrew Beveridge, supplied

Composer and didgeridoo player William Barton was commissioned to write and perform a new work with Chineke! Chamber Ensemble.

Barton’s own didgeridoo performance and vocals are interwoven into the scoring as true ensemble voices, adding to the sonic richness and overall depth to an astonishing degree.

Undoubtedly this is a significant artistic utterance that will find a place in the Australian music of our time.

The Chineke! musicians are drawn from its UK based parent orchestra which has a broad ethnic representation and a mission to include less performed music in its programs.

Two Nonets, one by Martinu, the other by Coleridge-Taylor, were played with a good deal of brisk sparkle and élan.

Adelaide Festival 2022. Chineke! Chamber Ensemble. Picture: Eric Richmond and Joe Swift

Particular mention must be made of French horn Francisco Gomez’s rich golden tones, particularly in the second movement of the Martinu, and founder Chi-chi Nwanoku’s virtuoso double bass playing throughout.

She stands centrally among the performing group and semi-directs through unceasing energetic and expressive involvement.

Valerie Coleman’s Red Clay and Mississippi Delta for five players has been a highly acclaimed part of the Chineke! repertoire on previous occasions and today’s presentation was no exception. Its jazz inspired rhythms and sonics proved huge fun.