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

The premiere in this concert was Ngarrgooroon, a stunning work by Yorta Yorta soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham.

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

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble – Program Two

ADELAIDE FESTIVAL

Classical Music

Adelaide Town Hall

March 17

Chineke! brought an exhilarating, joyful energy to its second Adelaide Festival program.

The ensemble’s mission, to “champion change and celebrate diversity in classical music”, was evident in its repertoire choices.

Opening the program was the inventive Folk Suite No. 1 by African-American composer William Grant Still.

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

The flute solos in Motherless Child were played with beautiful expression by Meera Maharaj, while Ashok Klouda and double-bassist, Chineke! founder and artistic director Chi-chi Nwanoku, created a spirited rhythmic drive in the final movement.

Liechtenstein-born composer Josef Rheinberger may have lived squarely within the Romantic era, but his Nonet opus 139 is in a more Classical vernacular. Its idiomatic writing for the upper woodwinds is reminiscent of Beethoven’s early symphonies.

Chineke! brought warmth and subtlety to their interpretation of this work, with particularly elegant phrasing across the ensemble in the Minuet movement.

The ensemble used the opportunity of their first Adelaide performances to commission new works by First Nations composers.

Yorta Yorta soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham had the premiere of her new work, Ngarrgooroon.

Chineke! Chamber Ensemble founder Chi-chi Nwanoku. Picture: Andrew Beveridge

The premiere in this concert was Ngarrgooroon, an absolutely stunning work by Yorta Yorta woman, soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham.

The piece, the sixth in Cheetham’s Woven Songs series, was inspired by the work of Gija artist Patrick Mung Mung and his Embassy Tapestry. Throughout the work, small melodic fragments were woven through textures of exquisite tone colours.

Schubert’s Trout Quintet might be very standard chamber music fare, but Chineke!’s joyful approach was refreshing. Pianist Gerard Aimontche’s agility and sparkling articulation added greatly to the work’s spirited character.