Grand Opening Concert: Chineke!

Thursday 29 June | 7.30pm
Royal Hall | Harrogate
Tickets £18, £28, £30, £36, £45, £48 depending on seat location

£5 tickets for under 18s are available in the Grand Hall.

Boxes are available to book for 2 or 3 people. These are only available to book over the phone, please call the Box Office on 01423 562 303.

Please note all bookings are subject to a £1.75 booking fee.

Holst	St Paul’s Suite in C major, Op. 29, No. 2
Coleridge-Taylor	Novelletten for Strings, No. 3 & 4, Op. 52
Vaughan Williams	Concerto in A minor for Oboe and Strings
Beethoven	Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60

Event Information

International orchestra Chineke! will make their Harrogate debut, opening the Summer Season at the Royal Hall. The orchestra is the flagship ensemble for the Chineke! Foundation making its Proms debut in 2017 and going on to perform across Europe including the Lucerne Festival and Edinburgh International Festival to critical acclaim. The ensemble is currently Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre.

Founded in 2015 by the pioneering double bass player Chi-chi Nwanoku, CBE, the Orchestra champions change and celebrates diversity through high-level professional performance opportunities and career development for Black and ethnically diverse classical performers in the UK and Europe

Recognised for their versatility and praised for their ‘special electricity’ at their Proms debut, their programme features Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Famously dubbed the Black Mahler, his light yet spirited Novelletten is inspired by German Robert Schumann’s piano miniatures, the eight Novelletten.

Completing the programme are Gustav Holst’s St Paul’s Suite, which takes its name from the Hammersmith school where Holst taught; Vaughan Williams’ Oboe Concerto, a wartime piece penned after his Fifth Symphony, and Beethoven’s enchanting Fourth Symphony, first performed in 1808.

Scotland-based American conductor Kellen Gray has earned a reputation as a versatile and imaginative artist. Kellen is the current Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Charleston Symphony (USA).

Born in France, soloist Armand Djikoloum studied at Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon and with Philippe Tondre at the Hochschule für Musik Saar. In 2021 he was a prize-winner at the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) International Auditions.

‘Chineke! is not only an exciting idea but a profoundly necessary one. The kind of idea which is so obvious that you wonder why it is not already in place. The kind of idea which could deepen and enrich classical music in the UK for generations. What a thrilling prospect!’ – Sir Simon Rattle