La musical season of the LAC of Lugano offers an event that invites us to look beyond the repertoires traditionally most frequented by European symphonic programming. Monday, June 15th at 20:XNUMX PM the Chineke! Orchestra will take to the stage of the Lugano cultural centre directed by Joseph Young with a program entirely dedicated to African-American composers, offering the public a musical journey that spans over a century of history.
Founded in 2015 by double bass player and cultural activist Chi-chi NwanokuThe Chineke! Orchestra is considered the first professional European symphony orchestra composed primarily of musicians of African descent and from ethnically underrepresented communities. The project was born with the aim of broadening representation in the classical music sector and highlighting composers who have often been marginalized in the mainstream repertoire.
The ensemble's name comes from the Igbo language and means "Creator God," a choice that reflects the desire to highlight musical talent in all its expressions.
A program that spans eras and cultures
The Lugano concert features three works that recount different moments in African-American musical history, bringing together popular traditions, cultural influences, and symphonic languages.
The evening will open with Four Black American Dances by American composer Carlos Simon, born in 1986 and considered one of the most interesting figures in contemporary American music. The work draws inspiration from four dance forms deeply rooted in African-American culture: Ring Shout, Waltz, Tap!, and Holy Dance.
Through these four sections, Simon constructs a sonic narrative that explores the role of dance as a tool of collective memory. Religious practices born in the communities of African slaves deported to the Americas, the sociality of the waltz, the tradition of tap dancing, and the spiritual dimension of African-American churches are transformed into orchestral material, creating a work that combines historical research and musical innovation.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Violin Concerto
The second piece on the programme takes the audience back to the beginning of the twentieth century with the Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Born in London in 1875 to a Sierra Leonean father and an English mother, Coleridge-Taylor holds a special place in the history of British music. Appreciated by figures such as Edward Elgar and enthusiastically welcomed in the United States, he gradually developed a strong interest in his African and African-American roots, integrating them into his artistic output.
The Violin Concerto represents one of his last great compositions, completed shortly before his premature death in 1912. The work falls within the framework of late European Romanticism, but reveals a personal sensibility that reflects a complex cultural identity.
Violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious will play the solo part, while the orchestra will be conducted by Joseph Young, an American musician particularly committed to promoting the American symphonic repertoire.
Florence Price and the rediscovery of a pioneer
The second part of the evening will be dedicated to the Symphony No. 1 in E minor by Florence Beatrice Price, composer, pianist and organist who occupies a central role in the history of twentieth-century American music.
Price was in fact the first African-American woman to have her symphony performed by a major American orchestra, paving the way for subsequent generations of musicians and composers.
His musical writing stems from the intersection of rigorous academic training received at conservatories and a profound understanding of African-American musical traditions. Spirituals, pentatonic scales, syncopated rhythms, and folk dances enter the symphonic construction not as simple quotations, but as structural elements of the compositional language.
Particularly significant is the presence of the Juba Dance, an Afro-American dance characterized by a strong rhythmic and percussive component, chosen by Price to replace the traditional scherzo foreseen by the European symphonic form.
A project that expands the classical repertoire
The June 15th event is part of a broader process that in recent years has led numerous international musical institutions to rediscover composers who have long been excluded from concert programs.
The Chineke! Orchestra's mission is not limited to promoting diversity within orchestral ensembles, but also aims to restore visibility to musical works that have significantly contributed to the development of the Western symphonic tradition.
Through the works of Carlos Simon, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Florence Price, the LAC concert offers a different perspective on the history of classical music, highlighting the contributions of composers and cultures that have long been given limited space in institutional circles.
Concert information
Monday, June 15, 2026, 8:00 PM
Chineke! Orchestra
- Joseph Young, director
- Njioma Chinyere Grevious, violin
Program
Carlos Simon (1986)
Four Black American Dances
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80
Florence B. Price (1887-1953)
Symphony No. 1 in E minor
For information and tickets: www.laclugano.ch
