30th May 2018 |
On Thursday April 19th, The Commonwealth Resounds hosted a wonderful Commonwealth Young Musicians’ Concert in partnership with the Royal Society of St George and London Rotary. This very special concert took place at St George’s, Hanover Square in the presence of the High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda and distinguished guests from the RSoSG and Rotary.
There were beautiful performances from the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra, conducted by Dr James Ross and the Commonwealth Festival Choir, directed by Graham Dinnage. Another very impressive addition to this concert was the Purcell School’s pupil-led PHILOMEL Ensemble, run and directed by school pupil, Sebastian Kozub.
Everyone was very sorry that members of the Divine Symphony Orchestra in Nigeria, who were planning to come and participate in this concert did not receive their visas in time and therefore arrived in the UK too late. We all hope to be able to collaborate with the Nigerian musicians in future events of this kind.
A spectacular fanfare for strings, composed by Manish Sanga, a 12-year old Anglo-Indian composer created an ideal opening for the concert. Other highlights included exquisite Maltese pieces, arranged for strings by Michelle Paris and songs specially composed by children from texts written for them by Commonwealth poets. The Commonwealth Festival Choir sang these beautifully and movingly. ‘Common Threads’, a fascinating new piece was composed for a small string ensemble by the National Youth Orchestra’s Principal Composer, Joshua Mock.
Two wonderful pieces – Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis performed by the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra, brought this memorable concert to a close.
At the end, a collection was made to support cultural development in Antigua and Barbuda. This was one of several ‘Commonwealth Hurricane Support Concerts’ being organised by schools around the UK, supported by The Commonwealth Resounds.
29th May 2018 |
During the Commonwealth Businesswomens’ Awards Ceremony in Mayfair, guests were entertained by musicians from Malta and Lorraine Lionheart, a brilliant celebrated singer and Cultural Ambassador from Botswana.
On Wednesday April 18th, The Commonwealth Resounds was delighted to be able to collaborate with Arif Zaman, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network, and create a new award for women in the arts called The Commonwealth Cultural Enterprise Award for Women in Music.
Alison Cox, TCR’s Founder and Chair of Trustees approached a number of highly distinguished musicians who nominated some wonderful, deserving women across the world to be the first recipients of this very special award.
Highly recommended were:
Sibongile Khumalo – Johannesburg, South Africa
Nelson Mandela’s favourite singer/cultural worker. She says ‘We need to do the best with our lives, and do what we can to make a difference in somebody’s life, not because we want to leave a legacy, but because we have been bequeathed a gift that we can share with others’.
Mohini Dey – Mumbai, India
Mohini is remarkable for her virtuosity as a bass player and has gone beyond the novelty of a child prodigy to a promising stretch of great musical longevity.” She seeks to create “her own music school, a powerful girls’ band and her own TV show which keeps playing good music.
The Commonwealth Cultural Enterprise Award for Women in Music was presented to Chi-chi Nwanoku for creating the life-changing Chineke! Orchestra, which has benefited so many young musicians from BME backgrounds in the UK and overseas.
‘I am delighted to have been able to collaborate with the Commonwealth Businesswomens’ Network to create this exciting new opportunity for talented, deserving women working in the arts throughout the world. The Cultural Enterprise Award for Women in the Arts will celebrate and acknowledge those who are a genuine inspiration to others, and who deserve to be recognised for their achievements. For this very first award, the focus has been on music, and the adjudicators felt that no-one deserved it more than the double bass player, Chi-chi Nwanoku. Chi-chi received it not only for her brilliance as a performing musician, but also for creating and developing the unique Chineke! Orchestra.
Alison Cox OBE FRSA
29th May 2018 |
On Tuesday 17th April 2018 between 2 and 6 p.m., The Commonwealth Resounds, in association with the Royal Over-Seas League, ran what we understand to be the first-ever Commonwealth Music Forum at ROSL’s beautiful Princess Alexandra Hall.
Distinguished speakers, presenting a wide range of musical topics were introduced to a receptive audience of Commonwealth delegates by Dr. Bernard Trafford, who skilfully chaired the Forum.
Sincere thanks to Geoff Parkin, Director of Arts, Royal Overseas League for generously hosting the Forum and to Helena Clarke, our brilliant volunteer Commonwealth Music Forum Manager!
Click here for a link to the programme of events for the Commonwealth Music
Forum
“It was a real pleasure to take part in the first Commonwealth Music Forum. Congratulations for making it happen and for the impeccable organisation of this event”.
Benoit Machuel, General Secretary, International Federation of
Musicians
“An honour to be there!”
Kuljit Bhamra OBE, Composer, Record Producer and Musician
29th May 2018 |
The Commonwealth Resounds ran an ambitious, exciting programme of musical activities during CHOGM week (16 th – 20 th April 2018) and received many accolades from those who attended the performances and events.
The Meeting of the CHOGM Forums – Tuesday 17th April
The Commonwealth Resounds collaborated with Rotary London to create a spectacular drumming performance, directed by the brilliant, charismatic Kevin Hathway and performed to almost 2,000 Commonwealth Delegates from the Youth, Business, People’s and Women’s Forums at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster.
The 58 performers representing almost every country in the Commonwealth included drummers from Ghana and other parts of Africa led by Abass Doodo, Indian Chenda drummers from the India High Commission’s Nehru Centre, drummers and dancers from Botswana directed by Lorraine Lionheart, drummers from Rotary London secured by Sri Vallipuram and young drummers from many different Commonwealth backgrounds from The Purcell School for Young Musicians in Hertfordshire.
‘We were honoured to have The Commonwealth Resounds perform as part of this event….I was enormously impressed with the energy and impact of the performance”
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the U.N.
“Before the speeches began, the inclusive character of the Commonwealth was show-cased by The Commonwealth Resounds! group of musicians from all 53 countries performing together, many of them draped in the flags of their respective nation, singing and playing their instruments, their faces wreathed in smiles”.
Victoria Schofield, Editorial Board Member, The Round Table
