Artists

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  Conductor Andrew Grams

  

  Conductor Andrew Grams

  With a unique combination of intensity, enthusiasm, and technical clarity, American conductor Andrew Grams has steadily built a reputation for his dynamic concerts, ability to connect with audiences, and long-term orchestra building. He’s the winner of the 2015 Conductor of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras and has led orchestras throughout the United States including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the Houston Symphony.   

  Andrew Grams became music director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra after an international search in 2013 and recently concluded his tenure there after eight seasons. His charismatic conducting and easy accessibility have made him a favourite of Elgin Symphony audiences.  

  A frequent traveller, Andrew Grams has worked extensively with orchestras abroad, including the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, the Orchestre National de France, Hong Kong Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and Het Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, Netherlands. He has led multiple performances of New York City Ballet’s George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® and the first performances of the new production of The Nutcracker for the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo.  

  Also an educator, he has worked with orchestras at institutions such as the Curtis Institute of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, Roosevelt University, the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland, and the Amsterdam Conservatorium.  

  Born in Severn, Maryland, Andrew Grams began studying the violin when he was eight years old. In 1999 he received a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from The Juilliard School, and in 2003 he received a conducting degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller. He was selected to spend the summer of 2003 studying with David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, and Michael Stern at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, and returned to that program again in 2004. He served as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 2004 to 2007, where he worked under the guidance of Franz Welser-Möst, and has since returned for several engagements.  

  As an accomplished violinist, Andrew Grams was a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra from 1998 to 2004, serving as acting associate principal second violin in 2002 and 2004. Additionally, he has performed with ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the New Jersey Symphony.  

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  Piano Stewart Goodyear

  

  Piano Stewart Goodyear

  Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser, and composer. He has performed with, and has been commissioned by, many of the major orchestras and chamber music organizations around the world. 

  Last year, Orchid Classics released Goodyear’s recording of his suite for piano and orchestra, Callaloo, and his piano sonata. His recent commissions include a piano quintet for the Penderecki String Quartet, and a piano work for the Honens Piano Competition. 

  Stewart Goodyear’s discography includes the complete sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven, as well as concertos by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff; an album of Ravel piano works; and an album entitled For Glenn Gould, which combines repertoire from Gould’s U.S. and Montreal debuts. Goodyear’s recording of his own transcription of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker (complete ballet), was chosen by The New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015. His discography is released on the Marquis Classics, Orchid Classics, Bright Shiny Things, Steinway and Sons, and Naxos labels.  

  Last summer included performances with the Chineke! Orchestra at Southbank Centre (U.K.) and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival, and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. He also performed with Chineke! at the NAC in March 2023. Highlights of the 2023–2024 season are his recital debut at Wigmore Hall, his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, his return with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and his Carnegie Hall debut with Toronto’s Royal Conservatory Orchestra under Peter Oundjian.  

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  Bass Chi-chi Nwanoku

  

  Bass Chi-chi Nwanoku

  Chi-chi is the Founder and Artistic Director of Chineke! Foundation. She has been instrumental in creating opportunities for Black and ethnically diverse musicians through the Chineke! Orchestra and Chineke! Junior Orchestra, commissioning new works, championing historical composers of diverse heritage, and establishing scholarships with major U.K. conservatoires. The ABO/RPS Salomon Prize, which celebrates “unsung heroes” working in British orchestras, is her dream-child. 

  Chi-chi is a Professor and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and Honorary Doctor at Chichester University and the Open University. Chi-chi was awarded the CBE for Services to Music & Diversity in 2022, and in 2021 named the first Ambassador for Intergenerational Music Making. She featured in the Powerlist of Britain’s 100 Most Influential Black People for the last four consecutive years. Chi-chi regularly broadcasts for TV and radio, including BBC, Sky Arts, and Classic FM.

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  Featuring Chineke! Orchestra

  

  Featuring Chineke! Orchestra

  The Chineke! Foundation was founded in 2015 by double bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE to provide career opportunities for young Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the U.K. and Europe. Chineke!’s mission is, “championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music.”

  The past seven years has seen an extraordinary increase in Chineke!’s activities and impact. Chineke! Voices was launched in 2022, shining a spotlight on the extraordinary 16th-century composer Vicente Lusitano, the recording of which will be released in 2023. The Chineke! Junior Orchestra also commenced its debut European tour in 2022 with the opening concert of the Lucerne Festival. The Chineke! Orchestra now gives around 40 concerts each year in the U.K. including at many major U.K. festivals and at St George’s, Bristol, and Warwick Arts Centre where Chineke! has residencies. In London, Chineke! is a Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre performing regularly at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Festival Hall. 

  Abroad, Chineke! has undertaken several major tours to Europe and Australia and will be making its debut tour to North America in March 2023. This evening’s concert is the orchestra’s first appearance in Canada. Several CD recordings have already been released since 2017 and in 2022 Chineke! Records was launched in association with Decca Records. 

  In every concert Chineke! proudly performs works by Black and ethnically diverse composers from all over the world who have been unjustly neglected throughout history. They champion composers from the 16th-century Vicente Lusitano, through to the 19th/20th-century Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and perform, commission, and record works by living Black composers.  

  Chi-chi Nwanoku says: “My aim is to create a space where Black and ethnically diverse musicians can walk on stage and know that they belong, in every sense of the word. If even one child feels that their colour is getting in the way of their musical ambitions, then I hope to inspire them, give them a platform, and show them that music, of whatever kind, is for all people. And I want audiences to feel welcome, regardless of ethnicity.” 

  The aims of the Chineke! Foundation and Orchestra are ambitious. In the words of the conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, “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 U.K. for generations. What a thrilling prospect!” 

  NAC media featuring Chineke! Orchestra

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