Chinyere Adah "Chi-Chi" Nwanoku is a British double bassist and professor of Historical Double Bass Studies at the Royal Academy of Music.
14 Facts About Chi-chi Nwanoku
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Chi-chi Nwanoku is of Nigerian and Irish descent and is the oldest of the five children of her parents, Dr Michael Chi-chi Nwanoku and his wife Margaret.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku was born in Fulham, London, and before reaching school age she lived in Imo State, Nigeria, where her family went for two years.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Music while undertaking training as a 100-metre sprinter but had to end her athletic career following a knee injury.
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In 2015 Chi-chi Nwanoku presented the BBC Radio 4 programmes In Search of the Black Mozart, featuring the lives and careers of black classical composers and performers from the 18th century, including Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges; Ignatius Sancho; and George Bridgetower.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku has presented an episode of the Sky Arts TV series Passions, on the life and work of British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku is a former Patron of Music Preserved, and is a current Patron of the Cherubim Trust.
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Jessye Norman 8.
Chi-chi Nwanoku was a guest of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on 11 February 2018.
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In 2019, Chi-chi Nwanoku opened the new site of Hackney New Primary School, a specialist music school for children.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku presented a six-part radio show on Classic FM in October 2020 called Chi-chi's Classical Champions, a programme highlighting the music of contemporary and historical composers of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse heritage.
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In September 2023 Chi-chi Nwanoku was the guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives; her choice was Jessye Norman.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku featured in Stormzy's book Superheroes: Inspiring Stories of Secret Strength.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku is based in London and has two children and four grandchildren.
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Chi-chi Nwanoku was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to music, Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to music and diversity.