Wimbledone Book Fest: Young, Gifted and Black

In this event specially created for Wimbledon Bookfest, curated by Berginald Rash, Chineke! presents a programme tracing the reach and resilience of the Black diaspora. 

It opens in the Americas with William Grant Still’s Danzas de Panamá, weaving Afro-Caribbean dance forms into lush strings, and Carlos Simon’s Warmth from Other Suns, charting the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South. Crossing the Atlantic, Matthew Rooke’s An a Craw can Sing an Aw answers Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending on bass clarinet, birdsong now carrying the weight of Black diasporic experience. Coleridge-Taylor’s clarinet quintet closes the night, inspired by Brahms yet alive with the verve of Black and Indigenous music, opening into an earthy prayer in its second movement.

An hour-long concert and a friendly introduction to classical music. Whether you’re hearing it for the first time or have loved it for years, all are welcome