The London Times praises Valerie Coleman’s “Phenomenal Women”

Valerie Coleman’s concerto for wind quintet was performed by the Chineke! Orchestra and the Imani Winds ensemble, conducted by Leslie Suganandarajah, at Queen Elizabeth Hall (Photo credit: Mark Allen)

Chineke! review — a new concerto pays tribute to remarkable women
By Rebecca Franks
The London Times
November 26, 2021

Even six years ago, would Chineke! have opened a programme with new music by two black female composers? The founder and double-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku told the audience she hadn’t dared. Well, in this concert she did, and it felt like a radical act — and a celebration, not least of all the work this orchestra has done to open up classical music. That was underscored by the title of Valerie Coleman’s Phenomenal Women, her bold 2018 concerto for wind quintet and chamber orchestra. The idea is simple: six movements paying tribute to remarkable women in a range of fields. Yet, reading about it on paper, I was unsure. Would it be too overly literal and pictorial? A thwack of a temple block to depict a tennis ball here, a pitter-patter of pizzicato to indicate dripping water there. The generic, filmic gestures of the Maya Angelou-inspired introduction didn’t bode well.

After that the piece convinced. Coleman’s writing was striking, smart and witty. The back-and forth of a tennis match was brilliantly caught in the Serena Williams portrait, capped by an incredible virtuoso solo by the bassoonist Monica Ellis. Her playing was as athletic as the tennis star’s. The flautist Shantanique Moore brought a tenderness to Caravana, a haunting wordless lullaby to nameless immigrant women. And the morse code taps in the movement dedicated to the NACA (now Nasa) mathematician Katherine Johnson were an effective device. I must mention too the other superb soloists: the clarinettist Mariam Adam, the French horn player Priscilla Rinehart and the oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz.

To read the full review, click here.