Honorary Fellow Joan Armatrading CBE’s first classical work was premiered by the Chineke! Orchestra on 24 November at the Southbank Centre in London. Symphony No.1 was performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Chineke! is Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra.
“One day, I was in the studio, and I thought: It’s today,” she told the New York Times. “It’s just a symphony,” she said. “I’ve written blues, pop, jazz, rock, folk. I mean, I’ve written all the different things, so this is just another different thing.”