Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, by Chi-chi Nwanoku

Synopsis

Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE, the double-bassist and founder of the extraordinary Chineke! Orchestra, explores the remarkable and tragic story of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – one of the greatest composers of the early 20th century (born 1875, died 1912). “He was brilliant, he was British, and he was black.” She asks why he’s been forgotten and questions the ongoing lack of diversity in the world of classical music. World-renowned for his choral work ‘The Song of Hiawatha’, Coleridge-Taylor – a contemporary of Elgar, Holst, and Vaughan-Williams – also enjoyed fame in America for his arrangements of negro spirituals, and was invited to the White House in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt – a rare honour for a man of colour so soon after the abolition of slavery in the USA.

Additional Info

• No: 8859
• Artists: Chineke! Orchestra, Sheku Kanneh-Mason
• Production year: 2022
• Run time: 00:45:00
• Director: A film by Len Brown
• Producers: McClarty Brown Media
• Format: HDTV 16:9