Chi-chi Nwanoku is half the size of her double bass, yet has gained a reputation as one of the finest exponents of her instrument today. The eldest of five children from Nigerian and Irish parents, she was seven years old when she discovered the piano at a neighbour’s, who taught her to play a 12-bar blues. She returned to their house every day until the neighbour got so fed up that they wheeled the piano up the road and gave it to her as a gift!
Meanwhile, she was spotted (aged eight) by an athletics coach and trained as a 100-metre sprinter, eventually competing at National level. This career ended abruptly due to a knee injury aged eighteen, which is when (and why) she took up the double bass and began actively pursuing a career in music.
She studied at the Royal Academy of Music and soon found herself in demand internationally.
Chi-chi is Principal Double Bassist and founder member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Endymion Ensemble. She is Professor of Double Bass Historical Studies at The Royal Academy of Music, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1998.
Chi-chi also works as a broadcaster, presenting BBC Radio 3 Requests on Sundays for four years and was a member of the Jury for BBC 2’s Classical Star.
In 2001, Chi-chi was awarded an MBE for services to Music in the Queen’s Birthday honours and was one of this year’s 100 – Happy List in the Independent on Sunday.
She lives in London, and through shared interests with her children Jacob and Phoebe, was led back to ‘the track’ where she has competed over 100 metres again…as a veteran!
Player Profiles No.1: Chi-chi Nwanoku MBE from OAE on Vimeo.
Read Chi-chi’s Speed Interview
For more information, please visit her website here.
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