Goodyear: Callaloo – A Caribbean Suite | Chineke! Junior Orchestra, Glass Marcano & Gerard Aimontche

Caribbean meets classic. Stewart Goodyear himself describes his Callaloo suite as a kind of “soul food” – a Caribbean dish with spices from different cultures. Bongos, violas and triangle play together, Jamaican folklore unites with piano improvisations and calypso sounds dominate the finale. This was an energetic fireworks display for the Chineke! Junior Orchestra and Gerard Aimontche on piano under the baton of Glass Marcano. The concert took place as part of the Young Euro Classic 2022 festival at the Konzerthaus Berlin. (00:00) Coming on stage (00:30) Panorama (06:42) Mento (11:28) Ballad (17:05) Piano Solo (20:25) Soca (31:01) Encore: Improvisation by Gerard Aimontche on Bob Carlton´s “Ja Da” Composer and pianist Stewart Goodyear was born in Toronto, Canada in 1978 to a mother from Trinidad and a father from Great Britain. He trained as a pianist in Canada and the United States and has performed with all the major orchestras in the United States. He is considered a superstar among pianists. He once famously demonstrated his skills by playing all 32 Beethoven sonatas in one day. As a composer, he is open to all musical styles. He writes cello concertos, piano quartets and suites, but also variations on songs by the Beatles. “Callaloo – A Caribbean Suite”, a piece for piano and orchestra, was written in 2016, shortly after Goodyear experienced carnival on the Caribbean island of Trinidad for the first time. It is a tribute to his Caribbean roots. The title refers to the typical Caribbean stew, which consists of different ingredients depending on which island it comes from. The piece premiered in Leipzig, Germany in 2016. Conductor Glass Marcano guides the Chineke! Junior Orchestra powerfully through the piece. Marcano is from Venezuela, where she learned to play the violin as part of the national music program “El Sistema”. From 2006-2012, she was a member of the Venezuelan Yaracuy Symphony Orchestra. After studying law, she began her training as a conductor at the National Academy of Arts in Caracas in 2015. She completed a number of conducting courses. In the first edition of the conducting competition “La Maestra” in 2019, she reached the semi-finals. She is currently continuing her studies in Paris. Glass Marcano has conducted the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, the Bogotá Symphony Orchestra and the Mozart Orchestra Paris, among others. The piano soloist is Russian pianist Gerad Aimontche. Due to his African roots he has already worked with the Chineke! Orchestra on several occasions. Aimontche studied piano in Moscow at renowned music schools. He has performed in many cities in Russia as well as at the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Montreux Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall. He also won the Grieg International Competition and the Maria Yudina and Nikolai Rubinstein International Competitions for Young Pianists. In 2016, he made his orchestral debut performing Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto at the Color of Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2017, Aimontche recorded “Callaloo” with the Chineke! Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London. In 2018, the pianist undertook an extensive tour of China at the invitation of Steinway & Sons. The Chineke! Junior Orchestra was founded – at the same time as the Chineke! Orchestra – in 2015 in London to give musicians of color a platform for their musical education. This includes intensive educational mentoring as well as performances at the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall or for the TV contest “Britain’s Got Talent”. The young orchestra members hail from all over Europe and are aged between 11 and 22. Founder and artistic director of the Chineke! Foundation is the former sprinter and double-bassist Chi-Chi Nwanoku, who played in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for 30 years. The word Chineke derives from the Igbo language and means “God”. The language is spoken in Nigeria. The Young Euro Classic Festival is the world’s most important platform for young international orchestras coming together to develop the tradition of European classical music. Every summer, for two-and-a-half weeks, orchestras from all over the world perform at Berlin’s Konzerthaus on the central Gendarmenmarkt square. © EuroArts Music International Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: Subscribe to DW Classical Music: #dwclassicalmusic #chinekeorchestra #youthorchestra