Chi-Chi Nwanoku, MBE is a British classical double bass player and presenter on BBC Radio 3 Requests.
Chi-Chi was born in London of Igbo and Irish parents and grew up in the UK but spent two years in Imo State, Nigeria. Nwanoku graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with the Principal’s Prize and the Eugene Cruft Double Bass Prize, and was awarded four scholarships, including the Royal Society of Arts, allowing her to further study with Franco Petracchi in Rome.
She was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1998 and awarded an MBE for Services to Music in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2001. She is Professor of Double Bass Historical Studies at The Royal Academy of Music, a visiting Professor at Double Bass at Trinity College of Music in London.
She is principal bass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (of which she is also a founder member) and Endymion Ensemble, and a regular guest with string quartets and chamber groups. Her instrument was made in 1631 by Nicolò Amati (Cremona).
In the media, she has been involved with programmes on BBC Radio 3 including BBC Radio 3 Requests programme for which she is a regular presenter. She has also appeared on television as a perma guest at the BBC Proms, and has written blogs for The Guardian and elsewhere. She was a judge on BBC television's competition Classical Star in 2007.
As well as supporting many charities, she is a Governor on the board of the National Youth Orchestra, on the Board of Directors of the Association of British Orchestras, a Member of the Council of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a Patron of Music Preserved and on the Board of Sphinx UK.
Thanks to @419positive (#ff - Twitter)
Source: Wikipedia
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