This episode brings together Professor Deborah Cheetham AO, First Nations Creative Chair of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and producer of Australia's first Indigenous opera, and Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE, founder of the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of a majority of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse musicians. These two trailblazing women talk about their decades-long careers, decolonising systems and breaking down doors in Australian and UK classical music.

Both speak to Melanie Abrahams who is our partner on this project, creative director and curator with Renaissance One in the UK.

Guests: chinwanoku.com/meet-chi-chi/">Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE

Interviewer: Melanie Abrahams

Research and presentation: Lena Nahlous, Diversity Arts Australia

Host: Lena Nahlous

Producer: Nadyat El Gawley

Music: Threads of Existence, part three of a composition from Deborah Cheetham’s Woven Song – Pukumani series.

Music composer: Deborah Cheetham AO

Guzheng: Mindy Meng Wang (guest musician)

Flute: Lisa-Maree Amos

Oboe: Joshua De Graaf

Clarinet: Justin Beere

Audio recording courtesy ABC Classic

Filmed on location at NGV Australia

Cinematography and Production: David Ward

This podcast is a collaboration with This Is Who We Are, a UK-Australian movement of intergenerational & intersectional women artists, producers and creatives of colour who are transforming sectors, thinking and spaces. Co-directors Melanie Abrahams (Director. Renaissance One), Paula Abood (Director of The Third Space), Lena Nahlous (Executive Director of Diversity Arts Australia and host of The Colour Cycle podcast), Nur Shkembi (Melbourne based curator, writer and scholar). Festival Curator Melanie Abrahams Project Manager: Sarah Dara. Producer Renaissance One.