Chi-chi Nwanoku on Jessye Norman

Great Lives

BBC

History, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

On the 11th June 1988 Jessye Norman performed a spine-tingling rendition of 'Amazing Grace' to a packed Wembley Stadium, bringing to a close a concert marking the seventieth birthday of Nelson Mandela. By this point her career Jessye Norman was a global icon of opera, best-known for her performances in works by Wagner, Verdi and Mozart. She refused to take the parts traditionally offered to Black singers and once said that pigeonholes were only for pigeons. She would sing, in fact, whatever she liked. Double-bassist and founder of the Chineke! Orchestra Chi-chi Nwanoku was driving back from a concert when she first heard Jessye Norman singing on the radio. She remembers being so struck by her voice that she had to pull over and wait until the performance had finished before continuing her journey. Chi-chi and presenter Matthew Parris explore some of Jessye Norman's work and recordings, and her views on what it means to be a Black woman in classical music. Chi-chi and Matthew are joined by Kira Thurman, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Michigan to help map out the key moments and decisions in Jessye Norman's extraordinary life. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Toby Field

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the 11th of June 1988, thousands of people are packed into Wembley Stadium in London
0:12.4	for a concert to mark the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela.
0:17.2	Stevie Wonder, George Michael, Whitney Houston and Tracy Chapman are just some of the acts
0:22.7	who've performed, but as the light fades and the concert draws towards a close, one lone
0:29.7	woman takes to the stage, she approaches the microphone and begins to sing.
0:52.7	Gosh, tears in my eyes already, breath-taking.
1:11.6	That extraordinary voice belonged to Jesse Norman, who lit up the world of opera for some
1:18.0	four decades, but as we've just heard, would sing whatever music she loved.
1:24.0	Choosing Jesse Norman for Great Lives is the double bassist and founder of the Chineke Orchestra,
1:30.5	Chichinuanoku.
1:31.5	Chichin, welcome, how did it feel hearing Jesse Norman sing that?
1:36.2	Well, every time I hear her voice, it's unique, it's all consuming, it envelops you.
1:47.4	And one always feels secure that whatever she does in any piece of music that she's singing
1:56.8	is going to be relevant, poignant, moving and real.
2:02.4	When did you first hear her sing?
2:04.4	Well, right at the start of my professional career, I had given a concert outside of London
2:12.2	and I was driving home along the M4 and got to that part of the journey when I'm just
2:19.0	beginning to feel a bit tired, so opening windows and then radio on, nice and loudly.
2:26.3	I put the radio on, put Radio 3 on and somebody was singing that I'd never heard before.
2:43.0	I was so drawn into it immediately that I had to pull over into the hard shoulder,
2:47.9	it was pitch black all around me until she'd finished and that's when I learned it was Jesse Norman.
2:54.4	And it was unsafe for me to continue driving.
	...

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