The Coltay Orchestra - Where Music and Heritage Meet
Named in recognition the composer, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, and his music. The Coltay Orchestra will be an orchestra whose members predominantly identify as Black, Asian, Mixed, ethnically diverse and from the *Global Majority and allies.
About Us
The Coltay Orchestra aims to create a space for amateur orchestral musicians who have lived experience of racism in the UK to connect, play music together and celebrate their heritage as opposed to joining an orchestra where they would normally be minoritised.
People from the Global Majority currently make up 85% of the global population and the demographic of the orchestra will unapologetically centre the needs of these musicians. Musicians who have a love of playing music as part of a collective but who have perhaps stopped, or continue to inure playing in a space where they cannot show up as their true authentic selves.
The intention however is not to exclude those musicians who are not part of the Global Majority – as we recognise we need powerful allies to help drive change. The aim is to be representative on a global level, therefore it’s membership will allow for up to 15% of its members to be musicians who are not part of the global majority. In order to ensure the space remains safe, they will need to demonstrate their allyship and rationale for wanting to be in this space.
The Coltay Orchestra
The aim of the orchestra is first and foremost to play music. All kinds of music, written by all kinds of composers. Many musicians will have been on a musical journey which has introduced them to the music Western European composers and developed a love for this music. Music is universal and global however, so there will be opportunities created to celebrate the music of our ancestors, indigenous people and those whose music has historically been excluded or erased.
The Coltay Orchestra will be open to musicians ages 18+ who are Grade 6 level or equivalent upwards. Amateurs but professionals are also welcome and even those returning to playing. Through partnerships we hope to provide opportunities to meet and play at various points in the year, put on concerts and collaborate with other groups and choirs, commission pieces, provide training where possible and provide a pathway for young musicians to continue to play when they reach 18.
The orchestra will also explore how it can contribute to communities and those working to achieve social justice through the trasformative power that is music!
Who was Samuel Coleridge - Taylor?
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a remarkable composer, conductor and activist who challenged racial discrimination with his music. He was born in London in 1875 to a Sierra Leonean father and an English mother, and he proudly identified as Anglo-African. He was named after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose works influenced his own.
He grew up in a musical family and learned to play the violin from his father. He showed great talent and passion for music, and he enrolled in the Royal College of Music in 1890, where he studied composition for seven years. He abandoned the violin and focused on creating original works that blended European and African elements.
His most famous work was The Song of Hiawatha, based on Longfellow’s epic poem about Native American life. It was a huge success in Britain and abroad, and it earned him invitations to visit America three times. He was warmly received by African Americans, who appreciated his piano pieces based on spirituals and other ‘negro melodies’. He also wrote for the theatre, opera, choir and orchestra, using titles that reflected his African heritage.
He died in 1912 at the age of 37, leaving behind a legacy of inspiring music and social activism.
About Sam - Founder & Director
Samantha Stimpson (B.Ed, M.Ed Music)
Sam's musical journey began when she was six years old and attended a concert by the Jamaican pianist Orett Rhoden with her mother. She was so inspired by his performance that she asked for piano lessons and soon discovered her passion for the instrument. A year later, she also started to learn the viola, although it was not her first choice. She had wanted to play the violin, but her primary school did not have any suitable sizes for her tall stature, so she was given a viola instead! (For those who don't know, the viola is a string instrument that is larger and lower than the violin, and has a richer and deeper sound.)
She grew to love the mellow tones of the instrument and during her formative years, she enjoyed playing with her peers in orchestras and quickly progressed from intermediate to advanced and then the senior, adult orchestra aged only 15. It was during this time that Sam first experienced subtle acts of exclusion from being often the only one, or one of a few musicians of colour from the Global Majority in a majority White orchestra.
Sam went on to study Music at university and qualified to be a music teacher while continuing her solo playing and studying for her degree and then Masters in Music Education. But due to the negative experiences she had, the desire to join an orchestra had gone.
For many years she enjoyed teaching Music in schools and ensembles before she became a Music Advisor and Consultant which took her out of the classroom. And after a hiatus of 10 or so years Sam decided to rekindle her love of orchestral playing and joined a few local amateur orchestras but again found herself as the only Black person in the orchestra and again experienced microaggressions and subtle acts of exclusion due to her race.
This started her desire to do more to address issues of exclusion and representation and she began to work with schools and organisations as an Ethnic Minority Achievement Consultant to explore ways to combat racial inequities, challenge the narratives and beliefs around Classical Music and researched the impact of a lack of diversity in the Arts for children and young people who identify and Black and from the African diaspora.
In 2021, Sam started her own Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Consultancy, SLS 360 after the events of the year created a surge in demand from organisations wanting to know more about what they could do and an increased wiliness and awareness of a need to act. SLS 360 now has a team of associates and has worked with over 150 organisations in the UK and Europe and continues to grow.
In 2022, Sam was awarded a Clore Fellowship, a year long funded programme for exceptional leaders in the arts. During this time she reflected on her creative practice as a musician and the her emotions around her orchestral experiences. One of her peers on the fellowship, on hearing her story challenged her to ‘be the change you want to see’ and create a space and opportunity for musicians to play music with people who have similar lived and felt experiences of racism.
The Coltay Orchestra was created from a desire to play again and not feel the need to conform, hide, code switch or deal with comments which result in feelings of being othered and emotional trauma. Also to provide other amateur musicians with the experience of performing music by composers who look like them in terms of race and address the disparity that exists in the western classical music cannon.
“This is more than a passion project, it is something which speaks to the very core of who I am. A musician who loves orchestral music and wants to play with others while celebrating my ancestry and heritage. The Coltay Orchestra is the beginning of a world of possibilities. I hope many others will join me on this journey of discovery!”
About Yinka - Director
Yinka Ewuola is a Business Strategist, Coach and Speaker focused on supporting women to create wealth and win in business and life.And yet before all of that, she was a passionate and committed and accomplished flautist having picked up the flute at school, and played all the way to Grade 8 having engaged in school and broader orchestras.
Yinka is passionate about the power of music to transform lives, futures and experiences for so many and is excited to work alongside Sam to bring the ColTay Orchestra and its offerings to life.
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