Chi-chi Nwanoku has formally resigned from Chineke!, the British orchestra she founded in 2015, ending her leadership of an organisation widely regarded as a game changer in British orchestral music.

The double-bassist stepped down after the Chineke! board suspended her in December 2024 over what were described as "code of conduct issues." The resignation converts that suspension into a permanent separation.

Chineke! chair Frank Douglas confirmed the departure and paid tribute to Nwanoku's record. "On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to pay tribute to Chi-chi's vision, determination and achievements in founding and leading the organisation over its first eleven years," Douglas said. "Her work has created opportunities for established and emerging Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians and established an organisation whose impact will be felt for many years."

Nwanoku founded Chineke! to address the underrepresentation of Black and ethnically diverse musicians in classical music, and the ensemble quickly became a fixture of British concert life. Under her leadership it provided performance platforms for players who had long been excluded from the country's orchestral establishment.

Her exit nonetheless follows friction. Observers noted that Nwanoku, while transformative, was not always the most patient or diplomatic of leaders — a characterization that hung over the conduct review that preceded her suspension.

Douglas's statement points to the organisation's future: the trustees frame the resignation as a transition rather than a rupture, insisting that the structures Nwanoku built will outlast her tenure. Whether Chineke! can sustain its founding momentum under new leadership will define the next chapter of the most significant diversity initiative in modern British orchestral history.