New face of Kenya’s orchestral culture

“I took music classes in high school, and we were encouraged to attend Nairobi Orchestra’s performances to get a feel of classical music,” she says. “So I attended one, and they were playing Bach. It was so beautiful.”

What stayed with her was not just the music, but how it made her feel.
“No words were being sung, and you could hear the individual instruments and how they all came together in one seamless harmony,” she says. “As I listened, I was feeling and interpreting the emotions coming through in my own way. I was also trying to understand what the composer felt as they created the piece.”

This openness to interpretation, she believes, is where the beauty of the orchestra lies.

“It’s like art,” she says. “There might be an entire crowd around you listening to the same performance, but everyone is feeling something different.”

Recalling that first experience, Beverly says she initially found the atmosphere intimidating. The audience was largely made up of older foreigners who appeared to belong to a different social class. Over the years, however, she has watched the crowds become younger and more diverse.

“The last one I attended had a good balance,” she says. “There were many young people who appeared to be in their 20s, and there was even a class of students brought by their teacher.”
Looking forward to upcoming performances, Beverly pushes back against stereotypes often associated with orchestral music.

“Have you seen the ticket prices? I don’t think it’s only for the rich. I am usually there with very regular people, and there’s no dress code either,” she says. “Yes, everyone looks good, but they’re mostly casually dressed.”

These changing audiences are not merely a perception.

David Ralak, concertmaster at the Nairobi Orchestra, says interest in orchestral music has grown significantly over the years.
“There’s so much going on now,” he says. “The rate at which concerts are selling out, and classical musicians and ensembles are emerging, is something I never expected.”

According to Ralak, the transformation has been particularly visible in who attends performances.

“Until the 2000s, it was mostly foreigners and expats, but when a few brave Kenyans took up these foreign classical instruments, others were encouraged to follow,” he says. “Social media has also made everything more accessible, including information about upcoming events.”

Today, he says, audiences at Nairobi Orchestra performances are roughly 80 percent Kenyan, with young people making up a significant share.

Affordability has also helped broaden the audience.

“There are exclusive orchestral performances that are largely meant to fundraise, but on average, tickets range between Sh1,000 and Sh3,000,” he says. “It’s actually rare for them to even reach Sh3,000, and that’s intentional to make this accessible to as many people as possible.”

For Beverly, the appeal goes beyond accessibility.
“I attend a lot of music events, but I only go to the orchestra when I am looking for something more peaceful,” she says. “I find it very grounding. If I go when my mind is cluttered or after a long week, I leave feeling lighter and with my thoughts flowing better.”
She mostly attends alone, occasionally bringing friends along. While one promised to return, another decided it simply was not for them.

“Orchestral music is pretty mellow,” she says. “I think most people who are drawn to the orchestra are those who appreciate music as more than just entertainment. They see it as art, something to interpret, connect with, and feel deeply.”

Regardless of who accompanies her, once the performance begins, everything else disappears.
“Honestly, I forget who I’m there with,” she says with a laugh. “I just lock in, and the rest of the world disappears until it’s over.”

While Beverly is drawn to the orchestra’s emotional depth, 27-year-old David Macharia finds himself captivated by something entirely different.

A comedian by profession, David first attended an orchestral performance out of curiosity.

“When I was in school, we had a band whose setup was like that of the orchestra,” he says. “Every school term, they would hold a concert to showcase what they had been working on, so when I got an invite to an orchestral performance, it felt familiar, and I decided to go.”

What continues to impress him is the discipline behind the music.
“For most other forms of entertainment, including stand-up comedy, there’s usually more room for individual expression,” he says. “But with the orchestra, they move as one unit. You can tell they’ve spent a lot of time putting the performance together.

There are many instruments, not all playing the same thing necessarily, but somehow it all comes together seamlessly.”
Over time, he has also come to appreciate the brief introductions that often precede each piece.

“They might tell you about the composer, when and how it was composed, or even where it is often played,” he says. “Initially, I never cared for those backstories. In my head, I’d be counting down the seconds till the actual music started, but these days, I find myself more curious about them.”

One aspect of orchestral performances he particularly enjoys is the diversity of people they attract.

“Sometimes I find myself seated next to an elderly couple well beyond their 70s on one side, and a parent with a child under five years old on the other,” he says.

“Not many events can accommodate such a wide range of people, and even beyond the music, that adds a wholesome feel to the experience.”

Though orchestral events can appear formal, David believes much of the intimidation people feel is self-imposed.

“The last one I attended, I was in ripped jeans,” he says. “I can see how people can feel intimidated, but that’s because they assume others are paying attention to them. But the truth is, nobody really cares what you are doing. Everyone’s too busy thinking about themselves.”

“It’s food for the soul”

For those on stage, however, creating that seamless experience requires years of dedication.

Now 33, Ralak began his violin journey in high school after a music teacher introduced him to the instrument. “I had played the clarinet, the saxophone, and a little bit of the trumpet, but when I picked up the violin, I was hooked,” he says. “Naturally, I dropped all the other instruments.”

Part of the attraction, he says, was the challenge.
“I pretty much had to figure out how to play it on my own, and I think I became obsessed with the complexity and difficulty of that process,” he says.

There was also something about the instrument itself.
“There’s something about its sound that is very close to the human voice. It’s just like someone speaking, but without words, and that pulled me in from the very first note I ever played.”
When it comes to orchestral performance, Ralak says the nerves never entirely disappear.

“Orchestra has to be the strangest, most unique type of fine art,” he says. “It puts together 70 to 100, possibly even more, musicians on one stage, and has them trying to come up with one outcome without any chaos.”

Achieving that outcome requires extraordinary preparation.
“For a single performance, it takes us about 10 weeks of rehearsals,” he says. “But the bulk of the work is really done in the years musicians spend practising their instruments because by the time you join an orchestra, you’re expected to be highly skilled.”

Once the conductor raises the baton, the real work begins.
“As musicians, we have to multitask between watching the conductor, the audience, and our music sheets,” he says. “At the same time, we also have to listen not only to our own instruments, but to every other instrument as well. There’s a lot of communication going on that the audience never notices.”

What he hopes audiences leave with, however, is not an appreciation of the technical difficulty but of the experience itself.
“It’s food for the soul,” he says simply. “The audience should leave with full hearts and a sense of being refreshed.”

And increasingly, those audiences are made up of young Kenyans discovering an art form that was once considered distant, exclusive and foreign.

“A lot of people actually enjoy this music. They love movie soundtracks without realising that it is classical music,” says Ralak. “And while the recorded version is nice, a live orchestra engages both hearing and sight. You get to see how the sound is produced and feel things that are lost in a recording. It’s beautiful and heavenly.”