[Dr. William Chapman Nyaho, pianist; Steven Woodham, violinist]
Published: Monday | May 3, 2010
Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer
“Four world-class musicians performed at the United States Embassy in St Andrew at that mission's 2010 Classical Concert last Thursday evening. The quality of the music delivered by some of the greatest composers was simply superb. Most of the audience would have given full marks to both the musicians and the organizers of the concert, who included interim chargé d'affaires Isiah Parnell and Acting Public Affairs Officer Rebecca Park.”
“The evening, however, officially began with Parnell welcoming guests and urging them to 'forget work and the headlines and just enjoy the music.' Park then introduced the special guest performer, Ghanaian-American pianist Dr William Chapman Nyaho, who was on his second visit to Jamaica. He first came in 2006, also at the request of the US Embassy to perform here. At that recital, he met and was so impressed by Jamaican violinist Steven Woodham that the latter was asked to partner Dr Chapman Nyaho at Thursday's concert.”
“Dr Nyaho studied music in Britain, Switzerland and the US, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Texas. The recipient of various international prizes for music, he has taught at several American institutions and performed in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. He is the editor of a five-volume anthology, Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, a first-of-its-kind work, published by Oxford University Press. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
“Beethoven's 25-minute-long Sonata in C minor, Op 30, No. 2, for piano and violin was the first item offered by Chapman Nyaho and Woodham. It begins with a lively, complex movement and had the performers not been both good and focused, the instruments could easily have lost musical contact with each other. In fact, so difficult was the sonata as a whole, that after the concert, Chapman Nyaho's page turner, no less a person than senior lecturer at the School of Music Ann McNamee, told The Gleaner that it was fortunate that the student of the school originally slated to turn pages, had not made it. 'A student would not have been able to manage it,' she said.” [William Chapman Nyaho (b. 1958) is profiled at AfriClassical.com and has a personal website, http://www.Nyaho.com]
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