Dr. William Chapman Nyaho, Pianist of Ghanaian Heritage, Born in Washington, D.C. Dec. 28, 1958

[ASA: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent; William Chapman Nyaho, piano; MSR Classics MS 1242 (2008)]

Dr. William Chapman Nyaho (b. 1958) is a pianist of Ghanaian Heritage who is featured at AfriClassical.com. His performance website is http://www.nyaho.com/; his teaching website is http://www.NyahoPianoStudio.com; and he has a Facebook Page. William Chapman Nyaho is also a member of the Nyaho/Garcia Duo, with pianist Susanna Garcia. The Duo recorded Aaron Copland: Music for Two Pianos; Centaur CRC 2405 (1998).

William Chapman Nyaho has recorded 2 CDs of music of the African diaspora. The first was Senku: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent, MSR Classics MS 1091 (2003). It was followed by ASA: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent; MSR Classics MS 1242 (2008).

The Oxford University Press has published his 5-volume graded sheet music series Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora. This landmark resource has made many piano works of the African Diaspora available in print for the first time. It was a massive undertaking and a unique contribution to the legacy of African Heritage in Classical Music.

The Texas A&M Department of Performance Studies presented a concert of piano music by Dr. William Chapman Nyaho at Rudder Theatre on April 6, 2011. The press release for the program noted: 

“Chapman Nyaho is a Ghanaian American and resident of Seattle that has studied piano all around the world. He has earned degrees from Oxford University in England, the Eastman School of Music in at the University of Rochester (N.Y.), and the University of Texas-Austin. 



“His performances have taken him to Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, as well as his current home of North America. He has played at the Kennedy Center, with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and been featured on radio and television broadcasts from Ghana to Switzerland to National Public Radio in the U.S.



“'Nyaho is a superb musician and a rare talent who specializes in the performance of Classical music from several Western and non-Western cultures,' said faculty host Dr. David Wilborn. 'His piano performances are intriguing and engaging. No one should ever miss an opportunity to hear and watch him in performance.'

 Chapman Nyaho, who also spent time studying in Switzerland and as a four-year visiting artist at North Carolina, is a regular guest clinician giving lectures and recitals that advocate music by composers of African heritage.”