Nkeiru Okoye: Chorus wants “to keep 'Clap your hands' in their permanent repertoire”

[Nkeiru Okoye]

On Nov. 4 AfriClassical posted: “NJ.com: New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra in 'Classically Black,' 7:30 PM Saturday, Nov. 5.” Dr. Nkeiru Okoye responds:

“Dear Bill,

Thanks for posting this. I don’t know how you find out all of this information. It’s incredible! The premiere went well enough for the chorus (a men’s glee club) to want to keep 'Clap your hands' in their permanent repertoire; and one of the string players wants it for the choir and orchestra in her school district. It’s an exciting time.

Warm wishes,

Nkeiru”

American Opera Projects: 'Our Black Ops program is not so hush-hush'; Nkeiru Okoye's 'HARRIET TUBMAN'

[Harriet Tubman, Nkeiru Okoye, American Opera Projects]

The works of Nkeiru Okoye, Ph.D. have been featured on this blog for years. On May 7, 2011 AfriClassical posted: “Nkeiru Okoye's 'HARRIET TUBMAN - Coming June 12 to Galapagos Arts Space, Brooklyn, NY, 7pm.'” Today we received an AOP News release from American Opera Projects and Opera on Tap:

OPERA GROWS IN BROOKLYN:

OPERA OF COLOR

Give and Take, a chamber work for soprano (Malesha Jessie)

and ensemble, by jazz icon David N. Baker.

Soprano Adrienne Danrich performs excerpts from her new live-documentary

An Evening in the Harlem Renaissance, including the New York premiere of five songs composed by Drew Hemenger with poems by Langston Hughes.

Soprano Jasmine Muhammad is the legendary Underground Railroad conductor

in excerpts from composer Nkeiru Okoye's folk opera

Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom.

Sunday, June 12, 2011 - 7:00PM

Galapagos Art Space

16 Main Street (corner of Water St.)

Brooklyn, NY 11201

http://www.galapagosartspace.com

ADVANCE: $15 / DOOR: $20

http://www.operaprojects.org / http://www.operaontap.com

'American Lyric Theater Resident Artist Composers to be featured include...Nkeiru Okoye' Jan. 30, 1 PM

[Nkeiru Okoye]

AfriClassical has written about Dr. Nkeiru Okoye (b. 1975), http://www.NkeiruOkoye.com, a number of times over the years. On Feb. 29, 2008 we wrote that Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, Compiled and Edited by William H. Chapman Nyaho, included her Dancing Barefoot in the Rain, which is from African Sketches. On Aug. 31, 2009 AfriClassical posted: “Nkeiru Okoye, African American Composer, Was a Featured 'FESAAM 2009' Presenter.” A post on Jan. 5, 2010 read: “Tania León A Co-leader of 'Composers Now' Panel; Works of George Walker & Nkeiru Okoye Heard.”

The Center for Black Music Research CBMR Digest for Fall 2010, Vol. 23, No. 2 includes a feature article, A Tribute to Hale Smith (1925-2009) by Regina Harris Baiocchi. The article says: “Smith taught at Xavier University, C.W. Post College, and the University of Connecticut, Storrs. His proteges include Dr. Malcolm Breda, Dr. Nkeiru Okoye, Wynton Marsalis, and this writer.”

Nkeiru Okoye's website says of her present activities: “Currently, she is a Resident Artist in American Lyric Theater's Composer Librettist Development Program in NY, while completing her folk opera, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line To Freedom.” We have noted recently that composer Anthony Davis will host an event at the American Lyric Theater on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 1:00 p.m. The ALT website reports: “American Lyric Theater Resident Artist Composers to be featured include Christopher Cerrone, Justine Chen, Gerald Cohen, and Nkeiru Okoye; alongside Librettists Tony Asaro, Rochelle Bright, and David Simpatico.”

Nkeiru Okoye, African American Composer, Was A Featured 'FESAAM 2009' Presenter

[Nkeiru Okoye, photo at nkeiruokoye.com]

African Musical Arts, Inc. is: “A non-profit parent organization for African Chorus, African Music Publishers and the New Horizons Orchestra.” The Founder and President of AMA, Inc. is Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke, a Ghanaian-born American composer who is also Editor of its newsletter, “The Voice of African Music.” Volume 16, No. 3 of the VOAM is the issue for Summer 2009, and continues to profile the featured presenters of “The Festival of African and African-American Music 2009” or “FESAAM 2009” earlier this year. Among them is Nkeiru Okoye, an African American composer:

“Nkeiru Okoye, Composer, pianist, and conductor

Nkeiru Okoye won her first award for writing music at the age of thirteen, while a student at the Preparatory Division of the Manhattan School of Music. A 1997 protégé composer for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's 'African-American Composer Symposium,' and a 1995 ASCAP Grant for Young Composers awardee, Okoye has also received recognition from such organizations as the NAACP, the Long Island Composer Alliance, New York Newsday, and the New York State Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. At the age of 16, the native Long Islander received a scholarship to attend Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she studied composition and the piano.

“Okoye traveled to London to work with Pulitzer Prize nominee, Ronald Senator, during the Fall of 1990. The following year, she received funding from the Ford-Mellon Foundation for ground breaking research on Black women composers, through which she authored 'A Finding Aid for the Works of Black Women Composers' and began a collection of works by Black women composers for the Oberlin College Conservatory Library. Okoye's compositions can be described as a collage of American, West African, and European musical traditions. In her score, 'The Genesis,' she uses the orchestra to imitate a talking drum ensemble, while elements of pop and funk were used in 'RUTH' an orchestral choreopoem. Traditional folk dances inspired her latest work, 'Spanish Songs for Tenor and String Orchestra.' The composer's unifying musical message has been well received by diverse audiences.”

“After receiving her bachelor's degree in music compositionin May of 1993, Okoye was awarded a Trustees Minority Fellowship at Rutgers University where she is currently pursuing her doctorate in composition under the tutelage of composer, Noel DaCosta.”