Composer Feature: Shawn Okpebholo

We are so excited for our first Music in Bloom performance this Sunday! Today, we want to celebrate another one of our wonderful composers on the program: Grammy-nominated composer Shawn E. Okpebholo!

Nigerian-American composer Shawn Okpebholo’s music has been praised as “devastatingly beautiful” (The Washington Post), “lyrical, complex, singular” (The Guardian), “dreamy, sensual” (The Boston Globe), and “affecting” (The New York Times). Rooted in tradition yet unmistakably contemporary, his work embodies what The Washington Post has called a voice that is “fresh and new and fearless.”

His music has been commissioned and performed by a wide range of ensembles and institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the United States Air Force Strings, Imani Winds, WindSync, Urban Arias, Sparks & Wiry Cries, and the Copland House Ensemble, and has been featured at major festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, and Newport Classical.

A clip of our 2021 performance of Shawn Okpebholo’s “My Country” at our virtual program, Yearning to Breath Free, featuring Kelley Hollis, soprano; James Dargan, baritone; and Julia Scott Carey, piano.

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Composer Feature: Katy Abbot

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Composer Feature: Sarah Kirkland Snider