A composer with a gift for incorporating many influences and styles within her work, Guggenheim Fellow Nkeiru Okoye is perhaps best known for her Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom and orchestral work “Voices Shouting Out,” composed as an artistic response to 9/11. Profiled in the Music of Black Composers Coloring Book and Routledge’s African American Music: An Introduction, Dr. Okoye is the inaugural recipient of the International Florence Price Award for Composition. A recent New York Times article mentioned, “Okoye’s work would make a fitting grand opening for an opera company’s postpandemic relaunch.”
The State of Michigan issued a proclamation acknowledging Dr. Okoye’s “extraordinary contributions” to the history of Detroit, Michigan, for “Black Bottom,” a symphonic experience commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, in celebration of the centennial season of Orchestra Hall. Her other recent works include “Tales from the Briar Patch,” commissioned by The American Opera Project, and “Charlotte Mecklenburg,” commissioned by the Charlotte Symphony.
Family Concert – Tales from the Briar PatchApr 02, 2023
Lesher Center for the Arts