Conference Agenda

Presented by twelve performers and qualified experts, this lecture-recital takes a programmatic focus on "African Pianism" (see Omojola 2001, Kimberlin and Euba 2005, Nyaho 2008), expanding awareness of a distinctive movement within contemporary composition and applying novel methods to this repertoire including recent works not previously addressed by music research. The program will include performances, visualizations, and commentary of eight works followed by panel discussion.

Combining elements of lecture-recitals and workshops, this program strives to broaden participation and interest in the growing tradition of African Pianism. The audience will be encouraged and equipped to bring this repertory into educational contexts, as piano works appropriate for student performance, deep listening, and score study. The scores for these works are widely available to faculty students, either through their libraries or the composers’ websites, except for two newly composed works being prepared for the conference that will be shared with attendees and available to the public afterwards.

Featured composers include Halim El-Dabh, a Coptic from Egypt; Nyokabi Kariũki, a Gikuyu from Kenya; Gyimah Labi, an Akan from Ghana; Ayo Oluranti, a Yoruba from Nigeria; Christian Onyeji, an Igbo from Nigeria; Shawn E. Okpebholo, an Edo from Nigeria; and Joshua Uzoigwe, an Igbo from Nigeria. Together, these composers represent five countries and seven ethnicities, and their birth dates span 75 years. The works on this program are largely through-composed, which reflects the composers' multiple musical consciousnesses, including post-modernist compositional study and upbringing with regular exposure to and participation in African indigenous music.

Halim El-Dabh, as a Coptic Egyptian, stands out from the rest of the composers, who are Niger-Congo peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. However, Halim El-Dabh, unlike many other North Africans, traveled extensively on the continent, embraced a pan-African identity, and was known for leading improvisatory music-making with drums associated with West Africa. Thus, El-Dabh has often been included in what is primarily a sub-Saharan African school of composition, which was intentional on his part (p.c. 2011). A brief video excerpt, never before shown, of El-Dabh improvising at the piano in his 90s in Kent, Ohio, one of his last public performances, will be shared as part of this celebration of African Pianism.

The performances will be presented and discussed by Andrew Aziz, Christopher Brody, Aaron Carter-Ényì, Andrew Pau, Gilad Rabinovitch, Anton Vishio, Robert Wells, Quintina Carter-Ényi, Hang Ki Choi, Charles Lwanga, Ayọ̀ Olúrántí, and Christian Onyeji.