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Media
Biography
Shawn E. Okpebholo is a composer who doesn’t just write music—he engages history, culture, and community through sound. Named the 2024 Chicagoan of the Year in Classical Music by the Chicago Tribune and one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of 2023, the Nigerian American artist sees himself as a storyteller, an educator, and a bridge-builder—composing music that resonates globally while remaining rooted in the individual stories that shape our shared humanity.
His 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). It reflects a clear, confident voice—rooted in tradition yet unmistakably contemporary—what The Washington Post also called “fresh and new and fearless.”
His GRAMMY®-nominated solo album Lord, How Come Me Here? offers a reimagining of Negro spirituals and American folk hymns. His most recent recording, Songs in Flight, continues that legacy of musical storytelling, earning widespread critical acclaim—including a double five-star review from BBC Music Magazine.
Across his career, Okpebholo’s artistry has garnered numerous accolades, including awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Prize in Composition, the Music Publishers Association, ASCAP, and the inaugural Leslie Adams–Robert Owens Composition Award. He has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, the Mellon Foundation, the Barlow Endowment, and others.
His music has been commissioned and performed by a wide range of ensembles and institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, United States Air Force Strings, Copland House Ensemble, Imani Winds, WindSync, Urban Arias, and Sparks & Wiry Cries. His work has been featured at major festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, and Newport Classical.
He has held residencies with the Green Lake Festival of Music and at music schools including Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Florida State University, while also teaching and giving masterclasses at institutions such as Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
His chamber opera The Cook-Off—written with Pulitzer Prize–winning librettist Mark Campbell during his residency with Chicago Opera Theater—has been programmed by several opera companies around the country, receiving its fully staged world premiere by Nashville Opera.
Okpebholo’s art songs have found a home on the stages of major opera companies, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Portland Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera. His choral works have been performed by leading vocal ensembles such as the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the American Spiritual Ensemble, and the Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street.
His chamber music has been performed by acclaimed groups like Eighth Blackbird, Copland House Ensemble, Picosa, the 21st Century Consort, and the Lincoln Trio. His orchestral music has been performed by the Chicago, Cincinnati, and Houston Symphonies; the San Francisco and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras; the Spoleto Festival Orchestra; and the Lexington Philharmonic, where he served as Saykaly Garbulinska Composer-in-Residence.
He’s collaborated with a remarkable roster of performers: vocalists J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, Rhiannon Giddens, Will Liverman, Michael Mayes, Ryan McKinny, Reginald Mobley, and Karen Slack; pianists Aldo López-Gavilán, Paul Sánchez, and Howard Watkins; and instrumentalists Rachel Barton Pine, Steven Mead, and Adam Walker.
His music has reached audiences in iconic venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, the Concertgebouw, the Kennedy Center, the Kimmel Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
His work has also garnered attention in the broader media landscape, featured on PBS NewsHour, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert and Morning Edition, SiriusXM’s Living American series, and Chicago’s WFMT. His art song “The Rain” was named one of NPR’s 100 Best Songs of 2021, one of the few classical works to appear on the list. His music appears on twelve commercially released albums, including three GRAMMY-nominated recordings.
Okpebholo’s ethnomusicological research in East and West Africa has shaped both his scholarly and creative voices. He has taught and led masterclasses in countries including Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya—sharing his music and learning from the traditions he encounters.
His formal training includes master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a bachelor’s degree in music composition from Asbury University. But his musical journey began much earlier—at his local Salvation Army church, where he received free music lessons from childhood through high school. That early act of community generosity continues to fuel his deep commitment to outreach and access in underserved communities today.
Okpebholo currently serves as the Jonathan Blanchard Distinguished Professor of Composition at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, where he mentors a new generation of composers and musicians.
He lives in Wheaton, Illinois, just outside Chicago, with his wife, violist Dorthy Okpebholo, and their daughters, Eva and Corinne.
Education
University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
D.M.A., Music Composition, 2007
University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
M.M., Music Composition, 2005
Asbury College
B.A., Music Composition and Music History, 2003
Areas of Expertise
- Music history
- Music theory
- Negro spirituals
- Contemporary music composition
- Classical music composition
- Classical music
- American music
- American classical music
- Charles Ives
- Art music
Professional Affiliations
- Association of Songwriters Composers and Publishers (ASCAP)
- Society of Music Incorporated (SCI)
- Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers (CFAMC)
- American Composers Forum (ACF)
- College Music Society (CMS)
Links
Media Appearances
Wheaton College Conservatory Professor Reimagines Negro Spirituals in New Album "Steal Away"
Chicago Tribune online - 4/2015
Dr. Shawn E. Okpebholo, Associate Professor in the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, recently released his debut album, Steal Away, on Yellow Einstein Records.
Okpebholo, a member of the Conservatory faculty since 2010, is an award-winning composer whose music has been performed on five continents and more than 30 states. His compositions range from contemporary classical to liturgical. . .
This story is no longer available online.
TowerTalk
Classical Training Strengthened by Cultural Roots
Dr. Shawn Okpebholo is a widely sought-after and award-winning composer, whose music can be characterized as diverse, dynamic, and genuine. In this TowerTalk he demonstrates how discovering the rich roots of his cultural heritage in Nigeria and Kenya, in addition to studying the Negro spiritual, have enabled him to musically connect with others in a way that is both deep and wide.
