Pianist to open African-American Heritage Month
Contact: Christina Chapple
1/24/06
HAMMOND – Acclaimed concert pianist William Chapman Nyaho will present a recital of classical piano music written by composers of African descent to launch Southeastern Louisiana University’s celebration of African-American Heritage Month.
The free concert is scheduled for Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pottle Music Building Auditorium.
With a theme of “Piano Music of the African Diaspora,” Chapman Nyaho will perform classical piano music by composers from Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, England, South Africa and the United States.
Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian American, graduated from Achimota School in Ghana, where he earned the Performer's Diploma and the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music. He holds degrees from St. Peter's College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom, the Eastman School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin. He also studied piano at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, Switzerland. He is the recipient of prizes from the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition and the Ibla Grand Prize International Competition in Italy.
Following a four-year residency as a North Carolina Visiting Artist, Nyaho taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette from 1991-2002. He was the recipient of the 1998 University of Southwestern Louisiana Distinguished Professor Award and the 1998 Acadiana Arts Council Distinguished Artist Award. He also held the Heymann Endowed Professorship.
He is now an independent scholar and teacher and currently is working on a graded anthology of piano music by composers of the African Diaspora to be published by Oxford University Press.
Chapman Nyaho's performing experience includes recitals in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and the Caribbean as well as the United States. He has been featured on radio and television broadcasts in Ghana and Switzerland, and on National Public Radio. He has released critically acclaimed compact discs “SENKU: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent” on the MSR Classics Label and “Aaron Copland: Music For Two Pianos” as duo pianist with the Nyaho/Garcia Duo on the Centaur Label.
Chapman Nyaho has served on review panels of National Endowment for the Arts, national committees for the Music Teachers’ National Association and College Music Society. He is a regular guest clinician, giving presentations, lecture-recitals and workshops advocating music by composers of the African Diaspora in elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities. He also serves as adjudicator for national and international piano competitions.
The concert is funded by Southeastern Arts and Lectures; the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; and the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts. For additional information about the concert, which is also part of the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts’ spring “Encore!” performing arts series, call (985) 549-2184. For information on African-American Heritage Month activities, contact the Office of Multicultural and International Affairs, (985) 549-3850.
More News...