FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION

WHEN THE CAGED BIRD SINGS:

A Musical Ceremony

 

Composer and librettist: Nkeiru Okoye

 

Artists: Angela Brown, Christie Dashiell, Issachah Savage, Jubilant Sykes, Rita Coburn, Celebrant, Cyrus Chestnut, Minister of Music, EXIGENCE, University of Michigan Choirs, Eugene Rogers, Choirmaster, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Kiesler, Conductor

 

Label: NAXOS American Classics | 8.559953 (UPC: 636943995327)

 

Categories: Best Choral Performance; Best Contemporary Classical Composition

 

LISTEN NOW

https://naxos.lnk.to/8559953Na!AFOkoye032026

 

Dr. Nkeiru Okoye is a Guggenheim Fellow and American Prize–winning composer, librettist, and cultural architect. Drawing on her Western classical training, African American and Nigerian heritage, and additional musical influences, she creates works distinguished by their dramatic power, expressive clarity, and deeply human stories.

 

Her music has been commissioned and performed by leading institutions including the BBC Concert Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, Juilliard, and Opera North UK. She has served as a member of the Louisville Orchestra’s Creator Corps and as William Levi Dawson Composer-in-Residence with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.

Her signature works include Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom, Voices Shouting Out, Black Bottom, and We Met at the Symphony, winner of The American Prize in Vocal Chamber Music. In 2025, she was one of 25 composers commissioned for BBC Radio 3’s 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century. Her contribution, And the People Celebrated, commemorated the election of Barack Obama. In 2026, The US Army Field band commissioned her America 250 - Evident Truths. 

 

When the Caged Bird Sings is the first album devoted entirely to her music. Her piano work “Dusk,” from African Sketches, appears on Isabel Dobarro’s Kaleidoscope, winner of the 2025 Latin GRAMMY® for Best Classical Album. Additional recordings of her works appear on Albany Records, MSR Classics, and Pentatone.

​

Okoye’s music has received critical attention from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and I Care If You Listen. Her work connects audiences to overlooked histories and affirms the power of music to bring communities together.

​

She holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory and a PhD in Music Theory and Composition from Rutgers University. Her music is published exclusively by Theodore Presser Company.

For more information, please visit www.nkeiruokoye.com.