New Music for Piano Based on Nigerian Field Recordings

19 Nov 2026

10:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m. ET

traditional xylophone player from Northern frica

New Music for Piano Based on Nigerian Field Recordings

Image: Gogeafrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chair: Quintina Carter-Ényì (University of Georgia)

This performance, moderated by Quintina Carter-Ényì, brings Nigerian field recordings into dialogue with newly composed works for piano, exploring how traditional musical materials can generate new forms of creative intercultural engagement. Six pianist-composers (Adedapo Adeniyi, David Àìná, Jeryl Johnston, Grace Oforka, Ayọ̀ Olúrántí, and Christian Onyeji) who have conducted fieldwork in Nigeria have each selected one field recording from the Africana Digital Ethnography Project and composed a new work inspired by its musical materials. The concert alternates between the Nigerian indigenous traditional model and the composition based on that model.

This concert builds upon the success of the concert and panel on African Pianism at the 2025 AMS-SMT Joint Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, where new works by Ayọ̀ Olúrántí and Christian Onyeji were premiered. Bringing together Nigerian-born composers and an American composer engaged in Nigerian field research (Jeryl Johnston), this program also significantly expands intercultural engagement with African Pianism by moving beyond Nigerian exploration of the piano based on indigenous models to American exploration of Nigerian musical models. The Nigerian-born composers contributing to the program welcome Ms. Johnston’s new perspective to the fellowship of African Pianism, which Nigerians have championed for decades.

Authors

Adedapo Adeniyi

Adedapo Adeniyi is an independent composer, pianist, and Dùndún drummer whose work re‑imagines Yoruba traditional musical idioms within contemporary art music. With extensive experience as both a classical and contemporary pianist, as well as a piano instructor, he brings technical mastery and cultural depth to his performances. His passion lies in weaving Yoruba voices and rhythms into innovative compositions and piano interpretations. As an artist‑researcher, Adedapo explores the dialogue between tradition and modernity, aspiring to share his African Art Music with global audiences and to honor cultural heritage through a transformative musical vision and experience.
David Àìná

David Àìná is one of the most celebrated Nigerian Art Musicians of his generation.His compositions the famous Yorùbá Christmas song, “Ẹ Jẹ́ ká jọ yọ̀.” He has composed seven institutional anthems for Nigerian Universities. His unity song, “Una Hear Me So”, was written by commission of the British Council, Nigeria in 1997, and was premiered by Dr. Roy Wales of the British Choral Institute. As a researcher, he has a collaborated on a number of academic articles and produced a 1-hour documentary on Fuji music titled Ọmọ Ẹ̀dá á D’ọ̀rọ̀ - The Art of Fuji music.
Quintina Carter-Ényì

Quintina Carter-Ényì is a doctoral student in musicology at the University of Georgia. She was a 2019 Georgia Innovation Now Fellow, and is a current Southern Regional Education Board Scholar. Prior to graduate studies, she worked as a singer and choral director in Lagos, Nigeria. She is passionate about indigenous languages and is fluent in both Ìgbò and Yorùbá. She frequently offers workshops in African instrument making, including at meetings of the African Studies Association and Society for Music Theory. Her scholarship appears in Frontiers in Psychology, Intersections, Music Theory Online, Performance Research, and Yale Journal of Music & Religion.
Jeryl Johnston

Jeryl Johnston holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Oregon with majors in piano performance and music theory, a master’s in composition from Brooklyn College CUNY and is currently pursuing a PhD at SUNY Stony Brook. Jeryl has performed with and/or composed for the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Tipica ’73 Charangueando, Louis Bauzó, Ray Santos, and The Rhythm Method, among others. She directs the Afro-Cuban third-stream ensemble Yanine, and has published on music notation across cultures and West African timeline music. Recently Jeryl spent time in Lagos, Nigeria studying with Albert Gomez and High Definition Band Nigeria.
Grace Oforka

Grace Oforka has written numerous works including chamber, orchestral, and operatic compositions. Her works have been commissioned, premiered, and performed by individuals and organizations including Prof. Terry Ewell, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the International Women’s Festival at the University of Mississippi, the University of Witwatersrand South Africa, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin, IDRS conference, and Akojopo concerts among others. Some of her works have been used as instructional materials by professors of music in universities and music conservatories across the globe to teach African music. She has also held masterclasses on the voice and her music for music students at Lagos State University. She is the co-founder of the Graciedion Chorale Society and Graciedion Media Music and Vocal Institute.
Ayọ̀ Olúrántí

Ayọ̀ Olúrántí holds a PhD in Composition & Theory from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He was previously Chair of the Department of Music at Mountain Top University and is a 2024 recipient of the prestigious Fromm Music Foundation commission from Harvard. To celebrate 100 years of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), Ayọ̀ was commissioned to compose, MandEʋe, for Vertice Sonora. His opera, Ọmọ Àgbẹ̀, was premiered by the James Madison University Opera Theatre in 2022 as part of the project, “Enriching and Decolonizing the Opera.” “Hẹlẹlẹ” was premiered at the 2024 World Choir Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
Christian Onyeji

Christian Onyeji is a Professor of Music at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Christian is an internationally recognized composer and scholar specializing in Research-Composition. This compositional approach applies ethnomusicological procedures in the composition of contemporary African art music in continuation of traditional music. His Christmas Choral “N’ihi n’amuworo ayi otu nwa” published by Oxford University Press has been performed by choirs around the world including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. “Omenala bu ike” received the gold cup at the 2007 National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST).