Eva Artistic Management Announces Representation of Composer Nkeiru Okoye

INDIANAPOLIS, IN —

Eva Artistic Management is proud to announce the representation of Nkeiru Okoye — Guggenheim Fellow, American Prize–winning composer and librettist whose music has graced stages from Carnegie Hall to the Royal Opera House.

Okoye’s work is celebrated for its dramatic power, expressive clarity, and richly narrative voice. The New York Times has written that her music offers “one of the most engrossing musical portraits of Black history in the available repertoire.” The Washington Post has praised her “attuned dramatic sensitivity,” and I Care If You Listen has described her writing as a score that “joyfully danced from gospel and spirituals to operatic solos, cinematic orchestral interludes, minimalist riffs, and spoken word.”

Her music has been commissioned and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, Juilliard, and Opera North UK, among others. In 2025, she was one of 25 composers worldwide commissioned for BBC Radio 3’s landmark initiative 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century. Her contribution, And The People Celebrated, commemorated the election of Barack Obama and was premiered and broadcast internationally.

Okoye served as inaugural William Levi Dawson Composer-in-Residence with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Jamie Reeves — a residency that included a commission from the orchestra for A Time for Jubilee, a large-scale choral-orchestral work commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, with soprano Laquita Mitchell and massed choirs. The world premiere took place in February 2026. The work has since been performed by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, and will be presented by the Minnesota Orchestra at its Juneteenth concert in June 2026.

Signature works include Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom — a cornerstone of modern American opera; When the Caged Bird Sings, an expansive oratorio honoring Black resilience and spirituality; Voices Shouting Out, her 9/11-themed orchestral work that has become a staple of the repertoire; and We Met at the Symphony, winner of The American Prize in Vocal Chamber Music. Her piano miniature Dusk (from African Sketches) is featured on Kaleidoscope — the 2025 Latin Grammy winner for Best Classical Album, performed by pianist Isabel Dobarro.

Upcoming commissions include a new piano suite for Orli Shaham through Juilliard’s Kayden Music Commissioning Program, Dear Olly for Opera North UK, and a new work for the U.S. Army Field Band commissioned for America 250. Her forthcoming debut CD on NAXOS — When the Caged Bird Sings — will be the first recording devoted entirely to her music.