No. 30: Shawn Okpebholo - Composer in Residence, Lexington Philharmonic

Shawn Okpebholo was born in Lexington, Kentucky and a graduate of Tates  Creek High School.  He earned his doctoral degree in composition from the   University of Cincinnati's Celloge-Conservatory of Music.  Currently he serves   as the Jonathan Blanchard Distinguished Professor of Composition at   Wheaton College-Conservatory of Music and the Saykaly-Garbulinska   Composer-in-Residence with the Lexington Philharmonic. Two Black Churches is a song set in two movements for baritone soloist and   orchestra.  Originally composed for voice and piano, featuring baritone Will Liverman and pianist Paul Sanche, this orchestration was co-commissioned by   the Lexington Philharmonic during Shawn E. Okpebholo's tenure as the   Saykaly-Garbulnska Composer-in-Residence.​ Two Black Churches serves as a musical reflection of two significant and tragic events perpetrated at the hands of white supremacists in two Black churches, decades apart;The 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing Birmingham, Alabama which took the lives of four girls.The 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, taking the lives of nine parishioners.For more and to connect with us, visit https://www.artsconnectlex.org/art-throb-podcast.html