NKEIRU OKOYE Composer
“Okoye weaves an eclectic musical tapestry all her own, derived from genres [Phillis] Wheately would have been familiar with. Euro-centered classical, Colonial regimental drumming, and black idioms from both sides of the Atlantic appear… Wheatley’s ups and downs are conveyed in a manner both sensitively mature and kid-friendly.”
The Boston Herald
July 2005
Stats
YEar ©2005
Length 20’
Genre narrated orchestral showcase
Audiences general, education/community, children
COMPOSITIONS
THE JOURNEY OF PHILLIS WHEATLEY
This delightful narrated orchestral showcase presents the characters and events shaping Phillis Wheately’s life as unique themes, each associated with a different orchestral instrument.
Programming Information
Instrumentation 1111 2110 timpani, percussion, african percussion, strings, and narrator
Educational Ties american history, colonial boston, poetry, instruments of the orchestra, african american music
The Journey of Phillis Wheatley was commissioned and premiered by the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Maestro Charles Ansbacher, conductor.
Charles Ansbacher approached me about writing Phillis in the fall of 2004. He wanted a Peter and the Wolf styled piece about the first African to have a book of poetry published in what would become the United States, and composer Adophus Hailstork, insisted I was the woman for the job.
