Biographies

Shawn E. Okpebholo Composer

Shawn E. Okpebholo is a Grammy-nominated, critically acclaimed, and widely performed composer whose music has received worldwide praise from critics. The Washington Post described his work as "fresh, new, and fearless" and "devastatingly beautiful," while The Guardian called it "lyrical, complex, and singular." His artistry has earned him numerous awards, including The Academy of Arts and Letters Walter Hinrichsen Award and the 2020 American Prize in Composition.

Okpebholo has collaborated with some of the most renowned artists and ensembles of today, such as Rhiannon Giddens, Lawrence Brownlee, J’Nai Bridges, Will Liverman, eighth blackbird, Copland House Ensemble, and Cincinnati and Houston Symphony Orchestras. His music has been featured in many prestigious performance spaces, including Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, Lincoln, Kennedy, and Kimmel Centers, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Currently, Okpebholo is residence at the Chicago Opera Theater as their Vanguard Opera Composer and he holds the position of Johnathan Blanchard Professor of Composition at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. To learn more about Okpebholo and his work, please visit shawnokpebholo.com.

Mark Campbell Librettist

The Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning operas of librettist Mark Campbell are among the most successful in the contemporary canon. Mark has written 40 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals and text for 6 song cycles and 4 oratorios. His works include Silent Night, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, The Shining, Elizabeth Cree, As One, A Thousand Acres, Unruly Sun and Songs from an Unmade Bed. Mark created and funds the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, the first award for opera librettists in the history of the art form and co-created the True Voice Award to support transgender singers.. www.markcampbellwords.com