Twice GRAMMY®-nominated composer Shawn E. Okpebholo doesn’t just write music—he engages history, culture, and community through sound. Named the 2024 Chicagoan of the Year in Classical Music by the Chicago Tribune and one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of 2023, the Nigerian American artist sees himself as a storyteller, educator, and bridge-builder—creating music that resonates globally while remaining rooted in the individual stories that shape our shared humanity.

His music has been praised as “devastatingly beautiful” (The Washington Post), “lyrical, complex, singular” (The Guardian), “dreamy, sensual” (The Boston Globe), and “affecting” (The New York Times). Rooted in tradition yet unmistakably contemporary, his work embodies what The Washington Post has called a voice that is “fresh and new and fearless.”

Okpebholo’s GRAMMY®-nominated solo album Lord, How Come Me Here? reimagines Negro spirituals and American folk hymns through a deeply personal and historically grounded lens. His most recent recording, Songs in Flight, continues that legacy of musical storytelling, earning widespread critical acclaim, including a double five-star review from BBC Music Magazine and a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Across his career, Okpebholo has received numerous honors, including awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Prize in Composition, the Music Publishers Association, ASCAP, and the inaugural Leslie Adams–Robert Owens Composition Award. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, the Mellon Foundation, the Barlow Endowment, and others.

His music has been commissioned and performed by a wide range of ensembles and institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the United States Air Force Strings, Imani Winds, WindSync, Urban Arias, Sparks & Wiry Cries, and the Copland House Ensemble, and has been featured at major festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, and Newport Classical.

Okpebholo has held residencies with the Green Lake Festival of Music and at institutions including Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Florida State University, while teaching and giving masterclasses at Stanford University, Vanderbilt University, Duke University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

His chamber opera The Cook-Off, written with Pulitzer Prize–winning librettist Mark Campbell during his residency with Chicago Opera Theater, has been programmed by opera companies nationwide and received its fully staged world premiere with Nashville Opera.

His art songs have been performed by major opera companies including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Portland Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera. His choral music has been championed by leading ensembles such as the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the American Spiritual Ensemble, and the Choir of Trinity Church Wall Street.

His chamber music has been performed by ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, Picosa, the 21st Century Consort, the Lincoln Trio, and the Copland House Ensemble, while his orchestral works have been performed by the Chicago, Cincinnati, and Houston Symphonies; the San Francisco and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras; the Spoleto Festival Orchestra; and the Lexington Philharmonic, where he served as Saykaly Garbulinska Composer-in-Residence.

Okpebholo has collaborated with an extraordinary range of performers, including vocalists J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, Rhiannon Giddens, Will Liverman, Michael Mayes, Ryan McKinny, Reginald Mobley, and Karen Slack; pianists Aldo López-Gavilán, Paul Sánchez, and Howard Watkins; and instrumentalists Rachel Barton Pine, Steven Mead, and Adam Walker.

His music has been presented in iconic venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, the Concertgebouw, the Kennedy Center, the Kimmel Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His work has also been featured on PBS NewsHour, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert and Morning Edition, SiriusXM’s Living American, and WFMT. His art song “The Rain” was named one of NPR’s 100 Best Songs of 2021—one of the few classical works to appear on the list. His music appears on twelve commercially released albums, including three GRAMMY®-nominated recordings.

Okpebholo’s ethnomusicological research in East and West Africa has shaped both his scholarly and creative voices. He has taught and led masterclasses in Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya, sharing his music while learning deeply from the traditions he encounters.

He holds master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a bachelor’s degree in composition from Asbury University. His musical journey began much earlier, however, at his local Salvation Army church, where he received free music lessons from childhood through high school. That early act of community generosity continues to fuel his commitment to access, outreach, and mentorship.

Okpebholo currently serves as the Jonathan Blanchard Distinguished Professor of Composition at Wheaton College Conservatory of Music. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois, just outside Chicago, with his wife, violist Dorthy Okpebholo, and their daughters, Eva and Corinne.