Shawn Okpebholo
Lecturer in Music Composition and Theory
Website: http://www.shawnokpebholo.com
Shawn E. Okpebholo joined the faculty of Northern Kentucky University in 2007 as Lecturer in Theory and Composition. His previous teaching experiences include the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. In addition to his duties at NKU, Dr. Okpebholo is an active composer and arranger. His music has been performed in over twenty-five states, Canada, and Europe by many diverse performers and ensembles. Some, of which, include the United States Army Field Band, Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Players, Royal Belgian Navy Band, and Soprano Tamara Wilson of the Houston Grand Opera.
His success as a composer has also included publications with both domestic and international publishing companies, radio broadcasts, and commissions by major organizations, such as the United States Air Force Band of Mid-America, the Ohio Music Education Association, and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association.
Dr. Okpebholo has studied with the late “Disney Legend,” Buddy Baker, at New York University in an ASCAP-sponsored film-scoring workshop. He was nationally selected to be a part of the National Band Association and Bands of America’s Young Composer Mentor Project. He has twice won the Kentucky Music Educators Association All-College Composition Contest and is a three-time winner of Asbury College’s Peniston Honors in Composition. Since becoming a member of ASCAP, he has received annual awards.
Dr. Okpebholo is currently on the Board of Advisors of the Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, a member of ASCAP, Society of Composers Incorporated, and is the Artistic Director of The Eden Project, a contemporary chamber music ensemble.
Dr. Okpebholo received his B.A. in music composition and musicology from Asbury College where he studied composition with James Curnow and Ronald Holz. In 2007, Dr. Okpebholo received is D.M.A. in composition with a minor concentration in music theory from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where he also receives his M.M. At CCM, Dr. Okpebholo studied composition with Joel Hoffman and Michael Fiday, electro-acoustic and computer music with Mara Helmuth, and jazz composition with Paul Piller.