Nkeiru Okoye
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Nkeiru Okoye
Nkeiru Okoye (born July 18, 1972) is an American composer and musician. She has composed many works based on American history, including ''Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom, Invitation to a Die-In'' and "The Journey of Phillis Wheatley". Biography Nkeiru Okoye was born on July 18, 1972 and grew up in New York. Her mother is African American and her father was Nigerian, a member of the Igbo ethnic group. During her childhood, she spent time in both the United States and Nigeria. Okoye learned to play piano at age 8 and began writing music at age 13. Okoye went to the Preparatory Division of the Manhattan School of Music. When her parents separated, Okoye and her older sister lived with their mother on Long Island. She attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music for her undergraduate work, graduating in 1993. She then went on to Rutgers University to study with her mentor, Noel Da Costa. For a premiere at Rutgers in 1999, she conducted her composition, "The Creation" ...
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Composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Definition The term is descended from Latin, ''compōnō''; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of the term in a musical context given by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is from Thomas Morley's 1597 ''A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music'', where he says "Some wil be good descanters ..and yet wil be but bad composers". 'Composer' is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who in the tradition of Western classical music. Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms 'songwriter' or ' singer-songwriter' are more often used, particularl ...
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Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers'', Basic Civitas Books, 2010, p. 5. Born in West Africa, she was kidnapped and subsequently sold into enslavement at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. On a 1773 trip to London with her enslaver's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her '' Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral'' on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few ye ...
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Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Charlotte, North Carolina. As the largest and most active professional performing arts organization in the central Carolinas , the Charlotte Symphony plays approximately 100 performances each season and employs 100 professional musicians, 62 of whom are on full-time contracts. Annual attendance for CSO performances numbers over 200,000. Founded in 1932 by Spanish conductor and composer Guillermo S. de Roxlo leading 15 musicians, the Orchestra was led by conductor Christof Perick from 2001 to 2010. In May 2009, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra named Christopher Warren-Green its 11th music director, effective with the 2010–2011 season. Perick continued his association with the orchestra as conductor laureate in the 2010–2011 season. The Orchestra’s principal home is the 1,970-seat Belk Theater of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. The official chorus of the Orchestra is thCharlotte Master Chorale The ...
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Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous city in the U.S., the seventh most populous city in the South, and the second most populous city in the Southeast behind Jacksonville, Florida. The city is the cultural, economic, and transportation center of the Charlotte metropolitan area, whose 2020 population of 2,660,329 ranked 22nd in the U.S. Metrolina is part of a sixteen-county market region or combined statistical area with a 2020 census-estimated population of 2,846,550. Between 2004 and 2014, Charlotte was ranked as the country's fastest-growing metro area, with 888,000 new residents. Based on U.S. Census data from 2005 to 2015, Charlotte tops the U.S. in millennial population growth. It is the third-fastest-growing major city in the United States. Residents are referr ...
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Gunshot
A gunshot is a single discharge of a gun, typically a man-portable firearm, producing a visible flash, a powerful and loud shockwave and often chemical gunshot residue. The term can also refer to a ballistic wound caused by such a discharge. Multiple discharges of one or more firearms are referred to as gunfire. The word can connote either the sound of a gun firing, the projectiles that were fired, or both. For example, the statement "gunfire came from the next street" could either mean the sound of discharge, or it could mean the bullets that were discharged. It is better to be a bit more specific while writing however. "The sound of gunfire" or "we came under gunfire" would be more descriptive and prevent confusion. In the latter phrase, in particular, "fire" is used more (i.e. "under fire"), as both words hold the same general meaning within the proper context. Gunfire characteristics There are three primary attributes that characterize gunfire and hence enable the ...
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David Cote (writer)
David Cote (born December 22, 1969) is an American writer. Early years Cote was born and adopted in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Education After kindergarten and middle school, Cote attended Gilford High School (GHS), graduating in 1988. At Gilford, he acted in drama club productions such as ''West Side Story'', ''Up the Down Staircase'' and '' Macbeth''. He edited GHS's newspaper and its literary journal. He attended Bard College, graduating in 1992 with a B.A. in Drama/Dance. While at Bard, he also studied early modern English literature, concentrating on Shakespeare's ''Henriad'' ('' Richard II'', '' Henry IV Parts 1'' and 2 and ''Henry V''). Among his stage roles at Bard were Boris in Maxim Gorky's '' Children of the Sun''; Len in Harold Pinter's ''The Dwarfs''; Sganarelle in Molière's ''Dom Juan''; Simon Bliss in Noël Coward's '' Hay Fever''; and Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark in Timberlake Wertenbaker's ''Our Country's Good''. In addition to acting, Cote studied voice, di ...
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Trayvon Martin
Trayvon Benjamin Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic American. Martin had accompanied his father to visit his father's fiancée at her townhouse at The Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford. On the evening of February 26, Martin was walking back to the fiancée's house from a nearby convenience store. Zimmerman, a member of the community watch, saw Martin and reported him to the Sanford Police as suspicious. Several minutes later, an altercation happened and Zimmerman fatally shot Martin in the chest. Zimmerman was injured during the altercation with Martin. He said he shot Martin in self-defense and was not charged at the time. The police said there was no evidence to refute his claim of self-defense, and Florida's stand-your-ground law prohibited them from arresting or charging him. After national media focused on the inc ...
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University City Symphony Orchestra
The University City Symphony Orchestra (UCSO) is a non-profit community orchestra, established in 1960, giving amateur musicians in the St. Louis, Missouri area the opportunity to play orchestral literature. Though drawing on musicians from throughout the surrounding area, it rehearses and holds the majority of its free concerts in University City, Missouri. Under the direction of Dr. Leon Burke III since 1997, the orchestra sponsors the William Schatzkamer Young Artists Competition, partners with other area musical organizations and plays throughout St. Louis area and surrounding counties though the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) is home to most of its performances. History The University City Symphony Orchestra was established in 1960, in part to provide summer employment for the musicians of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Its first President, Lily Kaufman was wife of then-Mayor Nathan Kaufman. People * Charles J. Schuder president (2002–2005), (2006–Present) Music ...
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Samuel Green (freedman)
Samuel Green (c. 1802 – ) was a slave, freedman, and minister of religion. A conductor of the Underground Railroad, he was tried and convicted in 1857 of possessing a copy of the anti-slavery novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' by Harriet Beecher Stowe following the Dover Eight incident. He received a ten-year sentence, and was pardoned by the Governor of Maryland Augustus Bradford in 1862, after he served five years. An African American lay minister, he was a founder and trustee of the Mt. Zion Methodist Church (now Faith United Methodist Church) in New East Market. After the American Civil War, he co-founded and worked at the Centenary Biblical Institute (now Morgan State University). The school taught men to become ministers. The Greens were members of the Orchard Street United Methodist Church in Baltimore. Early life Born around 1802 in East New Market, Maryland, little is known about his parents. His father's status is not known, but his mother was enslaved. It is possible ...
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William Still
William Still (October 7, 1821 – July 14, 1902) was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, businessman, writer, historian and civil rights activist. Before the American Civil War, Still was chairman of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, named the Vigilant Association of Philadelphia. He directly aided fugitive slaves and also kept records of the people served in order to help families reunite. After the war, Still continued as a prominent businessman, a coal merchant, and philanthropist. He used his meticulous records to write an account of the underground system and the experiences of many refugee slaves, entitled '' The Underground Railroad Records'' (1872). Household William Still was born in Shamong Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, to Sidney (later renamed Charity) and Levin Still, both former slaves.Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner, ''Men of M ...
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National Endowment For The Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government by an act of the U.S. Congress, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 29, 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951). It is a sub-agency of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The NEA has its offices in Washington, D.C. It was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1995, as well as the Special Tony Award in 2016. In 1985, the NEA won an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its work with the American Film Institute in the identification, acquisition, restoration and preservation of historic films. In 2016 and again in 2 ...
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Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women's suffrage. Born enslaved in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate overseer threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another slave, but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. After her injury, Tubman began experiencing strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God. T ...
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