Rebecca Omordia knew she wanted to be a concert pianist from the age of seven. As a music student, she mastered the demanding repertoire of Western composers and at home, she listened to Igbo songs sung by her Nigerian father. So when she discovered piano music by African composers, she wondered, “ why shouldn't this be in the canon?”

In this episode, Rebeca reflects on her journey bringing African classical music to the concert stage, how she won over the doubters, and the moment she realised there was an audience for this undiscovered genre.

This is the first in a series of episodes we’re bringing you in collaboration with Classically Black, a festival taking place on October 10, 2026 at King’s Place in London. Learn more about Rebeca’s performance here: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/classical/keyboard-warriors/

The following excerpts included in this episode are from African Pianism, Vol. 2 by Rebeca Omordia (Somm Recordings):

Elilta - Cry of Joy (Girma Yifrashewa), Two Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Folk Melodies, No. 1, “K’A Mura” (Fela Sowande), Study in African Pianism No. 1 (Akin Euba), Crépuscule sur la baie d’Alger (Salim Dada), and Senzeni Na (arranged by Grant McLachlan).

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About Rebeca Omordia

Rebeca Omordia is an award-winning British-Nigerian concert pianist and curator, internationally recognised as a pioneer of African Pianism. Hailed as a “classical music game changer” (Classical Music Magazine), she founded the first African Concert Series, resident at London's Wigmore Hall.

Visit Rebeca’s website: https://www.rebecaomordia.com/

Follow Rebeca on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeca_omordia/

Purchase African Pianism vol 2: https://somm-recordings.com/recording/african-pianism-volume-two/

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About Classically Black

Now in its third year, Classically Black is a festival redefining what classical music looks and sounds like today.

The programme celebrates and elevates Black and global majority musicians and composers in classical music, past and present. Curated by Black Lives in Music, Classically Black 2026 returns to Kings Place, London on Saturday 10 October 2026.

Learn more about Classically Black: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/black-lives-in-music-presents-classically-black/

Learn more about Black Lives in Music: https://blim.org.uk/

Follow Black Lives in Music on Instagram: https://instagram.com/BlackLivesinMusic

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Connect with Made for Us

• Show notes and transcripts: https://made-for-us.captivate.fm/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/madeforuspodcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeforuspodcast/

So when I came out, the hall was full, and it's not only that, but at least half of the audience were people of African heritage. That's when I realized that there is an audience for this.

This is Made for Us, I'm Tosin Sulaiman. This is the first episode in a new mini-series exploring what classical music has to say to modern, diverse audiences. We've teamed up with Classically Black, a festival that aims to redefine what classical music looks and sounds like today. Presented by Black Lives in Music, Classically Black is now in its third year and will be held on the 10th of October at King's Place in London.

It's a day of live performances, talks, and a workshop for young musicians, and all events will have a BSL interpreter. There's still time to get your ticket by going to kingsplace.co.uk. I've also included the link in this episode's show notes.

The artists you'll be hearing from in the next few episodes will all be appearing at Classically Black. My guest today is Rebeca Omordia, an award-winning pianist and curator, internationally recognized as a classical music game changer by Classical Music Magazine. Rebeca is the founder and artistic director of the African Concert Series, a platform dedicated to African classical music, resident at Wigmore Hall in London.

In this conversation, Rebeca tells me about growing up in Romania, where she won a prestigious national music competition at the age of 12. We also talk about her time touring with the British cellist Julian Lloyd Weber, and how she spent years convincing record labels and concert organizers that African classical music belonged on the world stage.

Throughout this episode, you'll hear excerpts from Rebeca's album, African Pianism Volume 2, a collection of piano music by African composers. Now here's our conversation.

My name is Rebeca Omordia. I'm a concert pianist and curator, lecturer, founder of the African Concert Series London.

You pioneered African pianism and this is something that you've been immersed in for over a decade. But like many musical stories, this actually started even further back. I understand that you're not the first musician in your family.

Well, it's been a long journey. I have been performing piano professionally for nearly three decades, 30 years now. And before pioneering African pianism, was performing as a pianist on Western stages, performing Western music, European classical music. Of course, in my family, I had a grandfather, Nigerian paternal grandfather that I didn't get to meet because he died long before I was born, but he was also a musician. He was a traditional musician of Igbo, flute player, Anioma. And he used to be very well known and he used to perform at all over the Ika Kingdom at traditional ceremonies for the kings.

Going back to my musical journey, I have been a pioneer in African classical music for over a decade now and it's been rewarding to see how gradually this music is now being performed on major stages, major concert stages across the globe.

And you were born in Romania to a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father. Can you talk about how your parents met?

Yes, my father went to Romania to study medicine with a scholarship. He became a medical doctor, a pediatrician, and as a student he met my mother, who was also a student. And there was this very powerful love story during the communist regime, where interracial marriages were not socially accepted. despite all the challenges, they got married, and my sister, my older sister was born, and I was born.

So you said that in Romania at the time, mixed families weren't socially accepted. So what was it like for you and your family then?

It was full of challenges. When I was six, we were even deported for a brief time until the end of the communist regime. But gradually, the society started accepting. With the start of the democracy, the borders were open. People were allowed to have passports. And then they started embracing what was a multicultural family. But I was very fortunate because I was raised in a family that provided me with knowledge of both cultures.

And it's also quite fascinating that Romanian as well as Nigerian cultures that might seem quite far apart, they are very similar. And the way the family, the values of the family, they are exactly the same in the Romanian family as in the Nigerian family. A lot of what we strongly believe in, the hard work, the talent. The Romanians are also very talented people, just as Nigerians. Of course, I was also very close to my Nigerian family. And later when I grew older, I started going to Nigeria regularly. And it was very natural to belong to this, would have appeared as a completely different culture. But in the end, for me, was home.

And so whose ambition was it for you to become a musician, yours or your parents?

It was mine. My parents, especially a Nigerian father, we all know Nigerian parents from that generation, perhaps even now, they all believed that in order to be an accomplished human being, you need to have one of those professions of being a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer. And my father had quite high hopes for me to be a doctor. In fact, I used to spend my summers with him in his clinic, helping him. He used to call me his little nurse.

It was very interesting because I loved spending time with him and I loved learning about how you can make yourself better. And that's something that I still kept in my life. But we had a piano at home. And it was also a tradition that families in Romania would, children would learn to play an instrument. Usually they would learn to play it in a church. And that's the reason my mother bought the piano for my sister to play the piano as part of the regular Sunday services. But when I was alone, I used to improvise, play on the piano on my own. And it was something that was a hidden pleasure that I really started to gradually develop and that gradually to grow on me.

And when time came for me to be enrolled in school, in fact, I was already enrolled in a local school, I told my parents that I don't want to go to that school anymore. And I want to go to the specialist music school to learn to play piano because I want to become a concert pianist. I'm not sure exactly where that idea came from, what made me say that. All I know is I knew I wanted to be a pianist. And of course, my parents weren’t very happy to hear that.

Romania also has a very old tradition of classical music and they have specialist music schools for especially talented young children, but you need to take admission exams to be enrolled in this which of course I missed because my parents had no intention of sending me to such school. My mother made some phone calls. Coincidentally, best friend was a singing teacher in the school. She took us to the school and she introduced us to the class teacher who said that she had some availability. Of course, it took a long time for me to get a piano teacher because all places were already taken.

But I was learning on my own and then gradually, once the teachers in school discovered me, in fact, it was even the head of the piano, and she saw me and she said, she's so beautiful, of course I'm going to teach her. So I started having piano lessons with her and I made such a fast progress on the piano that she decided within months to take me to national competition because this was the tradition. So when I was seven, I went to my very first national competition, just my teacher and I.

Your parents weren't there?

No, they were not there. This was something that was very difficult. My father didn't even accept it in the beginning because he thought, how can we leave our daughter to travel across the country? Of course, at the time he wasn't ready to accept that I would become a pianist at the profession. He thought it might be a whim, because I used to be quite a naughty, stubborn, extremely energetic child. And playing the piano, practicing the piano was something that was keeping me quiet for some time. And of course, they supported what seemed at first to be a hobby, not imagining that I will turn this into a career.

So you mentioned that you played in in national competitions and you even appeared on TV and in the press. What do you remember about them and what were people saying about you?

Every year, I would take part in more competitions, more performances, and by the time I reached high school I was already known all over the country. Of course, I was known as a Nigerian girl because I was acknowledged to be different. But in a way that gave me even more incentive to show that I am better. And not necessarily because I look different, but because I can play better. When I was 12, I won one of the biggest competitions in Romania at the time.

And this competition, you were not competing only against pianists, you were competing against all instruments. So it was a big competition. I didn't think I would win. You know, when you're so young and then you've been raised that you have to work harder and harder and harder. You don't maybe think that, hmm, could you be that good? So of course, when they announced that I won the Golden Trophy, I was overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it.

I didn't know how the audience would react because this was not a local audience. It was audience from all over the country. And they were raving. It was an extraordinary moment. And I remember I was almost shaking when I went to the stage to take the prize. And I remember to myself, it doesn't matter, we are proud. Because that that time, you know, racial abuse has been all over the world. But especially during the 90s, it was quite significant in Europe.

And there was a song by James Brown was saying that I'm black and I'm proud. And I remember I used to tell myself, I'm very proud. So I walked on the stage very proud, with the audience clapping and shouting. So it was a big, big pressure for that age. And there was media as well and there was newspapers and they took a photo of me and they took interviews. That was the very first time I gave a radio interview.

My mother of course was very happy and then they printed an overview, a review as well of the competition where they said that, well, this is a young pianist that deserves to receive all our accolades because she's touched our hearts, something like that.

So you were twelve and this was six years after your family was deported from Romania because mixed marriages were not allowed, then you win this national competition and you're recognized as when you're one of the best musicians in the entire country. I mean, that must have been quite hard to take in.

It was a bit overwhelming, but at the same time was also a confirmation of all the hard work I did. At the same time was also a statement for all those haters. That was something that made me into the pianist I am today. Because I believe, you know, my life and my career has been built on important moments. And not only wins, also failures. I wouldn't say as failures, I say as challenges. And I think this was one of the most crucial moments.

That's incredible. So you went through the Romanian school system, you went on to study music. Can you describe your musical education, your influences and the impact that had on your artistry?

Well, I was trained to perform European classical music. I had a big technique. I was well-built. Still am. And because I was practicing, I had the ability to play virtuosic music quite naturally. And my teachers used to give me a big repertoire, the repertoire that great pianists would perform. Of course, that also required lot of practice, but that was something that I really enjoyed performing. And I played that a lot and I played that all over the country. I played that also all over the world.

I used to listen to African music, but the music sang by my father. My father used to sing Igbo songs a lot at home. So that was part of family life. And also I used to listen to a lot of classical music because this was part of my upbringing, of learning about the style, about the composers, about all the great pianists.

In Bucharest, at the time I was also performing concerts as a concert pianist, paid concerts as a soloist with orchestras and there was a lot of Western classical music that was part of my everyday.

It's only later when I moved to London, to the UK, and I started discovering British music, English music. In 2009, I started working with British cellist, Julian Lloyd Webber. We played all over the UK. We became duo partners and we went touring and he was a big advocate of English music, something that I wasn't very familiar with. And he introduced me to this music, it was very interesting. In fact, later on I even became really close to the music of John Ireland, British composer, which I then did a doctoral paper on in Bucharest and I even recorded album. I played it on tour.

But during this time, this was a time when I thought, but if there's English music, could there be Nigerian music? If there's English classical music, could there be a Nigerian classical music? And that's when I started investigating. Of course, I used to go to Nigeria a lot. So I started…while investigating, I discovered this large number of Nigerian composers that emerged in the 20th century creating this genre of Nigerian art music.

And of course it was fascinating because when I gradually got hold of the scores, I realized that all the songs that I had listened to in my childhood by my father, I could hear echoes of that music in the piano works, which was fascinating for me as a pianist. Because of course, when you're growing up, as a teenager especially, and you want to be a concert pianist, in the Western world, there's this idea that you will be rated by the industry as a concert pianist if you are playing all the piano repertoire that is in the canon. And if you're playing anything that doesn't belong there, it means you are experimenting. You might be labeled as something else. Might be labeled as a world musician, but not professional concert pianist.

Of course, as a teenager, you want to learn all that repertoire because you want to be a concert pianist. And you have all that training. You've spent hundreds, thousands of hours practicing as a child. Of course, you want to be acknowledged as a concert pianist. But then when I discovered Nigerian piano works, I thought, why shouldn't this be in the canon? Why shouldn't this be in the same repertoire as all the major works?

So tell us about some of the composers that you discovered, because you started with the Nigerian composers and then you sort of expanded to discover other African composers as well. Is that right?

Yes, I spent quite a few years on Nigerian composers, researching them, performing, recording. It also took a long time to bring this repertoire to the UK, to the London concert stage, because until then this music wasn't acknowledged as classical. This music wasn't accepted in the concert programs. I was told by the concert organizers that, this is world music, it's not classical music. But again, how a piano sonata by Ayo Bonkole, a Nigerian composer, cannot be classical music because this is a classical form, a European classical form. So that's when my work started.

And there's this large number of composers, of course, Fela Shoanda, that is now arguably one of the most known African composers. He's the one that is considered as the founding father of Nigerian art music.

EXCERPT - Fela Sowande: 2 Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Folk Melodies, No. 1, "K'A Mura"

Then this whole genre tells the stories of the first generation of composers, starting with Alashe one, the second generation of composers. Ayo Bankole, Akinahuba, the inventor of African pianism, musician that wasn't only a composer and a musicologist, he was also a lecturer. used to lecture at universities all over the world, Harvard University, Cambridge University. He used to have a festival of Nigerian Art Music at Cambridge University, a symposium.

EXCERPT – Akin Euba: Study in African Pianism No. 1

Ayo Bankole, a composer that was one of the most prolific Nigerian composers that wrote for the piano, wrote songs. Sadly, his life was quite short at the age of 40, but he left a large number of music, of works for piano, songs, and other instruments. And the third generation of composers, Christian Onyeji, Fred Onovwerosuoke, and so many other contemporary composers that gradually assumed this new technique of writing for the piano and what was in the beginning an attempt at transcribing melodies, rhythms, trying to find an African identity in composition. The current contemporary composers, they've completely created, they've perfected this genre and they've completely created a new style of piano music that is very authentically African, but at the same time, is of great value that can sit alongside European music in a concert hall.

And traditionally this music would have been passed down through oral traditions, so initially it wouldn't have been written down.

Yes, African, Nigerian traditional music, even now today is passed on orally. This music has not been written down, but composers such as Fela Sowande, Akin Euba, they did all the work of notating, transferring these rhythms into European notation. So now this music is notated in European style. So anyone with completely different background, you don't have to be Nigerian to be able to play this music, because as long as it's printed, you can read it. As long as you have some musical training, you can learn these songs. And they worked very hard at documenting the process that they're doing because Akin Euba, he published many articles and books on the whole process of transcribing these rhythms and melodies and the whole process of totally creating a genre from scratch.

And so you discovered this genre, it wasn't new, it just hadn't been recognized as part of the classical canon.

Yes, my work in fact was just of continuing the work that started before me by generations of composers. Fela Sowande was talking about Nigerian art music as a major contemporary classical tradition. The idea of creating this genre was not to copy European composers and to show that African composers or Nigerian composers can write music, classical music. The idea of creating this genre was because the effects of colonialism was that Nigerian traditional music belonged to the past, was something that was to be forgotten, while European classical music was something that was of great value, was serious music, something that belonged to the concert stages. And by writing music in African art music style, these composers showed that African music, Nigerian music, can also belong to concert stage.

Because traditional music is not customarily performed on a concert stage. It's something that is performed within the community at celebrations, at ceremonies. But by creating this genre, composers show that this music is of great value that can belong to concert stages. And of course, now with the work that I'm doing at the African Concert Series, we have concerts, but we also have traditional music that accompanies concerts of African art music and it's fascinating to discover what a diverse and large and wide genre this is.

And you also had to learn this music. Talk us through how you approached it. You know, how is it different from, say, learning Chopin or Mozart or Beethoven?

In a way, the process is quite similar because you still have to read the music, you have to learn the notation, the rhythms, the melodies and all that. But unlike Chopin and Mozart, African art music is not culturally neutral. So when learning Nigerian music for me was easier because I have a Nigerian background and I know about Igbo music, Yoruba music, this is music I've listened to as a child, so when approaching these compositions, it comes naturally to me to play this music, to play the rhythm.

Of course, while exploring other regions like North Africa, it's a completely different tradition. That side of the continent belongs to the Arab world. This music that uses maqams, model, modes, it's a completely different tradition, almost as a completely different genre. I had to learn that. That's something that I had to study. And of course I worked with composers that guided me and helped me understand how this music, to approach it. Once I learned that, I went on exploring other regions, East Africa, South Africa, and so on. And it's fascinating because my work as exploring different regions of the African continent as a pianist then clearly affected my work as a curator of the African Concert Series.

Excerpt – Salim Dada: Crépuscule sur la baie d’Alger

As you said, the music is incredibly diverse. Africa is a huge continent, but even within the countries there is incredible diversity as well.

Yes, exactly. I mean, only Nigerian music, if we're talking about Nigeria, there are over 300 languages, 300 ethnic groups, each with their own language and their own music. And of course, Nigerian composers, they're ethnic-bound. They write music inspired from the ethnic group they come from. that's why we have, Ayo Bankole, Akin Euba, they write Yoruba music.

Christian Onyeji, he inspires himself from percussion ensembles in Igboland. And this is something that only within a region you get to understand how diverse and how culturally colorful Africa is. The more you listen to the music, the more you listen to albums, come to concerts, you discover that the continent, in fact, is fascinating because within these works, composers insert music that is very close to the customs, to the cultures.

Because in Africa, music is part of people's everyday lives. It's a part of the moment they wake up, they sing. They sing at social events, at weddings, funerals, the birth of children. So this music that composers write, they're based on chants, they're based on lullabies, they're based on dances. Dances that celebrate the birth of a child, dances that call on the rain, work songs. And it's not only an opportunity to hear how the music sounds, but also opportunity to learn about the customs of the people.

Excerpt - Senzeni Na? Arranged by Grant McLachlan

And your goal was to bring this music to the world stage. So what was that like? What was it like, you know, trying to get funding for the project? And you've talked about the African concert series, which has been going on for many years, but I guess initially the reception was maybe a little hesitant. Is that fair to say?

Oh yes, it was challenging in fact, it was a great challenge. But of course, I've always been the type of musician that I don't take no for an answer when I want something. It's also because I strongly believed that this music needed to be heard, this music needed to be known.

I used to play concerts with Julian Lloyd Webber and we would play always to sold out venues. Sometimes we would travel in Sussex, in places where I wouldn't think that we would have audience, but of course because of his name, the concert would be sold out. And at the end of a concert, audience would come to me and they would say, wow, it's impressive how you play, someone like you can play like that. And I thought, what do mean by that? I'm a pianist, what else? And I'm playing with Julian Lloyd Webber, how else should I sound?

And then I realized that in fact, I am seen more culturally than as talent. And with this music, this also shows that, you know, where we come from, there is talent. Where we come from, there is culture. And that's why I really strongly believed this music needed to be heard. But of course, in the beginning, record labels were not keen to record the music. In fact, it took five years to convince a label to record it. And this was only through self-funded efforts.

I self-funded all my albums. And after the first album was released, Ekele, which in Igbo language means greetings, it was rewarding to see that the world really received the greetings very warmly because the moment the album was launched, all the classical music outlets in the UK, they embraced the music and they said, there is classical music in Africa, there is classical music in Nigeria. And this is the proof.

I thought, well, this was the first stage, but then it was the process of convincing concert organizers to program this music. Because now people can have access to it, radio stations can play it, people that are interested in can go online or purchase the album or listen to Spotify, but how would they know about this music if they don't come in contact with it?

So after the success of Ekele in 2017, in 2018, I thought, well, the best way to bring this music to the audience, if concert organizers are not interested in doing that, is for me to create a concert platform. And that's when the African Concert Series was born, in 2019, with our very first concert at the October Gallery, which featured music from Ekele album. And it was really, really... Again, now thinking about it, yes, it was historic, but at the same time was one of those moments similar to when I won that competition when I 12 years old. And it was one of those moments where it's happening but it's totally out of your control. I mean, yes, you've done the work but you don't know how the outcome is. It's the same with a canal. Yes, I am planning to bring classical music to the London concert stage. I am creating a platform. The question was, will we have an audience?

And as I remember I was in a green room and I just preferring to go on stage and I thought when I come out there, anyone be there? So well at least I know my family, friends are there, so at least I know we have about 10 people. I said, okay fine, no matter if it's 10 people we're playing. That's it, you know. I've tried. So when I came out the hall was full. It was sold out.

And it's not only that, but at least half of the audience were people of African heritage. And I thought, wow, because of course they came as they heard African music. That's when I realized that there is an audience for this. And also African people are interested in classical music. They're interested in African classical music because that's what speaks to them.

So was there a turning point, a time when your idea started to break through?

The first series was so founded, but then gradually, following year, we went in 2020, pandemic came. I had musicians, friends, we were streaming from home all over the world with this is the online series. And I remember we were totally broke. I thought, well, if this is going to be an online series, I should let the world know. And then of course I convinced my friends and I remember I was standing on the Southwark Bridge, there was absolutely no one there. And I was saying, welcome to the online African Concert Series. It was streamed concerts. And the fact is that the moment, what had happened, this was a completely coincidence, that weekend I launched the African concert series, that was also the weekend of George Floyd's murder. So on one side, people were going out on the streets for the Black Lives movement. On the other side, I was promoting African concert series.

I've always believed that our efforts are collective. The efforts of bringing African classical music is collective. The African concert series is not something, yes, I have founded it, but the African concert series doesn't belong to me. African concert series belongs to us. It's a platform for us, for musicians of African heritage to show our talent, to bring the work of past generations, the work of our ancestors. And we are creating our history. We are writing the history that was erased from us by putting up these concerts, by documenting these performances. And it was very powerful because people that maybe until then would have not paid notice to the work that we're doing, they finally understood the importance of the work of the African concert series.

And that's when the director John Gilhooly invited us to Wigmore Hall in 2022 for our first concert, where I brought all the musicians that had been associated with the series until then. I didn't know it was going to be more than just a concert, but it was already an historic concert because it was the first time that we were bringing a series, a season, a whole day of concerts of music by African composers to the Wigmore Hall stage. And it was a very special day again, another moment that is marked as part of a very special journey that I've had promoting this music. So there have been challenges, but at the same time, there have been rewards, and I think it's all been worth it.

And so essentially you've succeeded in bringing new audiences to classical music, but also giving African classical musicians a platform and global recognition.

Yes, yes, in fact, you know, it's been very special to see how the series developed over the years and the fact that initially the concerts of the African concert series, I was featuring African art music, African classical music, because this really needed to be brought to the concert stage. But then gradually I started bringing traditional musicians because it was very important for audiences that never had any contacts with African music to hear what a kora sounds or what a balafon sounds. Because African musicians, African composers, they inspired their works from the traditional instruments, from the traditional music.

And I think, you know, in the end it brought the circle to a close because musicians of African heritage, African musicians performed on one of the greatest concert halls in the world. And, at the same time, composers that had tried like Akin Euba, Ayo Bankole, to make their music known to, Fela Sowande, that they've talked about the importance of African music, of Nigerian music to the culture of Africa. They've had their music performed again on a world stage. We have audience of African heritage that wouldn't necessarily attend classical concerts but they're coming to the African concert series just the same way as we have regular European audience that comes to the African concert series to discover this new repertoire. So it's been an incredible platform and an incredible time to curate the concerts.

And so looking at how this has influence beyond, you know, the African concert series, it's been performed in other leading concert venues besides the Wigmore Hall. You're also teaching this music to students, I understand.

Yes, I have been lecturing African pianism, masterclasses as well, at conservatoires across the world. Most recently at the Conservatoire of Amsterdam, a whole class of piano students learned music by African composers that then they performed at an iconic Concertgebouw. These are European musicians that they've never come in contact with African music before. And they had such commitment to this repertoire.

Yes, I do hope now that with the academic and the lecturing and the teaching work that I have been doing, that more and more musicians, regardless of their background, they get to know music by African composers and they get to include it in their own repertoire.

What's next for you in your musical career? What other projects have you got in the pipeline?

There's a lot of projects. But I'm very looking forward to performing for Classically Black at King's Place in October. This is the first time I'm working with Black Lives in Music and it's an incredible organization, incredible platform for musicians of African heritage. Why I think my performance for this concert is very important is that I'm not only playing African pianism, I'm also playing European repertoire. So I'm playing Scarbo by Ravel, which is one of the most demanding and most virtuosic pieces in the piano repertoire.

And the reason of choosing this music alongside African pianism is also to show that African pianism can sit alongside major European works. It also reflects my work as a musician, African pianism that I have pioneered for so many years and that I have brought to the concert hall, and European music and that is also reflecting my work as an international concert pianist.

Very much looking forward to that. How can people follow you and how can they learn more about your work?

You can find me on all major social media platforms. My website is also www.rebecaomordia.com. You can listen to my music on all major platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube. You can check my events page on my website to see where I'll be next and maybe I'll be somewhere close to you.

Thank you so much, Rebeca. It's been a really wonderful conversation. Thanks for coming on the show.

Thank you so much, Tosin.

Thank you to Rebeca Omodia, founder of the African Concert Series. The pieces you heard in this episode were Elilta - Cry of Joy by Girma Yifrashewa, Two Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Folk Melodies by Fela Sowande, Study in African Pianism No. 1 by Akin Euba, Crepuscule sur la baie d’Alger by Salim Dada, and Senzeni Na, a traditional South African song arranged by Grant McLachlan.

I've included links in the show notes if you'd like to follow Rebeca and purchase the album. And you'll also find more information about Classically Black.

If you know someone who'd enjoyed this episode, please send it their way, and leave a rating or review wherever you're listening to help others discover this show. I'm Tosin Sulaiman. See you next time.