Tunde Jegede

Tunde Jegede is a composer and musician who has been steeped in the traditions of European and African Classical music for the last 30 years. His music has been performed all over the world in concert halls such as, Carnegie Hall (New York), the Royal Albert Hall (London) and the Basilque (Paris) by international orchestras and artists including; The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Brodsky Quartet, Smith Quartet and the percussion soloist, Evelyn Glennie.

He is also a pioneer of African Classical Music and has a deep knowledge of traditional music and culture. As the the founder of the African Classical Music Ensemble, Tunde has gone on to perform and record with some of Africa’s finest artists including Toumani Diabaté, Oumou Sangaré, Juldeh Camara, Bodé Lawal and the Pan African Orchestra.

From an early age, Tunde was uniquely schooled in both Western and African Classical Music. He attended the Purcell School of Music, UK’s first specialist music school conservatoire and also studied the music of the Kora (African Harp-Lute) and the Griot tradition under the Gambian Master of the Kora, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, in a hereditary tradition that dates back over 700 years. From this unusual parallel education, Tunde gained a deep understanding and appreciation of both forms of music and their distinct legacies, and all these strands and influences have since informed his music and work as an instrumentalist, teacher, and international classical composer.

As a consequence, education has always been an important part of his work and he has taught, given workshops, lectures and talks on music, culture and composition. In 2004 he was invited by the eminent Nigerian composer and Professor of Music, Akin Euba to perform, teach and give a lecture at Pittsburgh University and consequently also at Cambridge University for his conference on African Art Music.

Tunde Jegede’s music since has taken him all over the world and he has written three full-scale operas, twenty symphonic works and worked with over a hundred orchestras and chamber groups. Tunde has recorded four solo albums including his seminal debut album, ‘Lamentation’ and ‘Still Moment’ a meditative album of solo Kora. His new solo kora and solo cello albums, ‘Heritage’ and ‘Testimony’ were both released in 2014.

In autumn 2014 he was appointed the Artistic Director of the MUSON centre in Lagos Nigeria. He has since led and conducted several concerts with the MUSON Symphony Orchestra, MUSON Choir as well as concerts with his own group based at the MUSON, the Art Ensemble of Lagos. In spring of 2015 he launched the New Horizons Concert Series which has been an overwhelming success with the Nigerian press and public.