Ayọ̀ Olúrántí (formerly Ogúnrántí) has
featured in the music scenes in Nigeria, UK & USA in the last thirty-five
years primarily as a composer and as well as a conductor, organist, music
scholar and theorist. His compositions have been performed in Africa, Asia,
Europe, North America, Russia and South America. He has also given recitals on
historic and celebrity organs in different parts of the world.
Ayọ̀ has successfully designed and directed both liturgical and pentecostal church music programs. He was previously the Composer-In-Residence and Associate Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, where he also conducted the Pittsburgh Festival Orchestra. He is a member of Bafrik, Brazil and a founding composer-member of Alia Musica, Pittsburgh. Ayo, currently an independent scholar, was previously a post-doctoral research and teaching fellow at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.
Ayọ̀ has successfully designed and directed both liturgical and pentecostal church music programs. He was previously the Composer-In-Residence and Associate Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, where he also conducted the Pittsburgh Festival Orchestra. He is a member of Bafrik, Brazil and a founding composer-member of Alia Musica, Pittsburgh. Ayo, currently an independent scholar, was previously a post-doctoral research and teaching fellow at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.
In his intercultural approach to music
composition he experiments with the fusion of elements that define Western Art
music, Yorùbá and Igbo musics of Nigeria. Having studied pre-colonial art
Yorùbá musical forms such as the Yorùbá folk opera with Akin Eúbà, he proceeded
to Ìrágbìjí, Ọ̀sun State, Nigeria to study and record dùndún music - a Yorùbá
instrumental genre. He applies the theoretical principles and instrumentation
of dùndún music in his compositions. On a broader facet, Ayọ̀, who believes in
both the traditional and the contemporary ‘experimental’ approaches to music
within a postmodernist aesthetic, researches various African musical processes
and resources for use within his compositional language.
Ayọ̀ graduated from the University of
Southampton, UK with first-class honours (summa cum laude) in Music Composition
& Organ Performance and holds an MA and a PhD in Composition & Theory
from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He had the extraordinary privilege to
study music with distinguished scholars and performers: Sarah Baldock (organ at
Winchester Cathedral), William Drabkin (advanced counterpoint & fugue),
Michael Finnissy (composition), Michael Zev Gordon (composition), David Owen
Norris (organ) and Peter White (conducting) in the UK; Akin Eúbà
(ethnomusicology; African music), Don Franklin (Bach studies), Eric Moe
(composition), Mathew Rosenblum (composition), Amy Williams (composition) and
Roger Zahab (composition & orchestration) in the USA.
Olúrántí, who holds the General
Musicianship Diploma from the Ecumenical School of Music, Ibadan, has won
several awards and scholarships: Andrew Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (USA),
St. Michael’s Organ scholarship (UK), Tafawa Balewa Scholarship (UK), Heather
Award (for best interpretation of Bach’s keyboard work – Southampton),
Michael James Music Trust Award (UK), Sidney Perry Award (UK), Brereton
Memorial Fund grants (UK) etc. He was the winner of the 2009 Donald Sutherland
Endowment Fund Composition Competition (USA). Living Faith Connections, RCCG,
London (2010), the Ibadan Anglican Diocese (2002), Christ Apostolic Church,
Yaba (2000), and the Blood of Jesus Apostolic Church, Ibadan (1998), have all
presented Ayo with awards in recognition of his contribution to the growth of church
music.
With a background in the fields of Industrial & Production Engineering as well as Computer Hardware Technology, Olúrántí is the Lead Consultant for Altus Klass, a digital and pipe organ consulting firm. He also handles tonal design and organ voicing for Sanus Domino, the providers of Sanus digital organ.
Watch some of his song as perfomed by various group:
Messiah Baba mi
E je ka polongo
Bigi Man
Ose o Jesu
Ise Orin
Ayo Oluranti on Sanus Digital Organ I
Ayo Oluranti on Sanus Digital Organ II
Iyanu L'Oluwa
Some works of Ayodamope Oluranti are listed below:
Song of Praise
SATB & Organ [1998]
Olúwaìwọl’otí’nṣeibùjókòóowa (Lord Thou hast been our refuge)
SATB Quartet, SATB Chorus, Brass, Timpani & Organ [1996]
Oṣé o Jésù (Thank you Jesus)
SATB [1993]
Ẹ jẹ́ káPolongo (Let us proclaim)
A seven-movement Choral Suite [1991]
The Lion & the Lamb,
Violin, Trumpet & Piano [2000]
Life Anew
SATB, Trumpet & Piano [1999]
Trio
(Cacophony) Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon [2002]
O Come and Sing
(Choral Fugue) SATB [2003]
African Rhythms
Chamber Ensemble [2005]
Gbé e ga
Organ [2005]
Freedom to Bondage
Traditional African Instruments, Four Female Choirs, Mezzo-Soprano solo, Male and Female narrators, Trumpets [2004]
Ọlọ́runÀgbáyé (God Almighty)
Double SATB [2005]
ÈṣùàtiÀbíkú – Text from the Dream Wisher by OyèbádéDòsùnmú
Two Solo Voices and Piano [2006]
Fantasia
Harp, Xylophone and Piano.Commissioned by Alia Musica,USA [2006]
Bigi Man (Big Man)
SATB [2006]
Short Dances.
Chamber Ensemble [2007]
Double Play.
African Percussion [2006]
The Strife is O’er
SATB, Brass, Organ and Percussion
Ten Thousand Times
Triple SATB Chorus, Brass, Piano, Organ and Percussion
I go dance (I will dance)
SATB, Acoustic Piano & Digital Piano [2008]
Where una go dey? (Where will you be?)
SATB, Piano & Organ
Magnificat&NuncDimitisSATB& Organ
Winning piece for the 2009 Donald Sutherland Endowment Fund Composition Competition (USA)
Omo Baba (Heir of the Father)
SATB & Organ [2011]
OnàÀbùjá (Shortcut)
Baritone (or Mezzo-Soprano) Solo & Piano [2010]
Ìlúbàjẹ́ o (A failed Nation)
Baritone (or Mezzo-Soprano) Solo & Piano [2010]
O God our help in ages past
SATB & Organ
Ìyanu (Miraculous)
SATB & Organ [2011]
OlúAyọ̀ (The Lord of all joys)
Baritone Solo, SATB & Organ [2012]
Yíyẹl’Ọ̀dọ́-Àgùtàn (Worthy is the Lamb)
SATB & Organ
Omi (Water)
Piano
Commissioned for the "New Blues for Piano" Project by Marcel Worms, The Netherlands [2012]
Iṣẹ́ l’ògùnìṣẹ́ (Productivity is the antidote to Poverty)
Voice, Ìyáàlù (Yorùbá Talking Drum) and Piano [2012]
ÀjùlọKìnìún (The Supremacy of the Lion)
Chamber Ensemble, Chanter & Dancer [2012]
With a background in the fields of Industrial & Production Engineering as well as Computer Hardware Technology, Olúrántí is the Lead Consultant for Altus Klass, a digital and pipe organ consulting firm. He also handles tonal design and organ voicing for Sanus Domino, the providers of Sanus digital organ.
Watch some of his song as perfomed by various group:
Messiah Baba mi
E je ka polongo
Bigi Man
Ose o Jesu
Ise Orin
Ayo Oluranti on Sanus Digital Organ I
Ayo Oluranti on Sanus Digital Organ II
Iyanu L'Oluwa
Some works of Ayodamope Oluranti are listed below:
Song of Praise
SATB & Organ [1998]
Olúwaìwọl’otí’nṣeibùjókòóowa (Lord Thou hast been our refuge)
SATB Quartet, SATB Chorus, Brass, Timpani & Organ [1996]
Oṣé o Jésù (Thank you Jesus)
SATB [1993]
Ẹ jẹ́ káPolongo (Let us proclaim)
A seven-movement Choral Suite [1991]
The Lion & the Lamb,
Violin, Trumpet & Piano [2000]
Life Anew
SATB, Trumpet & Piano [1999]
Trio
(Cacophony) Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon [2002]
O Come and Sing
(Choral Fugue) SATB [2003]
African Rhythms
Chamber Ensemble [2005]
Gbé e ga
Organ [2005]
Freedom to Bondage
Traditional African Instruments, Four Female Choirs, Mezzo-Soprano solo, Male and Female narrators, Trumpets [2004]
Ọlọ́runÀgbáyé (God Almighty)
Double SATB [2005]
ÈṣùàtiÀbíkú – Text from the Dream Wisher by OyèbádéDòsùnmú
Two Solo Voices and Piano [2006]
Fantasia
Harp, Xylophone and Piano.Commissioned by Alia Musica,USA [2006]
Bigi Man (Big Man)
SATB [2006]
Short Dances.
Chamber Ensemble [2007]
Double Play.
African Percussion [2006]
The Strife is O’er
SATB, Brass, Organ and Percussion
Ten Thousand Times
Triple SATB Chorus, Brass, Piano, Organ and Percussion
I go dance (I will dance)
SATB, Acoustic Piano & Digital Piano [2008]
Where una go dey? (Where will you be?)
SATB, Piano & Organ
Magnificat&NuncDimitisSATB& Organ
Winning piece for the 2009 Donald Sutherland Endowment Fund Composition Competition (USA)
Omo Baba (Heir of the Father)
SATB & Organ [2011]
OnàÀbùjá (Shortcut)
Baritone (or Mezzo-Soprano) Solo & Piano [2010]
Ìlúbàjẹ́ o (A failed Nation)
Baritone (or Mezzo-Soprano) Solo & Piano [2010]
O God our help in ages past
SATB & Organ
Ìyanu (Miraculous)
SATB & Organ [2011]
OlúAyọ̀ (The Lord of all joys)
Baritone Solo, SATB & Organ [2012]
Yíyẹl’Ọ̀dọ́-Àgùtàn (Worthy is the Lamb)
SATB & Organ
Omi (Water)
Piano
Commissioned for the "New Blues for Piano" Project by Marcel Worms, The Netherlands [2012]
Iṣẹ́ l’ògùnìṣẹ́ (Productivity is the antidote to Poverty)
Voice, Ìyáàlù (Yorùbá Talking Drum) and Piano [2012]
ÀjùlọKìnìún (The Supremacy of the Lion)
Chamber Ensemble, Chanter & Dancer [2012]
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