The African Concert Series Returns to Wigmore Hall In July

The groundbreaking African Concert Series returns to Wigmore Hall on Saturday 19 July 2025 for a full day of performances that celebrate the scope, richness, and future of African classical music.

Now in its sixth year and having doubled in size since joining Wigmore Hall’s season in 2022, the Series remains the only regular global platform dedicated exclusively to this vital musical repertoire.

Curated by Nigerian-Romanian pianist and founder Rebeca Omordia, this summer’s edition shines a special spotlight on African and diasporic women composers, presenting world and UK premières, rare repertoire, and traditional African instruments in a vibrant programme that spans three concerts across the day.

The morning performance, titled Moon Waters, begins at 11.30am and is led by composer, cellist, and kora master Tunde Jegede. Known for his dual heritage as a Western-trained classical musician and a West African griot, Jegede performs alongside flautist Jan Hendrickse and violinist Vincent Ademola Haastrup. The programme features a selection of Jegede’s own works, including Still Moment, Shuna, 3 Mandé Songs, and Songs of the Eternal, offering a meditative and lyrical opening to the day.

At 3.00pm, the concert African Women highlights some of the most powerful voices in classical music history and today. Soprano Nadine Benjamin and pianist-composer Maria Thompson Corley perform a programme that includes music by pioneering figures such as Florence Price, the first African-American woman to have a symphonic work performed by a major orchestra; Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, the Ethiopian nun known for her evocative honky-tonk textures; and L. Viola Kinney, whose rarely heard Mother’s Sacrifice will be performed. Also featured are works by Shirley J. Thompson, Eleanor Alberga, Nkeiru Okoye, and Errollyn Wallen, as well as Corley’s own compositions and arrangements of traditional spirituals.

The day culminates with African Odyssey at 7.30pm, centering on the ọjà— the traditional flute of the Nigerian Igbo people — in the hands of master musician Gerald Eze. He is joined by the African Cultural Group, percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker, balafon player Moussa Dembele, the Ubuntu Ensemble led by double bassist Leon Bosch, and Omordia herself. The programme spans traditional music from across the continent and includes the world première of a new piano quintet by rising British-Nigerian composer Nneka Cummins, whose music explores colour, texture, and Nigerian folk influences.

Omordia, whose work has been hailed as "a classical music game changer" (Classical Music) and "an African classical music pioneer" (BBC World Service), said:
"Each edition of the Series opens up fresh ways to explore the richness and diversity of African classical music. This year’s focus on female composers of the African diaspora is especially meaningful to me. Each of the composers has their own uniquely powerful story and musical voice, and I’m particularly proud to have worked with Maria Thompson Corley, who has long been an inspiration to me."

Wigmore Hall Director John Gilhooly added:
"The African Concert Series is an essential part of our season, revealing the remarkable depth and variety of African classical music, and providing a unique platform for these extraordinary artists. I’m hugely grateful to Rebeca Omordia — a true pioneer — whose vision, energy and tireless advocacy continue to bring this vital repertoire to new audiences."

Founded by Omordia in 2019, the African Concert Series originally launched with ten monthly concerts at London’s October Gallery and Africa Centre before moving to Wigmore Hall in 2022. It focuses on African art music — a genre bridging Western classical forms with traditional African idioms — and showcases leading musicians from Africa and the global African diaspora. The Series’ patron is renowned cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

Omordia’s advocacy for African composers is complemented by a broad classical career that includes championing British music, recording the BBC Music Magazine Award-winning Piano Concerto by Errollyn Wallen (written for her), and performing widely in the UK and abroad. Born in Romania to a Romanian mother and Nigerian father, she studied in Bucharest, Birmingham, and London, and holds a doctorate in music from the National University of Music in Bucharest.

The African Concert Series will return in early 2026 as part of Wigmore Hall’s 125th Anniversary Season.