The beautiful brass display of Nathan Olusemire among the African United Youth Orchestra (AUYO), during their ensemble at The Carnegie Hall, in New York last week, further spotlights a growing grain of African classical contemporary musicians gunning for bigger stages across the world. Nathan and the dozens of others who were selected across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique to play under the direction of American conductor William Eddins are a glimpse of hope for instrumentalists to soar on a global stage. The AUYO is a brainchild of the South African government-led Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Nigerian-born French Horn player Nathan Olusemire began his musicianship within the restive streets of Lagos, Nigeria, where his pent-up emotions were fuel to his innate creative spark. His resilience reflects in his style — a softened gut-power that manifests in both his buzzing technique and literally in his guts. While greats like William Watts have broken racial barriers in the past, people like Nathan Olusemire are the contemporaries shaping their legacies in a similar path, one world venue at a time.
Catching up with Guardian Music, Nathan Olusemire shares his unique journey into the world of contemporary Classical music, his experience at Carnegie Hall, as well as his unique vision of reshaping Africa’s classical music scene, among others.
How was your stint at the AUYO outing in Carnegie Hall?
I played the principal horn with the African United Youth Orchestra. It was a rather exciting experience. It was really great. I saw the poster, auditioned from my school, sent in videos, and then an email came in saying I’d been selected as a representative. I got into the orchestra, but at that point, I was thinking there are a lot of South Africans that are great at their instrument. Then they sent in the list, and I saw that I was a principal horn player. I was still shocked because that’s a very important role in the orchestra—you get to play lots of solos, it’s a leadership role. I think I was the only Nigerian that was the principal in that orchestra. It was great, I really enjoyed the performance. We played the Dvořák Ninth Symphony, and the Dvořák Ninth Symphony has lots of horn solos. For instance, the famous fourth movement horn solo—it was played beautifully well by me. That’s a famous horn solo by the first horn, and I played that, and also the first horn solo in the first movement, I played that too. So basically, the horn played a very crucial role in this performance because I had lots of solos, and it was great. Also, it was a really nice, fun section. The Dvořák went well, we had lots of high notes. Of course, I was the first horn player, I had lots of solos to play, and they went well. Some techniques I used—since the piece is a generic classical piece, there wasn’t really much technique issue, it was just basic first horn power.
What piqued your interest in the French horn?
Well, just to give a backstory, I started in Nigeria in my childhood church, the Mountain of Miracle Ministry, and I noticed people were really playing the instrument. How I got to know the instrument was when a friend brought it to my local church, and then I tried it. My first note on the instrument was different because most people that play brass instruments for the first time are not able to produce any sound. But for me, my first note was great—there were no cracks, nothing. I was like, maybe this is a sign I should learn this instrument. When I proceeded to the international headquarters of my church, everyone claimed the instrument was so difficult, asking how I would be able to play it. Personally, I don’t like people telling me something is difficult, so that even stirred up my interest more. I was like, okay, maybe we’ll just crack it. Ever since then, I started playing the instrument and posting a few videos on Facebook. I got in contact with lots of great players in the US, for instance, the principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and lots of high-ranked professors. They started giving me Zoom lessons even while I was in Nigeria. With that, I applied for college.
How would you describe your journey within the world of classical music?
Well, when I was in Nigeria, I did a couple of things. I don’t know what came over me, but I was so serious that I aimed for the top. Some people might not believe this, but when I was in Nigeria, I was the youngest and the best player in Nigeria—at least I feel I’m still the best now. That’s what most of the people I connected with knew me as: the young Nigerian horn player. When I was in Nigeria, I got to perform with the Muson Symphony Orchestra. Also, I performed at a program in Abuja, the Abuja Metropolitan Opera—they played a show called Les Misérables, and I performed there. After that, I came to the US. When I got to the US, I first went to Memphis—they really had so many things going on. The next summer, I applied for a music festival called the Imani Winds Music Festival.
This group is a Grammy Award-winning group. I went to their festival, and I don’t know what happened, but something led to another, and they sent me an email during the course of their festival saying I’d been selected to perform with them in Manhattan. So I got the opportunity to perform with a Grammy Award-winning group. I’m not just a French horn player—I’m also a composer. I’m working on things to incorporate African culture into the horn, creating a new genre of music for the horn, seeing it from a different angle, a different light. We also did something at the end of our performance where we had to stand up and play an African composition titled “Pata Pata.” Basically, the orchestra had to improvise on the spot. Being the leader of the horn section, I came up with something called glissandos for the horn, and the section followed me. We just played stuff like that. So during the last part of the concert, we did an improvisation on the spot.
How do you define your own creative process as a musician?
My creative process as a musician is basically the drive to give back—that’s what motivates me to keep going, to keep practicing, to keep doing everything I’m doing. I’m going to my third year at the University of North Carolina, School of the Arts. What motivates me to keep practicing, to keep striving to be better every day, is the huge urge to give back to my community. I grew up in a place in Nigeria called Ketu—it was really rough, things were going haywire at that point. But music was a tool that saved me from doing lots of bad stuff. While people were using that time to do some things I might call exorbitant, I was using that time to practice. I feel there are lots of younger, talented people in Nigeria, just like me, that will really benefit from the gift of music. That’s why I’m saying this for real—this is actually my goal.
I’m planning on setting up a nonprofit, something like Chess in Slums. I don’t know if you’ve checked my story on Instagram, but I always post stuff about Tunde Onakoya. I am planning on setting up a nonprofit in the future to go into underdeveloped or developing communities in West Africa, search for sponsorship, start teaching them how to play instruments, and with time, hopefully form an ensemble in Nigeria, West Africa, and then they can start going on tours. So just using that as a medium to help young kids do the right thing and also impact the community. For me, giving back to my community is really huge.
