Somehow, when we hear or think about classical music, we associate it with bearded men of caucasian origin, but a rising group of young Nigerians are changing that narrative.
Ola-Oluwa Oluwatobi is one of them.
An award-winning virtuoso pianist, fine artist, and fashion designer, Ola was born in 1993 and started her musical adventure in 2008 at her home church (Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries) where she learned to play the piano.
In 2011, she gained admission to the University of Ibadan and graduated with a B.Sc in Religious Studies. Upon her graduation, she received the Chief T.T Solaru’s Prize for the Best Original Long Essay on Music and Church Growth.
While pursuing her dream of learning more about music, Ola confesses to have attended lectures in other universities and pretended to be a student there so she could receive music classes and gain more knowledge about the thing that had become her passion.
Fortunately, she received the MTN Foundation scholarship to study music as a piano major at the Music Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Diploma School of Music in 2018. In the course of her musical career, the talented pianist has performed the work of many composers from the Baroque till date on several platforms and stages.
Ola is the founder of Tobiana Art, a music school set up to teach children and women to play the piano, and a fashion and fine arts house. She aspires to be a role model and believes women should be more involved in leadership.
She looks forward to sharing the stage with Nigerian musicians like Rebecca Omodia and Sinach.
Every year, the MTN Foundation sponsors 30 young Nigerian musicians to study music at the prestigious MUSON School of Music.
In the past 13 years, 330 students have been awarded this scholarship. Today, the 2020 graduating set will be putting up a live concert live from Shell Hall, Lagos.
Ola-Oluwa Oluwatobi and 29 other talented musicians who are beneficiaries of the MTN Foundation scholarship recently graduated from the MUSON School of Music, receiving a diploma for successfully scaling through two years of hard work and study.
As a part of their graduating ceremonies, they put up an amazing concert that showcased the skills they had spent the past two years honing.
We look forward to seeing the amazing things these young talents will be creating.
