Artists
Nnenna Ogwo, Pianist,
Founder & Artistic Director
Nnenna Ogwo is known for bringing her exquisite tone color and expressivity to an unusual breadth of the piano repertoire. A pianist of Caribbean and African descent, Dr. Ogwo has performed in Europe, the Middle East, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. She is equally at ease performing on grand stages as well as more intimate settings and is known for an engaging warmth that makes diverse audiences feel at home.
Dr. Ogwo is a recipient of the Chamber Music America 2022 Artist Grant award funded by the Gilman Foundation. This grant makes possible the expansion of her annual Juneteenth celebration from a single show at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre into a weeklong NYC festival. Additional upcoming projects include a 2022 recording of music by composers of the African diaspora as well as a collaborative project unearthing the art songs of H. T. Burleigh.
Ogwo began playing the piano at age six, studying at the Peabody Conservatory Preparatory and graduating with honors in piano and composition. She continued her studies at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, OH; the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary; and Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY where she received her MM and DMA in piano performance. Past honors include the Stern Scholarship, the Turner Fellowship, and the Fulbright Award. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Juneteenth LP, co-founder of the H.T. Burleigh Experience, a member of the board of the Leschetizky Association of New York City and a 2022 bespoken Fellow.
Eric Cooper, Cellist, Production Director
Eric Cooper is a dynamic cellist known for his large sound and deeply rich and expressive tone. A New York City native, he began teaching himself the cello at the age of 12. At 19, Cooper began studying with renowned cello teacher Marion Feldman, and after transferring to the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, he studied with Fredrick Zlotkin, the principal cellist of the New York Ballet. Cooper founded Sterling Strings, an immensely popular all African-American string quartet known for playing not only classical music but more modern and contemporary styles as well. Cooper is also a performing member of The Juneteenth Legacy Project and additionally serves as its Production Director, a position he has undertaken because of his unswerving commitment to performing and advancing music of the African Diaspora. Mr. Cooper is active in the New York City music scene, performing with many of the city's orchestras, as well as playing principal cello in the One World Symphony and the String Orchestra of Brooklyn. He has performed in all the major concert halls in NYC, including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Symphony Space, Merkin Concert Hall, and WMP Concert Hall. Cooper has also performed as Principal and Assistant Principal cellist in two of the great all African-American music festival orchestras: The Gateways Festival in Rochester, NY, and the Colour of Music Festival in Charleston, SC. Cooper has appeared numerous times on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and he has performed and recorded with several pop artists including Lauryn Hill, The Roots, Yolanda Adams, Adele, and Mac Miller. Cooper’s playing has taken him all over the United States, as well as internationally to South and Central America, Asia and the South Pacific, and Abu Dhabi.
Frédérique Gnaman, Violinist
Frédérique Gnaman is a Haitian, Ivorian and French violinist who actively performs, collaborates, and teaches in New York City. Ms. Gnaman has performed at the 2019 Met Gala, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Grammy Awards, and the Today Show performing with artists including Ms. Lauryn Hill, Vic Mensa, Anderson .Paak, Roger Waters, Alessia Cara, Julia Michaels, Miley Cyrus, Andrea Bocelli, Matteo Bocelli, Ellie Goulding, Lady Gaga, The Roots, Yolanda Adams, Margo Price, Woodkid, Aimee Mann, Rumer, Diane Warwick and Ledisi among others. She currently serves as the first violinist of an all-black ensemble, Sterling Strings, dedicated to expanding the musical and technical boundaries of string quartet playing. An advocate for black representation in classical music, Ms. Gnaman regularly performs with the Gateways Music Festival (featured on WQXR: New York’s Classical Music Radio Station), the Colour of Music Festival, and Soulful Symphony. Additionally, she has performed in the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Nouveau Classical Project. Ms. Gnaman has expanded her musical palate by dabbling in hip-hop where she often collaborates and performs with Scienze, Shareef Keyes and The Groove and Orchestra Holistic. She can be heard playing on the intro of the late Mac Miller’s “2009” off of his final album “Swimming”. A graduate of New York University, Ms. Gnaman completed a B.M. in Violin Performance studying under Gregory Fulkerson.
Patrick Page, Violist
St. Louis, Missouri native Patrick Page began studying the viola in public schools. He became serious about his craft and applied to Mannes / The New School for Music where he studied with Daniel Panner. Patrick has performed alongside Daniel Phillips, Laurie Smuckler, and JoAnn Foletta and participated in master classes with Cynthia Phelps, Martha Katz, and David Hayes.
Patrick credits his musical start in the public schools of St. Louis to his lifelong dedication to bringing music to children regardless of their level of access. Led by his unshakeable faith in the ability of music to transform lives, Patrick joined the staff of Life Is Precious in 2015, an after school program in The Bronx dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention. In 2017 he also joined the faculty of the Brooklyn Music School as well as the Opus 118 program at the Harlem School of Music a year later.
Patrick is an active chamber and orchestral musician and has performed with the Brooklyn College Orchestra, the Astoria Choir, the Garden State Philharmonic, and the Regina Opera. He currently performs with Sterling Strings, a New York City based quartet that specializes in Classical, Pop, and Hip Hop, as well as Juneteenth LP, a musical collaborative whose mission is to share the music of the African Diaspora with a focus on access, outreach and community building through music.
Daniel Constant, Violinist
Daniel first picked up the violin at the age of 10 and studied under Barbara Krakauer, Sally Thomas, and Ann Setzer at the Mannes School of Music’s preparatory division in New York City. He spent summers at the Meadowmount School of Music even as the academic rigors of college classes at the age of 12 kept him so busy as to leave little time for the joys of his instrument. While studying violin, Dan also studied Biomedical Engineering at City College of New York and earned a degree in Computer Information Systems at New York City College of Technology.
Dan’s recent return to his first love has led to him being a fixture in the vibrant music scene of NYC where he has performed with Soulful Symphony Orchestra, Wordless Music Orchestra, Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and the New Conductors Orchestra. Most recently, he regularly performs with Sterling Strings and Juneteenth LP and Diverse Concert Artists.
Daniel Constant has performed extensively throughout North America and Asia, in prestigious venues like the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Xinjiang Concert Hall, Beijing Concert Hall and Lincoln Center. He is a regular and joyful participant of the Gateways Music Festival, an orchestra dedicated to being an artistic home for classical musicians of African descent.