Director of the School of Music of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON), Mrs. Marion Akpata, has affirmed that the 18-year-old annual festival organised by the institution has come of age just like the music school she runs.
Speaking exclusively to TheNiche in her office at the institution in Onikan, Lagos, on the theme of this year’s festival, which is “Coming of Age”, she said to get to the theme, they thought mainly of the school of music.
“The school of music started in 1989 and it was before this compound was even developed. Children from the school used to come originally to Corona School, which was nice enough to give us a few classes,” said Akpata, who had been CEO of MUSON at a point in time.
She explained that in 2002 the Federal Ministry of Education gave permission for the Musical Society of Nigeria to award diplomas. While she came in 2005 primarily to start the diploma programme which started off in February 2006.
She recalls that at that time there was no building and the part of the building that now houses the school was Barclays bank, which later moved house.
Akpata, who hails from the United States of America and said she got to Nigeria a few days after the 1966 coup, said the idea of the school of music was to have a post-secondary institution.
“So we advertised, if you are interested, if you have certain qualifications in music, we are starting and we did that and we trained them so that we could fully start in September 2006,” she said.
She stated that the school was fortunate from the onset to get involved with MTN Foundation, which has put all the students on scholarship from the beginning when they had 21 students till date where the population has increased to over 60.
“All of our students come in on merit but MTN Foundation pays the tuition, pays for their books and gives them a N500-a-day travel allowance,” she declared.
Akpata said the art exhibition will return to the 10-day Muson Festival 2014 holding between October 16 and 26. She however said that the poetry competition that used to be a part of the event is still not part of this year’s edition that will open on October 16 with My Kind of Music, with a few eminent Nigerians providing a glimpse into their persona to an invited audience.
A statement by the Chairman, 2014 Festival Planning Committee, Kitoyi Ibare-Akinsan, released last month said this year’s edition features the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; scion of the Awolowo family and former Nigerian Ambassador, Dr. (Mrs.) Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu; former University of Ibadan Vice-Chancellor, Emeritus Prof. Ayo Banjo, and former Federal Minister of Housing, Lands and Urban Development, Chief (Mrs.) Mobolaji Osomo.
The stage will be open on October 18 for the festival’s drama titled: Jagua Nana, a musical inspired by Cyprian Ekwensi’s famous novel produced and directed by Wole Oguntokun.
The exhibition Akpata mentioned is in collaboration with the Visual Arts Society of Nigeria and will return to the festival on October 19 and run till October 22.
The usual offerings for the festival will take place again this year including the Classical Concert on October 19 featuring the MUSON Symphony Orchestra conducted by MUSON’s new Artistic Director, Composer, Cellist and Kora player, Tunde Jegede. The Orchestra will perform the very popular Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin and other works by renowned international and Nigerian composers.
The Society of the Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN) will on October 20 treat interested participants to a dance workshop and concert that will focus on Ballet, Hip Hop, Jazz, Contemporary and Latin.
October 23 will host the grand finale of the annual talent competition for youths tagged MUSIQuest, while this year’s Jazz Night will showcase two young promising Nigerian Jazz artistes on October 24, Imoleayo Balogun and Bez Idakula.
The MUSON Day Concert and Cocktails comes up on October 25 and the festival will close with the traditional Gala Choral Concert on October 26. It will feature the works of Andrew Lloyd Weber, E di Capuo, and Andre Van Der Merwe among others in the first part. The second will feature the works of Laz Ekwueme, Ayo Bankole and David Aina, among others.
Akpata is versed in piano, theory, piano minor, methods and careers with 52 years in music education. She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York, Potsdam and a Master’s in Music (Performance) from Michigan State University. The American-trained musician and teacher first worked in Nigeria in Bukuru and Jos in 1966. She returned to New York where she taught music until being appointed principal of Idia College in Benin City in 1974. In 1976 she moved to Lagos and assumed duty as a music teacher at Queens College where she stayed for six years. She then moved on and opened her own studio, teaching piano and theory. From 1989 Akpata accompanied her husband on his UN assignments, teaching in Swaziland, Ghana and then back to UN headquarter in New York and resumed her teaching career there.
She retired at the end of March 2012 as CEO of the MUSON but returned in September last year to the post of Director of the MUSON School of Music a post she first held in July 2005.
