BMC Night Beat: Soprano Ibidunni Ojikutu & Pianist Rebecca Mañalac
Free ($20 suggested donation. Children and students are always free.)
- Ibidunni Ojikutu, soprano
- Rebecca Jordan Mañalac, piano
Libby Larsen — Try Me Good King: The Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII
Nkeiru Okoye — Songs of Harriet Tubman
Florence Price — Selected works
The Bellingham Music Club continues its 107th season under the theme Concerts à la Carte, offering eclectic and delicious tastings throughout the year.
Join us when we present soprano Ibidunni Ojikutu with pianist Rebecca Mañalac. Focusing on American women composers, their program is anchored by Dr. B.E. Boykin’s songs, Moments of Sonder, set to poetry by Dr. Maya Angelou. They will also explore the words of the wives of Henry VIII (via Libby Larsen's Try Me, Good King), Harriet Tubman's journey from Araminta to Moses The Liberator (via Nkeiru Okoye's Songs of Harriet Tubman), and various works by Florence Price.
Ibidunni Ojikutu is an alumni of Western Washington University. She is a winner of the BMC High School Voice Competition, and received the top award in the Seattle Opera Guild Training Grant Competition. She sang the role of Strawberry Woman in Seattle Opera's 2011 and 2018 productions of Porgy and Bess, and made her debut with the Portland Opera in 2022. She maintains a connection with Bellingham, and has recently performed with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and the Whatcom Chorale. Ms. Ojikutu is also an active adjudicator and masterclass clinician.
To mark Night Beat’s 10th year, BMC is making music even more accessible to the community, and ticket purchase is not required. Students are always free; $20 suggested donation for others.
About Ibidunni Ojikutu, soprano
About Rebecca Jordan Mañalac, piano
Rebecca Jordan Mañalac, a native of Brier, WA, began playing the piano at the age of five. Rebecca earned her bachelor's degree in piano performance cum laude from the University of Washington in Seattle, studying with Patricia Michaelian. She obtained her master's degree in piano performance from Loyola University New Orleans, where she studied under the tutelage of Dr. John Murphy. Rebecca has performed in masterclasses with musicians such as Alexander Korsantia, Logan Skelton, Edmund Battersby, Nelita True, and the Eroica Trio.
Rebecca has appeared as soloist with the Academy Chamber Orchestra, the University of Puget Sound Orchestra, and the Loyola Symphony Orchestra, and has performed live on KING FM 98.1, Seattle's classical radio station. She has won prizes and awards in several Pacific Northwest piano competitions, including silver and gold medals in the MusicFest Northwest Competition; and won the University of Puget Sound Concerto Competition (2004) and the Loyola University New Orleans Concerto Competition (2011).
Rebecca has experience working with students and musicians of all ages and skill levels, from beginners playing their first notes on the piano, to college students, to professional symphony musicians. Rebecca is Staff Accompanist at Western Washington University and choir pianist for Trinity Lutheran Church. She loves accompanying and chamber music, and also enjoys playing duet and two-piano music with her husband Gabriel.
https://cfpa.wwu.edu/people/manalar