Sylvanus Peter Emaeyak

Biography

Sylvanus, Emaeyak Peteris currently completing his PhD in Film Music at the City University, London. He is a composer-musicologist who combines theory, research, and practice within the context of indigenous and contemporary creative/cultural industries. He received both his BA (with first class) and MA in Musicology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He joined the academic staff of the Department in 2005 specializing in Composition, Orchestration, and Performance. The decision to further his study abroad and in a unique area culminated in an MA in Film Music and Multimedia Studies from City University, London. His academic awards include the TOTAL E & P Nigeria Foreign Postgraduate Scholarship for studies in the UK; and the 2015/16 City University Studentship for doctoral studies at City University, London. He was also nominated for the 2013/2014 Akwa Ibom State Scholarship for indigenes studying in the Diaspora. Emaeyak has also benefited from Master classes including, but not limited to Scoring for films by the Oscar award-winning composer Dario Marianelli, and Directing & conducting the orchestra with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), both in the UK. As a composer with over a hundred works for various forces, he has enjoyed a few commissions including the 2010 contract to compose a three-act Opera titled IHE. Emaeyak has performed within and outside Nigeria with such ensembles as CIVITAS (UK/USA), WEALD Chorale (UK), and the Nigerian National Choir & Orchestra (NOCON). He is presently the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Musical Arts Society of Port Harcourt (PHARSO) Choir and Orchestra, a Nigerian initiative that he founded in 2005. He also functions as a member of the Board of Trustees of PHARSO. Peerowski (as he is fondly called) is currently working with some authorities in Abuja, Nigeria to establish a national youth choir and orchestra. 

Research Interest

Film music, Popular music and Ethnomusicology.