Hope Udobi Ensemble (Sets at 7:00 & 8:30 PM)

Skillfully balancing chaos and purity, delicacy and weight – pianist,  composer, and producer Hope Udobi Nwachukwu is a contemporary artist  like no other. Born in Washington DC, Hope soon relocated to Aba,  Nigeria, where he taught himself piano by ear via Gospel and R & B  records. 

In 2000, he moved back to the states and took up private  lessons, gradually immersing himself in all things music. 2006 saw him  break out into the world of live performance, becoming a sideman for  local and national acts. Then in 2010, DC’s rock and soul act Black  Alley welcomed him on board, allowing him to play for audiences across  the US and Canada. Their music made it onto VH1 Soul and MTV Hive.  Along  the way, Hope secured collaborative work with numerous other Jazz,  Soul, and Hip Hop artists – Bobby Watson, Delfeayo Marsalis, Naturally  7, Fred Yonnet, Angie Stone, Common, Goldlink; to name just a few.  

Fast-forward to 2016, he was chosen as Artist in Residence for Jazz at  The Lincoln Center – a six-week residency that ultimately paved the way  for a faster rise within the scene; eventually seeing him step up as a  guest speaker at Bose RADAR’s 2019 SXSW presentation: Bose Augmented  Audio Experience. He talked in-depth about the 3D audio format for  recording and producing.   Later that year, his debut album hit  the digital shelves, with a launch show at the legendary  Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC. The highly anticipated conceptual project,  entitled In The Wild, is a collection of songs inspired by some of his  own harrowing experiences growing up Nigeria and Washington DC.  In The  Wild essentially encapsulates the idea of what it feels like to live “in  the wild”.