Pittsburgh Symphony Names Adedeji Bailes Ogunfolu as EQT OTPAAM Fellow

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra named horn player Adedeji Bailes Ogunfolu as its fifth EQT Orchestra Training Program for African American Musicians (OTPAAM) Fellow. He begins his two-year fellowship this month.

Created in 2007 by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra, the EQT Orchestra Training Program for African American Musicians prepares a young African American musician for a career in a professional orchestra.

Ogunfolu, 26, of Washington, D.C., will spend two seasons immersed in the working environment of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, studying with orchestra members to train and prepare for professional auditions and performance opportunities. As a fellow, Ogunfolu's time will include practice, education and community engagement initiatives, and audition training.

Ogunfolu earned a Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, under the tutelage of Jennifer Montone, principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a Master of Music from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He was a Tanglewood Music Center fellow in 2011 and 2013 and has been a soloist with the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra as a winner of the concerto competition. He also is a winner of the Northeast Horn Workshop's solo competition and the Alexandria Symphony Mary Lasley Graham competition. As a freelance musician, he has held position with the Flint Symphony, Windsor Symphony and Symphony in C (Camden, N.J.).

EQT OTPAAM is part of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Diversity Plan which through leadership recruitment, professional development and programming promotes diversity in orchestra settings to better reflect the diverse communities and audiences that orchestras serve. OTPAAM is made possible in part by the generosity of Milton and Nancy Washington, and EQT Corporation.