Nkeiru Okoye is an American-born composer of African American and Nigerian ancestry. Her new commission When the Caged Bird Sings is a collaboration between UMS and the U‑M School of Music, Theatre & Dance. When the Caged Bird Sings fuses elements of oratorio, theater, and opera in a multi-movement musical ceremony, which Okoye describes as ​“a gathering” that invokes the ritual of the concert experience as a ritual of community.