Chichi (Chinwe) Enu

Soprano and Nigerian native Chichi Enu’s path to a music career can only described as unusual. After receiving a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and obtaining a license to practice law in California and the District of Columbia, she decided to forgo a legal career to pursue her first love: singing.

Since then, her roles in opera, operetta and musicals include the Marquise de la Mancha in The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief, Geraldine in A Hand of Bridge, La Prima Cercatrice in Suor Angelica, The Duchess of Plaza-toro in the Gondoliers, Edith in the Pirates of Penzance, Buttercup in HMS Pinafore, and Annie in Chicago.

Notable performances include a concert at the MUSON Centre in Lagos, Nigeria with the MUSON Symphony Orchestra, where she was praised for her “superior talent” and “almost flawless sound.” She was invited to give a master class for MUSON students and later gave a solo performance at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC. Chichi has also performed in Austria, where she sang In dieser Nacht from Ziguenerbaron with the AIMS Festival Orchestra. She also sang excerpts of La Bonne Chanson with chamber orchestra at the InterHarmony Music Festival in San Francisco, CA. Chichi performed in the Harman Center in Washington, DC, where she was praised by the Washington City Paper for her "soaring operatic voice,” and was also featured on radio station WPFW. Chichi has been invited to sing at various religious institutions. She was a soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been a featured soloist at Unity of Washington DC, Heritage Christian Church, Takoma Park Baptist Church, and MVCC Unitarian Church, among others.

Chichi’s mission is to connect with wide-ranging and increasingly diverse audiences and help them discover the joys of opera, classical music and the classical voice. To that end, she is a huge proponent of performing in non-traditional spaces, which help make classical music more accessible. She performs regularly with Opera on Tap Metro DC, an opera company whose members perform opera and classical music cabaret-style at bars. She has sung in people’s homes, at art shows, community centers, schools, a retirement community, libraries, and convention centers. She has even sung outdoors, most notably at the Piazza San Marco in Florence, Italy.

Chichi Enu completed a second bachelor’s degree in Voice at the University of Maryland School of Music, where she studied with Metropolitan Opera lyric soprano Carmen Balthrop. At the University of Maryland, she received honors, was placed on the Dean’s List and was awarded the Charlotte Newcombe Scholarship. Additional vocal studies took place at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria, the Oberlin in Italy Program in Urbino, Italy, and the International Summer Academy for Voice in Salzburg, Austria, where she was invited to study with world-renowned singer Grace Bumbry. In addition to the law degree mentioned above, Chichi received her first bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, where she won the Vassar College Concerto Competition.