“Next to my family, my greatest love is the music. My greatest fear is my parents leaving this world without enjoying what they have always expected me to be.”
– Chibuike Victor, January 2024
With patience and a positive outlook, we wait to hear about Chibuike’s student visa interview. As of Friday, October 10, we feel the interview is imminent and have faith that it will be completed in time and approved for his travel to the U.S. by early January to start his schooling at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Chibuike’s Story
| How It All Started | Living in Threat | Driving Him Forward | The Family |
| Not a Survival Income | Your Investment | News Blog | Donate Now |
Why support one musician from Nigeria? Why does this one young man deserve to study the cello? Why does he need to be liberated from his current environment? Why are we asking that you donate to this cause? Read on and learn about Chibuike Victor and why we ask you to join the fight for him to study cello.
How It All Started: Team Chibuike
A few years back, Grace Tin-Yen Christus of the Aurora (Colorado, USA) Music Teachers Association (AMTA) composed “The Dragon and the Phoenix”— a piece requested by her daughter for her wedding and, remarkably, the only one Grace has written for solo cello. World class British cellist Michael Kevin Jones, now living in Madrid, volunteered to look at it, performed it at a music festival in Spain, and recorded it under the HR Recordings label. After seeing a post of the recording on Facebook in the summer of 2021, then 17-year old Chibuike Victor of Onitsha, Nigeria, was immediately motivated to learn the piece. He borrowed a school cello, rehearsed it, and posted a short excerpt on Facebook.
Grace heard the post, initiating a strong professional relationship and friendship that continues. Grace told Chibuike that she hoped someday he would be able to own his own cello, which resulted in her and Michael colluding to find a way to make that possible.
Michael located a cello for sale in a music store close to where Chibuike lives. Then on December 17, 2022, with the support of AMTA’s president, Jerome Gilmer, Chibuike received his early Christmas present—his own cello, to which he wrote:
“Am so happy, Ma’am. I received my cello! God bless you. Thank you so much for everything. You really did more than a favor for me. Thanks to all those who contributed. I love you, Ma’am.”
Since then, a GoFundMe account was set up to assist Chibuike’s career goals including honing his talent. With personalized instruction, gratis, in music theory and cello performance from the colluding duo, the fund subsequently supported his travel in November 2023 to the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt where he successfully passed the ABRSM examination board’s level 5 for both cello and music theory, thereby qualifying him for a scholarship entrance to the prestigious Muson School of Music in Lagos, Nigeria. The fund also helped with other essentials detailed below.
A Challenging Environment
Any place one calls home and where your family lives is special. Chibuike and his family live in the African city of Onitsha. This large city has issues that anyone would find challenging.
Onitsha is located in the southern part of Nigeria in the state of Anambra and sits on the eastern bank of the Niger River. Home to nearly 3.5 million and growing, it is an important agricultural trading port with great promise for the future but struggling through seriously difficult times at present.
Progress to make Onitsha safer and cleaner are moving forward in earnest; but it is slow. It holds its cultural traditions close with festivals and activities, but the arts scene is limited, which Chibuike hopes to be able to help grow in the future.
Driving Him Forward
Despite so many challenging influences in and around his life, Chibuike remains driven, positive, and hopeful. While in Onitsha, he spent at least six hours every day practicing on his own beloved cello and working to build his repertoire. His advancement has been fueled by world-class British cellist Michael Kevin Jones coaching him on his performance skills and prolific composer and Juilliard graduate Grace Tin-Yen Christus of Aurora, Colorado, USA, advancing his knowledge of music theory and the keyboard.
Joining the team in the fall of 2023 and assisting with fund raising, Hank Knerr has worked professionally in the performing arts for over 40 years producing and presenting world-recognized performers in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, including the Jones-Maruri Duo (cello and guitar). This trio—Team Chibuike—is stalwart in seeing he has every opportunity to succeed, contributing their time and expertise. Then, in the spring of 2024, Indiana, PA locals Kay Smith and Joyce Sharman joined the team to help propel Chibuike even further.
This is all boosted by Chibuike’s family, his close friends, his church, and the nearly 200 crowdfunding donors already understanding the need to lift up this highly talented young man. This is fused with his uncompromising passion for and dedication to music.
The Family
Chibuike (pictured here in white at his First Communion) is now 20 and his oldest brother, Stanley, is 24. His younger brothers include Daniel, 18, a recent secondary school graduate, and Franklin, 15, just completing his junior year in secondary school. They are all big brothers to Emmanuella, who is 13 and just started in junior secondary school. All live in the same house and share a single bedroom with their parents, Celestine and Priscilla. A closely-related family member and considered a brother, also named Stanley, is a seminarian and helping to protect and manage the funding for Chibuike. Of Chibuike’s talent and fortitude, Stanley recently shared:
“…am so grateful. Through the grace of God, he will never disappoint.”
Not a Survival Income
Work is very difficult to find in Onitsha and the pay is low with the average cost of living for a family of four at $1,394 per month, but the average family income is only $170. The family works hard to provide what they can. The Father, Celestine, works had worked in the cutting room of a local printer but was laid off and now does odd jobs when he can find them. Mother Priscilla bakes buns in the early morning and hawks them through the streets of Onitsha. Brother Stanley works as a barber; and, with the help of an anonymous donor from the U.S., has opened his own shop. Despite all the hard and laudable work, this still falls far short in supporting a family of seven let alone the financial burden of advancing a young man’s dream of becoming a professional musician, which will only be possible with your help.
Your Investment in One’s Future
Since discovering this talented young man, enough funds were raised to buy a suitable new cello, a power bank to store electricity given the constant and crippling power outages in Onitsha and later in Lagos, essential internet data, a workable new mobile phone, a travel cello case, and transportation for registering for auditions and testing that served as an entry opportunity to Muson School of Music in Lagos, Nigeria. To make sure that Chibuike and his family had food and were able to pay basic, simple day-to-day expenses while Chibuike was living at home, we were providing a small monthly amount to supplement their collective but small income.
To get Chibuike and his family through August 2024 when he auditioned at Muson School of Music, we continued to seek funds for the coming months and beyond. And then, with dreams pointing towards study in the U.S. or Europe, major sponsor funds will be needed. We have started saving funds for that time, but the the amount is substantial.
Join the Fight for Chibuike’s Right to Study Cello
There are so many people who have already supported this young talent. Please join them in working to advance Chibuike in a journey that will maximize his talents. His ticket is his cello and passion for music joined by hard work and tenacity, while the path to that ticket is through you.
All donations at any level are precious indications of support. . Your donation goes directly to fund Chibuike’s financial needs with no one receiving any salary or compensation.
The Road to Muson
Combining external support with his talent and determination, Chibuike reached the next major level in his set of dreams. In early September 2024, he traveled to Lagos for his final audition at Muson School of Music. His audition and testing confirmed his acceptance and full scholarship at Muson, starting his first year of study just a few days later. This included a $25 a month stipend with our funding matching that. He is working hard every day, making new friends, and presented his first recital February 17, 2025. Read the exciting report of that trip and recital and hear his performance.
We continued to seek funds to support his living expenses, travel home for holidays, some recital expenses, and other needs. We also raised enough funds to support his parents’ travel to Lagos to see their son perform in his recital 17 February 2025. This would be the first time his parents saw him in a formal solo recital. His oldest brother, Stanley, was also there.
The State of Things
We continue to be far short of the funds needed, but do have sponsors that will underwrite 100% of the costs until additional sponsorship can be secured. But he was accepted into Indiana University of Pennsylvania as of March 2025, then subsequently invited to join the IUP Music Department’s BFA program, a highly competitive process for acceptance. We have had quite a bit of help from others in preparing Chibuike for his F-1 visa interview that was scheduled for July 8 in Abuja. That means additional funds to get him there and house him for a couple days. The interview, however, never took place due to last-minute visa requirements. As of October 2025, we are awaiting word on a rescheduled appointment so that he can begin studies at IUP in January 2026.
Additional delays have been incurred with updates provided in our news posts.
A Look Beyond
Chibuike’s dreams for a future after college are evolving. But his sites are squarely set on returning to Nigeria and to his hometown of Onitsha to share his knowledge with his people. Plus, he will return to be with his family: All four other siblings, his parents, his grandmother, plus aunts, uncles, and cousins.
His future may be teaching in a school or perhaps performing as a soloist or creating a community ensemble in Onitsha. Most likely, in time, it will be all of the above. And ultimately, he dreams of opening a music academy for young musicians to discover their talents as he has. With your help, he will succeed.
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