In conversation with LSSO Conductor in Residence, Enyi Okpara

The London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO) Conductor in Residence scheme is run in partnership with Guildhall Young Artists and Black Lives in Music. This residency is designed to nurture diverse talent and champion representation within the orchestra. It offers the chance for a young conductor to gain experience working with LSSO students during the orchestra's week-long Christmas, Easter and Summer holiday courses, as well as being offered one-to-one mentor support from professional conductors. 

With Enyi Okpara's time as the 2023/24 LSSO Conductor in Residence coming to an end, we caught up with him to hear more about his time in the role and the opportunities this has opened up to him. He also talked to us about his upcoming final performance with the LSSO and the piece he'll be conducting. 

Could you tell us a bit about your year as the LSSO Conductor in Residence? 

My year as the LSSO Conductor in Residence has been really fun. It's been such a joy to get to know the Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) team, the wonderful orchestra and young musicians in the LSSO. 

During my time, we've had three concerts. The first, I was assisting on and the last two, I've been conducting in. For the spring concert, I conducted Anna Meredith's Nautilus and during the summer I went on tour with the LSSO to Belgium and conducted Anna Clyne’s Masquerade. It's been a really fun experience, the kids are absolutely phenomenal and really lovely and I've got to know some very talented young musicians and have a really good time along the way. 

What made you apply to be the LSSO Conductor in Residence? 

As a young conductor, one of the big experiences I have is working with kids, and I do a lot of work with kids in all sorts of settings including workshop settings and orchestral settings. While my Masters allowed me to work a lot with student orchestras, I hadn't actually done as much work as I would have like with youth orchestras. The LSSO is great because one of the benefits about this position is that you spend a lot of time, including valuable podium time, working with a high-level youth orchestra. The orchestra are great and I’ve learned so much about how youth orchestras are run and how to take youth orchestra rehearsals as well. Initially, when I started it was really just to get that depth of experience and that’s always valuable for a conductor.

What would you say has been your highlight from the last year as LSSO Conductor in Residence? 

I think there are several, but I think one would be the first Barbican concert with the LSSO, conducting the Anna Meredith. That was a lot of fun and I was really buzzed for it as well. There was a good sense of enthusiasm across the room when we were rehearsing, and we had a lot of fun working on that piece. 

Second, I think would be the tour to Belgium, it was a lovely four or five days with the orchestra. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know them all properly with lots of music making but also all the other stuff we were doing on tour too, like going to visit bits of Belgium and getting to know the cities we were touring in.

Then one of the other highlights has been getting to know the CYM team. Tim Pottier and Bryan Welton are lovely, wonderful people and it’s been great getting to know them over this last year. I’ve had the most amazing time working with them and I’ve learnt so much from being on the team. 

What opportunities has the scheme opened up to you?

I’ve got lots of experience working with youth orchestras now. I’m just starting as the new Assistant Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO), which is great. One of the really good things about this scheme, is that it was really good practice for when I had my audition for BSO, back in April. Sort of, one thing leads to another and it’s been really valuable in giving me a lot of key skills I’ll use in later life.  

Could you tell us about the piece you’ll be conducting in September’s LSSO concert? 

I’m going to be conducting Anna Clyne’s Masquerade with the LSSO. It was a piece originally written for the Last Night of the Proms in 2013. Regular Prom goers will recall that that was the memorable year Marin Alsop made her debut as the first female conductor to ever conduct the Last Night. 

The piece had been commissioned for Anna Clyne to write and it takes music from the 16^th century English folk dances, that would have been danced in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and lots of other places around London, and kind of puts a contemporary music spin on it. It’s a really exciting piece to end on with lots of different ideas and it does feel like you go through lots of different avenues very quickly. You’ll start off with one idea, and then almost immediately another one will come in, then immediately you’ll be in a completely different world. Getting that sense of nuance and those character changes with the LSSO has been really fun to explore in rehearsals. 

It’s paired with Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Mahler’s Totenfeier, which is the original first movement of Mahler’s Symphony No 2, and Jonathan Dove’s Stargazer, a trombone concerto featuring the amazing young soloist Peter Moore. It’s going to be a really good concert and a lovely one to end on.

The London Schools Symphony Orchestra will be performing at Barbican Hall on 16 September 2024. Tickets are available here.