On Saturday, 19 October, Enyi Okpara will conduct the Havant Symphony Orchestra in a concert titled Postcard From America at Warblington School Concert Hall. The American-themed programme includes classics like Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Wallen’s Mighty River. Okpara, the orchestra’s 2024 Bursary holder, brings his dynamic conducting style and a rich, diverse repertoire to this exciting event, which also features pianist Ellis Thomas.
On Saturday 19 October Havant Symphony Orchestra presents the first concert of its 2024-25 season with a blockbuster programme of American-themed music at Warblington School Concert Hall. The concert, entitled ‘Postcard From America’, will be under the baton of the orchestra’s outstanding Bursary holder, Enyi Okpara. The programme includes Rhapsody In Blue (Gershwin), Rodeo (Copland), Fanfare for the Common Man (Copland), Adagio for Strings (Barber), Mighty River (Wallen) and more.
Simon O’Hea is in conversation with Enyi.
What are you looking most forward to when performing at this concert?
The starting point for the concert was Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin, which was premiered in January 1924. Because this year is the centenary of the first performance of that piece, we thought it would be quite nice to try and come up with a programme of works around it.
Although Postcards from America is the overarching American theme, there will be some little twists here and there. So we’re starting with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, which is a three-minute blast fanfare for a brass and percussion. Then we’re performing Wallen’s Mighty River, which was a piece written in 2007 to celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in this country. It’s a piece that utilises musical material from the American spirituals. It begins with Amazing Grace, and then later in the piece you hear a segment of Deep River. That is meant to be another link to America – the idea of having American spirituals in the piece. It’s quite nice that the piece is all about this big journey, exploring themes of freedom and slavery through American music.
And then we have Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in which my good friend Ellis Thomas is playing the piano solo. Ellis has recently performed a concerto with the BBC National Orchestra Wales playing William Mathias’s Piano Concerto. So it’s great that he’s able to come along and it’s great to collaborate with him. Then we have Barber’s Adagio for Strings, a seminal American work, followed by Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo. These episodes come from snippets of the music from the ballet.
This is followed by Florence Price’s Adoration. Price was another American female composer who wrote music in the early 20th century. Adoration is has become a bit of an anthem and a nice small piece for orchestras to play, and it’s a really beautiful piece. It’s been arranged by my friend Rob Jones.
So there’s lots of music to get excited about and for people to want to come and hear. Ellis, in particular, is a phenomenal player. He’s a phenomenal pianist: we had a rehearsal last Sunday and he brings lots of enthusiasm and lots of different colours to the piece itself and lots of different styles of playing. You have the big bombastic jazz – the influences that are very Gershwin – and then you’ve also got the much more lyrical stuff where he exploits a range of colours.
It’s nice to be performing again with the Havant Symphony Orchestra. I was their Bursary conductor for the year to July 2024, and the Bursary is a fund to help young conductors at the start of their careers. This programme will be a good way to end that year. It’s a really lovely programme.
I think one of the things I was really keen to bring into the rehearsal process and this concert was the idea of bringing some contemporary music to them. So rehearsing Mighty River with them in particular has been quite an interesting journey for everyone because it’s not a piece that you would traditionally hear many orchestras performing, and it’s good that we’re able to explore it in lots of detail and have the orchestra playing contemporary music as well.
It’s also quite timely given Errollyn Wallen has just been made Master of the King’s Music. I chose that piece before that happened. So I like to think that I get a bit of credit!
Her music is generally phenomenal. She’s written a lot of chamber orchestra music in particular as well, and pieces like Horse Play are just really cool. I’ve been a big fan of her music for a while, so I’m very lucky and happy to be able to bring one of her pieces to the orchestra.
Tell me more about the Bob and Beryl Harding Bursary.
This was reported on MiP a while ago. I think one of the most important things for a young conductor is having podium time and simply having the chance to conduct as regularly as you can. The Bursary gave me time on the conductor’s podium, and the opportunity to conduct in the HSO concerts, and now I have my own concert to curate as well. So I’m grateful to Havant Orchestras for offering me the Bursary.
And tell me a bit about moving to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Each year there is a competition for the role of Calleva Assistant Conductor. At the end of January 2024 I sent off my application. It involved sending off some video footage and a CV and a biography and video footage of me conducting. And I think that around 120 people applied for it this time round. We were told that we were shortlisted down to 8 people who were invited to an audition in April, and I was very fortunate to be 1 of these 8. During that time I had to do non-stop, intense score study: all the pieces that I had to do were all pieces that I was looking at for the first time, so this all took a quite big chunk of the Easter holidays.
Then we had two days of auditions. So on day 1 each of all eight of us conducted the orchestra and then that was whittled down to four of us on day 2. In the middle of all of this I was working with the London School Symphony Orchestra, so I had to go back to London after the day 1 auditions, conduct a concert with them at the Barbican. They were very supportive and incredibly amazing about it. On the way back on the way to the Barbican, I found out that I got a day 2 audition, so I then got the last train to Poole to then do the day 2 auditions. And then that got whittled down to two of us. And then I was very fortunate to be offered the position.
I’ve just finished my first month in the role and I’ve done four concerts. I have done two with the full orchestra in Weymouth and in Bradford on Avon and I’ve just done two with the string orchestra in Abbotsbury and in Yeovil. The BSO is such a lovely orchestra and they’ve been so supportive and friendly in what is quite a big, scary role. I’m learning so much and I owe them a lot for such an extraordinary opportunity.
Who and what have been the most important influences on your musical career or interest in music?
There was a piano shop on the road where we lived. I was about 5 and I remember we used to walk past it every day and I said something like it would be quite nice to have some piano lessons. So I did and that’s how I started.
Then the next question was, what might I play in an orchestra? I got the opportunity to play percussion. I was a member of the Camden Music Hub and they were really instrumental in everything in terms of my musical upbringing, and I owe them so much. They were and still are to this day just unbelievably supportive, friendly and encouraging. I did everything: I sang in the choirs and played in the orchestras. I was just really hooked from quite a young age. When I was about 12 I started learning the saxophone as well.
After that, perhaps slightly unconventionally for someone heading for a career in music, I did a law degree at the University of Bristol. But while I was at Bristol, I was the principal percussionist in the University Symphony Orchestra and played in a lot of the ensembles there. I also ran the Bristol University Symphonia for more than two years which gave me a lot of experience in conducting.
One of the best things about Bristol was that most of the ensembles were student-led. Also there were maybe about 3 or 4 that were led by staff or visiting conductors, and in a way that was great because it meant that everyone could have a go at conducting to some extent.
Towards the end of my time, I remember someone saying to me, “You’ll know what your career choice might be if you’re miss conducting after the pandemic is over.” And I really did miss the people aspect and the energy that can come from making music or having musical ideas about orchestral pieces: I had played in orchestras all my life up to that point.
So I applied to the RAM and thankfully got a scholarship to go there. My teacher Sian Edwards was someone who is still incredibly inspirational to whom I owe a lot. She’s been incredibly encouraging and generous with her time and I think a large part of what I’m doing now is down to her.
What advice would you give to those who are considering a career in music?
I’m a big believer in that you don’t need to have everything set from the word go. Especially in your 20s you can always try things out and see what works. What you don’t want to do is to find yourself doing something and then realising that you don’t really enjoy it.
I think it’s the same for music. It’s worth just trying things out and seeing where it takes you. The best music making for me happens when everyone’s enjoying it. I knew that I wanted to go into conducting because I had that that sort of passion and enjoyment.
My bit of advice would be simply to make every moment count and enjoy every note. Concerts end at some point and sometimes I think “it’s a shame that it’s over, I wish I’d enjoyed it a bit more”. That’s not helpful! So just make the most of every opportunity that comes your way and also just try and enjoy it. I’ve come from a slightly more unconventional route, but in a way because of that, I enjoy what I do much more now than because it still, it still feels like I’m on Cloud 9 in some ways.
Also be aware that there are people who are always willing you one, even on the days where you feel like it’s not going as well it could.
About Enyi
Winner of the BSO’s Calleva Conducting Competition and described as a “talent to watch”, Enyi is the Calleva Assistant Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Artistic Director and Founder of Elysium Music, and previously the Conductor in Residence for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra during the 2023/24 season.
The upcoming season will see Enyi conduct performances with leading soloists including Danny Driver, Alim Beisembayev, Julian Bliss, Joe Stilgoe, Milly Forrest and Ellis Thomas. His role as Calleva Assistant Conductor also sees him conduct numerous performances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra across the year, involving a wide range of repertoire and international soloists.
During the 2023/24 season, Enyi was the Bursary Conductor with the Havant Symphony Orchestra, a post previously held by acclaimed conductors such as Mark Wigglesworth, Jessica Cottis, Toby Purser and Ludovic Morlot. He was one of six conductors selected to conduct the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in 2024, as part of their Emerging Conductors’ Showcase. In 2022, Enyi was also a finalist at the inaugural Weston Conductors Competition, during which he conducted the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. In 2021, Enyi was also awarded the Young Conducting Scholarship with the national choral charity Sing for Pleasure.
Hugely passionate about music outreach, accessibility, and education, Enyi is the Artistic Director and Founder of Elysium Music. Founded in September 2021, Elysium is a charity dedicated to collaborative projects between young professional musicians and children. It bridges the gap between music in schools and conservatoire music making by providing side-by-side projects, workshops and resources to provide school musicians with a real flavour of life as a professional musician.
Growing up in Camden, North London, Enyi’s musical journey started initially as a percussionist and saxophonist and member of the Camden Music Hub. Enyi studied for an MA in Orchestral Conducting with Sian Edwards at the Royal Academy of Music, where he held the Derek Butler Award. During his time at the Academy, Enyi has worked with, and received coaching from conductors including John Wilson, Ed Gardner, Sir Mark Elder, Jac van Steen, Daniel Capps, Alice Farnham, and Geoffrey Paterson. He graduated in 2024 with Distinction, was awarded a DipRAM prize for outstanding final recital, and won HRH Princess Alice, The Duchess of Gloucester Prize for exemplary studentship and performance.
https://www.enyiokpara.com
Image credit: (c) The BSO
