LPO Young Composers (left), Foyle Future Firsts (middle), LPO Junior Artists (right)

The London Philharmonic Orchestra today [22 September 2020] reveals the details of the young artists and composers that will join its three dynamic mentoring and professional development programmes – LPO Young Composers, Foyle Future Firsts and LPO Junior Artists – in the 2020/21 season.

In spite of difficulties faced due to the pandemic, the Orchestra has continued to run its renowned talent development schemes as fully as possible during the lockdown, and will continue to offer participants first-class participatory experiences to develop their skills and understanding early in their careers. In order to adhere with social distancing guidelines, the LPO Education schemes have each been adapted for online delivery and the team has found creative solutions when face-to-face work is impossible. This includes one-to-one lessons, coaching sessions, mock auditions and professional development sessions, taking place online.

David Burke, Chief Executive of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, says: ‘I am delighted to welcome all of these fabulous musicians to the LPO family. The team has been incredibly creative developing online lessons, seminars and creative projects over these last six months. The feedback during lockdown, from isolated participants around the country to these emerging artists starting their careers in such uncertain times, has made every effort worthwhile. It is important we continue to develop these talents where we can, as we will need them, and their music, even more in the future.’

Foyle Future Firsts
Foyle Future Firsts (FFF) is the LPO’s annual development programme for aspiring orchestral players, which aims to bridge the transition period between college and the professional platform for 17 outstanding young musicians. This year’s cohort will undertake a programme of lessons with LPO musicians in addition to professional development opportunities and ensemble training. Directly interacting with the Orchestra via sit-ins during rehearsals is difficult to do safely under new social distancing guidelines, so instead the LPO players will undertake additional bespoke sessions with the FFF cohort, working side-by-side on core repertoire. Some elements of the programme will be delivered digitally following successful trials during lockdown and the FFF cohort will be offered sessions on how to develop online teaching skills and possibly also participate in digital education projects. The 2020/21 Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, the Fidelio Charitable Trust and the Idlewild Trust.

LPO Young Composers
The LPO Young Composers Programme offers emerging professional composers the opportunity to workshop a new piece with the Orchestra’s musicians across a year, leading to a public performance. This year’s programme will run largely as normal, with the five participants undertaking a series of seminars with Brett Dean, the LPO’s new Composer in Residence, in addition to exploring instrumental techniques with LPO players and attending professional development sessions. Each composer will work towards writing a piece that will be performed by a combined LPO/FFF ensemble in the annual Debut Sounds concert in June 2021. The brief, set by Brett Dean, focusses on COVID-19 and challenges the composers to create an artistic response to the myriad implications of the pandemic. The 2019/20 Debut Sounds concert was unable to take place. Instead, the five pieces were professionally recorded in September and will be broadcast on the LPO’s YouTube channel in November. The 2020/21 LPO Young Composers Programme is generously supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Programme, The RVW Trust, The Leche Trust, and the Garrick Charitable Trust.

LPO Junior Artists
Each season the LPO hosts a free orchestral experience programme for eight talented young musicians aged 15-19 from backgrounds currently under-represented in professional UK orchestras, offering support, advice and professional insight to aspiring orchestral musicians. This year’s cohort will continue to undertake a series of mentor sessions with LPO players either face-to-face or via Zoom if necessary. The young musicians will learn more about the orchestral profession through insight sessions and skills sessions with LPO players and administrators. They will also work side-by-side with younger players (aged 11-14) from the LPO’s Junior Artist: Overture courses and perform in their own concert in April. The LPO’s annual summer Overture course was unable to take place this year, but the Orchestra instead created a series of videos entitled ‘The Orchestral Musician’ in which members of the LPO family (former JA/FFF and current LPO players) gave tips on different aspects of orchestral playing, available for free on the LPO website. The 2020/21 LPO Junior Artists Programme is generously funded by AT&T.

2020/21 Foyle Future Firsts
Inês Delgado – violin
Claudia Tarrant-Matthews – violin 
Abby Bowen – viola
Pedro Silva – cello
Thomas Morgan – double bass
Jagoda Krzemińska – flute
Bernice Lee – oboe
Isha Crichlow – clarinet
Emily Newman – bassoon
Flora Bain – horn
Nick Walker– trumpet
Merin Rhyd – trombone
Adam Collins – tuba
Fionnuala Ward – piano
Alis Huws – harp
Iolo Edwards – percussion
Luke Taylor – timpani

2020/21 LPO Young Composers
Alexander Tay
Geoffrey King
Paweł Malinowski 
Robin Haigh
Sun Keting

2020/21 LPO Junior Artists
Tamara Redmond – violin
Danya Rushton – viola*
Riya Hamie – cello
Kitan Oyetunde – cello*
Aiyana Rennie – double bass
Charles Campbell-Peek – double bass
Anamika Nebhrajani-Wallace – trumpet
Shesh Abu-Jabir – percussion*
*LPO Junior Artists Associate Members

In addition to these three schemes, the Orchestra’s other Education and Community projects have also continued throughout lockdown and into the new season. The Orchestra has been engaging groups in creative workshops via Zoom and making videos to encourage participation and further learning. All of its programmes have continued in full, with some reshaping of content where necessary.

www.lpo.org.uk/education/