Our new conductor

We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new conductor, Sean Morris for our 69th Season, and we’re excited for the future of Orpington Symphony Orchestra with Sean at the helm.

Sean began his conducting studies with Phillip Scott (NYWE) while attending Wells Cathedral School as a Dfes specialist musician scholar. While at Wells, he benefited from an exceptional group of musical teachers and coaches gaining experiences in solo, chamber and orchestral playing, and finished school by partaking in masterclasses with Christopher Aide and Phillip, eventually leading the school’s Training Symphony Orchestra for his conducting debut!

Sean furthered his musical eduction by spending a year at the Royal Welsh School of Drama (ACoW Scholar) specialising on the trumpet, before moving to King’s College London. Here he founded the Modern Music Society, the university’s first student body addressing music from the 20th Century onwards. Remaining its President and Musical Director for the duration of his degree, Sean lead the Sinfonia in performances of Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro, Berio’s Folk Songs, Hindemith’s Plöner Musiktag, and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht among other works, and, with the help of a close committee, provided musical direction for the society’s chamber groups, vocalists and instrumental soloists. An advocate for new music, MMS allowed Sean to develop close relationships with many young and current composers, going on to premiere dozens of works from solos to full scale operas.

Sean has worked regularly on opera projects as MD: Premiering Lewis Coenen-Rowe’s Collision (2017) with Spectra Ensemble and Last Thursday (2018); Matthew King’s children’s fairytale The Snow Queen (1994); and most recently Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece The Turn of the Screw. He has also worked on choral and opera scenes projects and coached vocal solos.

Aside from his mentor Phillip, Sean has observed and received tuition from masterclasses with eminent conductors and gurus Collin Metters, Sian Edwards, and Raffaello Samglibini and is a recent pupil of the George Hurst Conducting Course.

Away from the Orpington Symphony Orchestra, Sean is Musical Director of the New Age Ensemble and the King’s Players, studying primarily under Toby Purser.

Born a Londoner to an Irish family, Sean was raised a lover of the theatre and pursues a passion for Medieval and Classical history and literature, which he studied alongside Music at university.