Nse Ekpo
Assistant Conductor
Conductor, Nse (EN-say) Ekpo enjoys a varied career as a performer, educator, and creative artist. Currently, Ekpo is the Music Director and Conductor of the Issaquah Philharmonic Orchestra and Concert Band Director at Lakeside School. In 2018, Ekpo was named a finalist in two categories of the American Prize: Professional Orchestral Conducting, and the Ernst Bacon Award for the Programing of American Music (Professional Division) based on his work with the Pazardjik Symphony of Bulgaria. In the summer of 2018, Ekpo was invited along with 17 other creative artists from the US and abroad to be a resident at Rockland Woods Artist Residency Pilot Program in Illahe, Washington. Locally, Ekpo has conducted the Puget Brass, West Seattle Community Orchestra, Seattle Pacific University Symphony Orchestra, and the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra. A champion of diversity in the concert hall, his 2015 doctoral dissertation was on the orchestral music of Black American composers.
Assistant Conductor
Conductor, Nse (EN-say) Ekpo enjoys a varied career as a performer, educator, and creative artist. Currently, Ekpo is the Music Director and Conductor of the Issaquah Philharmonic Orchestra and Concert Band Director at Lakeside School. In 2018, Ekpo was named a finalist in two categories of the American Prize: Professional Orchestral Conducting, and the Ernst Bacon Award for the Programing of American Music (Professional Division) based on his work with the Pazardjik Symphony of Bulgaria. In the summer of 2018, Ekpo was invited along with 17 other creative artists from the US and abroad to be a resident at Rockland Woods Artist Residency Pilot Program in Illahe, Washington. Locally, Ekpo has conducted the Puget Brass, West Seattle Community Orchestra, Seattle Pacific University Symphony Orchestra, and the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra. A champion of diversity in the concert hall, his 2015 doctoral dissertation was on the orchestral music of Black American composers.