Nii Kwartey Owoo appointed Trainee Music Leader
NewsNews Story
Following auditions last month, we are delighted to announce that Nii Kwartey Owoo, a percussionist and dance artist, has been appointed as our Trainee Music Leader in 2022-23.
Nii is a UK-based Ghanaian musician, dance artist, choreographer, educator, cultural advocate and interdisciplinary artist with an interest in the common traditional cultural practices found across Africa and diaspora communities. He is a lead artist of the Asasaa Ensemble as well as teaching African dance and music at SOAS and IRIE! dance theatre. We were impressed at interview with his adaptability and passion for the collaborative process, as well as his ambitions to explore the creative space between African and European concepts of orchestras.
I am with much excitement looking forward to the shared creative processes, musicianship and co-creation with orchestras as well as the other trainees involved. For me, the traineeship is another journey of learning, shared knowledge and sharpening skills.
~ Nii Kwartey Owoo
For Orchestras Live, investing in workforce development opportunities for musicians based in the regions is a vital part of our programme. As Nii begins his traineeship with us, we are delighted that our first trainee music leader from 2019, Alice Phelps, is currently leading our Trees of Music project with London Mozart Players in Darlington, demonstrating how the traineeship opportunity enables musicians to effectively develop their skills and practice as music leaders.
Skills Lab North will also return to Leeds in April 2023 in partnership with Spitalfields Music. The full Skills Lab programme opens for booking on Wednesday 7 December.
Nii will be joining a range of our creative orchestral work with our northern partners over the next year as well as taking part in the mentoring and skills development with other Spitalfields Music trainees hosted by Spitalfields Music, Southbank Sinfonia and Britten Pears Arts. As part of this Nii will co-devise and deliver projects in Spitalfields Music’s partner schools in East London.
Spitalfields Music is delighted to be working in partnership once more with Orchestras Live to host a Trainee Music Leader for 2022-23, as we head into the 19th year of the TML scheme. Meeting Nii in audition, we were struck by his inclusive and cross-disciplinary approach to creative leading – spanning dance and music - and can’t wait to welcome him to our musical family and work with him to develop his practice this year.
~ Nicole Artingstall, Producer (Learning & Participation), Spitalfields Music
