LSSO Conductor in Residence Sitali Dewan looks back on her year in the role

From assisting guest conductors and leading rehearsals to teaching a conducting workshop and touring Catalunya, 2025/26 LSSO Conductor in Residence Sitali Dewan has embraced her time in the role. 

Ahead of her final concert with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO), we caught up with Sitali to find out more about her year in the role, lessons she will take away with her and her plans for the future. 

Could you tell us about your year as the LSSO Conductor in Residence? 

It’s been a rich and eventful year, working across the Winter, Spring and Summer courses. My role gradually grew from assisting guest conductors to taking on more of my own rehearsals, ending with a tour in and around Barcelona, performing Ethel Smyth’s Overture to The Wreckers and Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans. I also had the chance to perform Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari at Barbican Hall, and having lived close by as a child, it really felt like home. 

Another highlight was teaching a conducting workshop for young musicians from the LSSO. I loved seeing another musical side to them, and their interest in communicating, coordination, body language and breathing with the ensemble. 

In each of the LSSO holiday courses, I found the journey from first rehearsal, all the way up to the concert, particularly fascinating. It was great hearing how a piece took shape, how new colours were discovered and how the orchestra developed into this incredibly alive, breathing organism that listens and responds. 

It was an absolute gift to go on tour to Catalunya and share countless memories with the orchestra, including a 24-hour coach trip across the Channel via a sleepy service station outside of Paris – with the chance to grab a croissant! We were united in sweat and artistic ambition through rehearsals in over 35-degree heat, and performed for extremely welcoming audiences well-equipped with hand fans and positive energy. 
 

Looking back on the last year, has there been a particular rehearsal or performance that really stands out? 

Two days before the Spring concert, I suggested during rehearsals that we incorporate some movement into Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari. It’s a wonderfully rhythmic and groovy piece that served as a great celebratory opener for our Barbican Hall concert. 

My vision was to highlight certain motifs in the piece, by activating the audience’s visual senses, while also encouraging the young players’ coordination and self and group awareness. I also wanted to unlock another pocket of joy too, of course! 

I wasn’t entirely sure how this suggestion was going to land with the players, but I was struck to find that the players were entirely on board and even asked for more choreographic elements! Our final performance integrated movements such as forward-leaning in line with a glissando, doing cello spins in the bar of a key change, and each instrument group rising one by one toward the end of the piece.

What's one lesson from this experience that you'll carry with you into the next stage of your career? 

To embrace the beauty of the unknown! Going into rehearsals, I always prepare to the best of my abilities, yet the process that then unfolds is never set in stone. That can sometimes feel daunting, but I realised each day that it actually felt more freeing. 

The journey is shaped by every person in the room and by what’s created in each unique moment. It invites my full in the here and now, encouraging me to listen closely and to trust. 

How has working with the young LSSO musicians influenced your approach as an artist/conductor? 

It’s been a privilege to work with such a brilliant group of young musicians. The combination of their commitment and stamina throughout long rehearsal days, paired with such openness and humour, has left a lasting imprint on me. More than anything, this year has shown me how much I would love to continue working with youth ensembles in the future. 

What advice would you give to someone thinking about applying to be the next LSSO Conductor in Residence? 

If you’re fascinated by the world of youth orchestras and eager to grow and work alongside a wonderful team, I would highly encourage you to apply. My main piece of advice is that "you get what you put in"; the energy, kindness and curiosity you bring to the role will return to you many times over. 

Finally, could you tell us a bit about the piece you'll be conducting with the LSSO at Fairfield Halls on 15 September? 

Conducting the LSSO at Fairfield Halls in Croydon is a huge privilege and holds a special significance for me. If all goes well, I hope to see four generations for my family in the audience, including my 90 year old grandmother, who lives near by, as well as my newborn niece. 

In the concert, I will be conducting the overture to Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers. It opens her dramatic opera, written at the beginning of the 20th century and set on the Cornish coast. The overture is rich in atmosphere and character. It combines nautical motifs and Cornish folk elements with more ominous orchestral colours, reflecting the opera's themes of murder, religious justification and forbidden love.

It's been a revelation exploring Smyth and her music more closely. She was such an inspirational, pioneering figure; both as a female composer navigating the challenges of her era, and as an activist in the suffragette movement. The overture is a lot of fun to play and to conduct and we all look forward to sharing it with the London audience.

Catch Sitali Dewan conducting the London Schools Symphony Orchestra in concert at Fairfield Halls on 15 September, tickets available here.