Conductor, Nse (EN-say) Ekpo enjoys a varied career as a performer, educator, and creative artist. Currently, Ekpo is on the music faculty at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and the Sinfonia Orchestra. Recently, Ekpo was the Assistant Conductor for the Greenville Symphony Orchestra (SC, USA) for the 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 seasons. He also was the Music Director and Conductor of the Issaquah Philharmonic Orchestra and Concert Band Director at Lakeside School, both located in the Seattle area. While in Seattle, Ekpo also served as a guest conductor for rehearsals and performances with the Puget Brass, West Seattle Community Orchestra, Evergreen Community Orchestra, the Orchestra of Flight, Seattle Wind Symphony, Tacoma Community College Orchestra, Seattle Pacific University Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Union Civic Orchestra, and the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, Ekpo was named a finalist in two categories of the American Prize – Professional Orchestral Conducting, and the Ernst Bacon Award for the Programming of American Music (Professional Division) based on his work with the Pazardjik Symphony of Bulgaria. Ekpo has had additional international conducting engagements in Germany, Japan, and China. 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. A champion of diversity in the concert hall, Dr. Ekpo earned his doctoral degree from the University of South Carolina upon completion of his document, “Expanding the American Canon: The Orchestral Music of Black American Composers.” An advocate for community engagement, in 2024, Ekpo founded the Upstate Junior Honor Band, which provides accessible quality music education for band students in the 7th and 8th grades. In 2025, he expanded the program to include a jazz program to serve high school students called the All*Star Jazz Ensemble. Ekpo also founded the International Conducting Lab, now entering its second season, and the Pazardjik International Conducting Competition and Masterclass, which will be held in Pazardjik, Bulgaria, in March of 2026. Primary conducting teachers include Donald Portnoy, Timothy Salzman, Peter Eros, and Lee Mills. He has also attended conducting master classes led by Jorma Panula; Colin Metters, former head of conducting at the London Royal Academy of Music; Sian Edwards, current head of conducting at the London Royal Academy of Music; Toby Purser, Head of Conducting at the London Royal College of Music; Gustav Meier at The Peabody Conservatory; and Sarah Ioannides, Music Director and Conductor of Symphony Tacoma.