Symphony Orchestra
Rehearsals take place every Thursday between 07:15 pm – 09:30 pm at the Clothworker’s Centenary Concert Hall (term time only).
For any queries, reach out to us at luums.symphony@gmail.com.
About Symphony Orchestra
LUUMS Symphony Orchestra is an auditioned ensemble and one of the largest in LUUMS, with around 70 string, brass, woodwind and percussion members who audition for a place every year. Symph undertakes ambitious repertoire every year, performing the likes of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade Suite, Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha Overture and Price’s Symphony No. 1 last year. We have very exciting rep to offer next year, such as Khachaturian’s Flute Concerto, Glière’s Symphony No. 2 and Holst’s The Planets Suite. In addition, our wonderful conductor El Clarke will arrange their own version of the Kung Fu Panda’s soundtrack!
We also love to get our talented musicians involved. Every year, Symph hosts the concerto competition for all members of LUUMS to compete for the chance to perform their chosen concerto with our orchestra. While the ensemble works very hard to perform at an extremely high standard, we also enjoy a lively social calendar with weekly trips to the pub after our Thursday evening rehearsals as well as a number of fun activities and fundraisers throughout the year! They give us a chance to let our hair down and get to know members of the ensemble better. Symph performs three hugely popular concerts a year, one in each semester, and also goes on tour with the String Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Orchestra every year to share our beautiful music with places such as Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland. Therefore, Symph is certainly a great opportunity for musicians in Leeds to mingle and share our passion in symphonic music!
Meet the Symph team
Conductor
El Clarke
El is the returning conductor of the Symphony Orchestra and is very excited to continue working with the talented musicians and create some truly memorable music! Currently, they are a masters student studying musicology as well as an avid performer in percussion. Last year, El conducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Shostakovich’s Festive Overture in the thematically Russian winter concert, and this year would like to continue their love of the Russian style with Gliere’s Symphony No.2.
El is also a bIg fan of film music and is looking forward to doing some of Hans Zimmer’s Kung Fu Panda soundtrack in spring. Outside of rehearsals, El can be found stu(dying) in the library, doing arts and crafts in Hyde Park or (most likely) chatting endlessly in the School of Music foyer!
Managers
Jack Law
Jack Law is in the third-year of their PhD in Atmospheric Science. They are from Hong Kong but has moved to the UK since becoming an undergraduate student. They have been playing the cello since 6 and have been in an orchestra since 8! They have since been a principal at their secondary school orchestra and a member of several community orchestras.
Since coming to Leeds, they love that the LUUMS ensembles are entirely led by students! Symphonies have been a huge favourite, admiring the likes of Mahler, Shostakovich, Vaughan-Williams etc. Aside from classical music, Jack is a big fan of pop, alternative, dance, electronic, rock and many more! They are also a big fan of pop culture and unfortunately brainrot content. Nevertheless, they are excited to be working with talented musicians and hope to visit Floptropica one day!
Juliette Poon-Jamin
Juliette Poon-Jamin is a second year Physics student from London. She has been playing the violin, piano and singing for as long as she can remember and has performed in variety of ensembles from string quartets to acapella groups to being in the pit band for musicals. She also has a love for musical theatre and has been performing on stage ever since she was 6, her favourite musical performed being ‘Grease’.
Juliette is looking forward to designing and creating programmes and posters for this upcoming year, as well as working together with the 2025 – 2026 team. She also wants to be able to encourage more people to enjoy LUUMS and make it accessible for everyone to enjoy performing music. Outside of LUUMS, she enjoys playing volleyball, reading, scrapbooking and various different artsy hobbies. A fun-fact about Juliette is that she has perfect pitch!
Leeds University Union Music Society 