Derrick Morgan
Derrick Morgan
Conductor
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Biography
Other conducting highlights include conducting BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, Red Note Ensemble, The Assembly Project, and the BBC Singers as well as Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and the Hungarian National Symphony Orchestra Szeged outside the UK.
Derrick is also a committed advocate for contemporary music. He conducted in the opening concert of the 2025 Nordic Music Days festival where he worked with the Scottish Ensemble. This was a particularly memorable occasion as it was the first time the festival had included Scotland as a contributing country. He has conducted numerous new works in both concert and educational settings, and has collaborated with the Assembly Project and Red Note Ensemble to present student compositions and adjudicate composition competitions at the University of Edinburgh.
Education and audience engagement are central to Derrick’s work. At the RSNO, he leads the orchestra’s partnership with Scotland’s Sistema programme, Big Noise, and conducts for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s ENGAGE Programme. He was formerly Assistant Artistic Director of the RPS-nominated Nevis Ensemble, working with communities across Scotland and later supported the training of their Ensemble Fellows.
As an assistant, Derrick has had the privilege of working with many of the world’s leading conductors, including the late Sir Andrew Davis, John Wilson, Karina Canellakis, Andrey Boreyko, Joanna Carneiro, and Sir James MacMillan.
Derrick Morgan is a young Scottish conductor based in Glasgow. He recently completed a two-year tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, where he worked closely with Music Director Thomas Søndergård, and all guest conductors.
During the 2025/26 season, Derrick is invited to Wuppertal, Germany, to assist Patrick Hahn on a concert version of the full Ring Cycle with the Sinfonieorchester und Oper Wuppertal. Building on his established relationship with the RSNO, he will conduct the orchestra in several engagements in the forthcoming season including matinee performances featuring Nikita Naumov in Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto, a recording project of works by Shostakovich and Amy Beach, a series of Viennese New Year’s concerts presented by Scottish tenor Jamie MacDougall, as well as film recording projects in studio.
Derrick made his official season debut with the RSNO in May 2024, stepping in at short notice to conduct an all-strings programme. During his time at the RSNO, Derrick recorded and performed across Scotland, engaging with audiences in a wide range of venues. In the studio, he collaborated with the orchestra’s new partner, Charanga Music, to create educational materials for schools, and recorded the iconic Flower of Scotland in an arrangement by Christopher Gough for Euro 2024 — a video that attracted thousands of views and multiple broadcasts on Classic FM. His tenure concluded in June 2025 with a residency as part of the RSNO’s Big Music Weekend where he led a range of performances.
Previous seasons’ engagements include jumping in with only a few hours’ notice to conduct the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a programme which featured the
premiere of Jay Capperauld’s new saxophone concerto Rewired in July 2025.