Rebekah Okpoti.

What were you doing before you came to Spirit Studios?

Lecturing in Music at Liverpool Hope University

How did you get into what you teach?

I started out studying ‘Classical Piano Performance’ at the Royal Northern College of Music and then decided whilst playing the piano is great I needed to broaden my skill set to be able to make a career as a musician, so then I completed my MA and PhD in Music Production and Sonic Installation Art.

During the Covid lockdown I learnt to play the Pipe Organ.

I have released two albums on tape, three organ Sonatas and composed my first chamber opera under the pseudonym ‘The Girly Organist’ on Social Media along with recording for Polydor Records, Liverpool City Council, the TV series ‘Patience’ and for the movie ‘Me Before You’ on track ‘Don’t forget about me’.

I’ve worked extensively in Church music for the last decade, with music roles at Leeds Cathedral, Blackburn Cathedral, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and was the ‘Director of Music’ at Lancaster Priory directing the choir for National recordings, BBC broadcasts and Royal visits.

I completed an endurance performance at ‘Light up Lancaster Festival’ – I performed on the Organ Live Accompaniment for 11.5 hours

Most recently I performed at ‘Bath Film Festival’ with a live organ accompaniment to the 1926 silent movie ‘Wings’ and Arranging/Performing/Recording Pink Pony Club on the organ for St George’s Hall, Liverpool.

Outside of my work as a performer I am a business owner in Lancashire.

Any areas of special interest?

Composition, Sonic Installation Art, Pipe Organ, Podcasting, and Music Business

What’s your proudest career achievement?

Composing, Premiering, Releasing and Recording my first Contemporary ‘Chamber Opera Adelaide Watt’.

What do you get up to outside of teaching?

Fashion, Hiking and Cycling

Tell us something people may not know about you?

My guilty pleasure is watching deep sea trawler fishing shows, it’s so dangerous and something I’ll probably never do myself.

Career credits or any notable people you may have worked with?

Cloves, Etta Marcus, Nick Rawcliff

What’s your favourite album/artist?

Roosevelt & Wardruna

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

Wardruna!

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

Making mix CD’s of my favourite tracks to listen to in the car, trying to get away from my phone.

If you have anything released online, where can we find it?

Check me out on social media – @thegirlyorganist

Want to learn from Rebekah?

Rebekah is a tutor at Spirit Studios that teaches on our Music Production course.