The Team

Freddie Tapner

CEO and Artistic Director (on leave)

Freddie Tapner is a theatre and music entrepreneur, executive, producer, conductor and musical supervisor specialising in musical theatre and orchestral concerts. He is CEO & Artistic Director of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra.

Freddie started his career in entertainment in 2014 after gaining a first class degree in Engineering from Pembroke College, Cambridge, and quickly found success as a musical director, working on projects with composer Howard Goodall and actor/writer Nick Mohammed. In July 2015 he founded the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, a charitable organisation dedicated to performing musical theatre in concert form.

As a conductor, Freddie has worked across London and internationally, with notable performances including Magic at the Musicals (Royal Albert Hall), Something Rotten (WhatsOnStage Award Winner, Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Love Never Dies (WhatsOnStage Award Winner, Theatre Royal Drury Lane), The Sound of Music (Volksoper, Vienna), Chess (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre), The Best of the West End (Royal Albert Hall), Lucie Jones Live at the Adelphi (Adelphi Theatre), Jingle Bell Favourites (Dubai Opera House), Camelot (London Palladium) and Candide (Cadogan Hall).

He has produced and executive produced shows and concerts in some of London’s biggest theatres, including the London Palladium, the Dominion Theatre, the Lyceum Theatre and Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Most recently, he co-produced staged concerts with Darren Bell of Something Rotten, Oklahoma, Evita and Love Never Dies at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the latter of which led Andrew Lloyd Webber to say at the curtain call “I’m astounded… no composer could ask for more”.

His work branched into television in 2022 where he was the Musical Supervisor and Music Producer for the 60-minute comedy Prince Andrew: The Musical for Hat Trick Productions/Channel 4, producing seven original songs in collaboration with Kieran Hodgson. Other recordings/broadcasts include Lucie Jones Live at the Adelphi (Live Album), Girlfriends (Live Album) and The Best of the West End (BBC Radio 2).

Update: October 2026 – Freddie is currently on leave-of-absence due to illness.

Em Sparkes

Sitz Manager

Em Sparkes is a theatre director, arts administrator, and trained mezzo-soprano with a lifelong love of musical theatre—especially for the works of Stephen Sondheim. She studied English at Cambridge University and is now pursuing an MA in Directing at Mountview, alongside writing articles on Sondheim for publication.

Her love of musicals began with a family Christmas tradition of watching the 1968 Oliver! film and seeing Matilda for her 11th birthday. Today, her favourite shows include Sunday in the Park with George and Cabaret.

When not working with LMTO, Em sings with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields and can often be found in the kitchen trying out new recipes.

Joe Cummings

LMTO Upbeat Creative Director

Simon Nathan

Principal Orchestrator

Simon is the Principal Orchestrator for LMTO, regularly leading a group of handpicked arrangers to create new symphonic orchestrations of entire shows. He started orchestrating whilst musical director of the Cambridge University Pops Orchestra, rapidly became obsessed, and has never looked back since.

In 2015 Simon assisted the orchestrators, Howard Goodall and Kuljit Bhamra, on the West End production of Bend it Like Beckham. He regularly works with John Wilson as an arranger, copyist and editor. His reconstruction of In Our United State was performed by the John Wilson Orchestra at the 2016 BBC Proms. He is also the principal arranger of the Orion Symphony Orchestra, having produced arrangements for their sold-out shows in the Royal Festival Hall, Cadogan Hall, and other venues.

Selected original orchestrations include Noisy Notes, a new children’s song by Rick Wakeman, performed at the Royal Festival Hall with the Orion Orchestra conducted by Sue Perkins; Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad and Beowulf, two new operas by Louis Mander, commissioned by Tête à Tête Opera Festival and Cantata Dramatica respectively; The Last Post, a musical by Henry Jenkinson; The Emperor’s New Clothes, the Cambridge Footlights pantomime with music by Ryan Rodrigues; and over fifty songs from stage, pop albums and TV arranged for symphony orchestra, performed by the Orion Orchestra and the Cambridge University Pops Orchestra to consistent five-star reviews.

Declan Corr

Senior Orchestrator

As Senior Orchestrator for LMTO, Declan leads the Developing Orchestrators programme, supervising a team of arrangers to create new large orchestral versions of favourite musicals. He specialises in the editing, reconstruction and expansion of musical theatre works, and regularly leads and contributes to the orchestrations for many of LMTO’s projects.

Selected credits include:
As lead orchestrator: Lucie Jones – Live at the Adelphi (Adelphi Theatre); Best of the West End 2020 – Stage and Screen (Royal Albert Hall); Chess, Kinky Boots & Treason at West End Live 2022 (Trafalgar Square)

As orchestrator, for LMTO: Scala Radio Christmas Live (Palladium), A Night at the Musicals (Royal & Derngate), Ben Forster – Me, Myself & Musicals (Theatre Royal Haymarket). For the London Gay Men’s Chorus: Sondheim Songtime (Cadogan Hall), Hitsville (Troxy)

Music preparation and additional orchestration: Chess (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Camelot (London Palladium), Mack and Mabel (Hackney Empire)

Declan is also medically qualified, and is a trainee anaesthetist working in the Central London School of Anaesthesia.

Nicole Kilama

Junior Finance Assistant

Nicole is delighted to have joined the LMTO team as Junior Finance Assistant, where she combines her love for musical theatre with a strong background in creative administration and finance. With a degree in Business of the Creative Industries from the University of York and experience across some of the UK’s leading theatre organisations, she is excited to continue her career in the arts sector with the LMTO community.

Nicole’s experience spans from social marketing to finance and operations. Having completed internships with Nederlander Theatres at both the Dominion and Aldwych venues, as well as with Pilot Theatre in York.

Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and widening participation in the arts for all. She is particularly fond of the way in which LMTO brings people together through a range of programmes with a collective love for musical theatre!

Alongside her work at LMTO, Nicole works as an Office Assistant for Jamie Wilson Productions and is on the Youth Advisory Board, a Co-Pilot, at Pilot Theatre. She is proud to contribute to LMTO’s mission of nurturing the next generation of theatre talent.

Nicole has completed a series of participation programmes at a variety of institutions including RADA, Young Vic, Almeida and Theatre Peckham. Most recently joining the National Youth Theatre’s autumn intake to further connect with more individuals passionate about theatre.

Her favourite musicals include Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), and Legally Blonde the Musical. And her favourite plays are Three Sisters by Inua Ellams and 1536 by Ava Pickett. Outside of work she loves going to new restaurants with friends, thrifting clothes and trinkets and her favourite time of day is bedtime.

Ella Morelle

Marketing and Communications Assistant

Ella is delighted to have joined the team at LMTO as the Marketing and Comms Assistant; combining her love of musical theatre and passion for creative marketing.

Ella trained in Musical Theatre at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, graduating with a Masters, and with the National Youth Music Theatre. She performed with LMTO as a singer before taking on this role in the organisation. She has previously managed social media campaigns for shows such as ‘Hilda’s Haven’ and ‘Really Great Actually’ and was a founding member of Conscience Collective, a platform for social change. She recently founded organisation Visible Performers, to produce concerts celebrating performers with invisible disabilities.

Alongside performing and her marketing work, Ella has a passion for inspiring the next generation. She is trained in Estill Vocal Technique and teaches singing to children and young people, as well as returning to NYMT as a member of the pastoral team on a regular basis.

Ella adores the classics and was first inspired by seeing ‘The Sound of Music’ at the Palladium when she was 5 years old. She feels privileged to be surrounded by musicals on such a large orchestral scale, and to be able to spread the word about the work of LMTO.