Royal College of Music Annual Review 2020/2021

CREATIVITY IN THE DIGITAL

AGE

Royal College of Music / Annual Review 2014-2015

CONTENTS

Chairman’s Welcome 5

Director’s Message 7

Celebrating Success 9 Performance and Partnerships 11

Promoting Digital Innovation 13

Pioneering Research and Knowledge Exchange 15

International Collaborations 17

Celebrating Our Heritage 19

Shaping Bright Futures 21

Global Alumni Community 23

Supporting Talent 25

Widening Access: RCM Junior Department 27

Widening Access: RCM Sparks 29

Investing in Our Facilities 31

Legacies 33

Our Generous Supporters 35

More Music Campaign 37

2020/2021 in Numbers 38 Thank You to Our Supporters 40

Student Numbers 43

Finances 45 Council and Directorate 46

CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME

Students, staff and visitors are now benefiting from the outstanding new performance halls, increased rehearsal and practice spaces, an interactive Museum, and social spaces created by the More Music: Reimagining the Royal College of Music Campaign. Our digital facilities are also being transformed by a £1.5 million investment programme, delivering state-of-the art computing and recording capabilities, and digitally enabled spaces for learning, rehearsing and performing. I thank our generous supporters for making this possible.

We have students from more than 50 nations, and the diversity of our community is a great strength. But we have challenged ourselves to do more, and a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee of Council and Senate will monitor progress towards a more diverse College by 2027.

Access and excellence are two of our founding principles, and this year we awarded £3.5 million in scholarships and bursaries, funded by supporters. This increases in 2021/22 to ensure the College remains accessible to the most talented students in the UK, EU and beyond, whatever their financial means.

We were very sorry to say goodbye to Andrew Haigh, Rhoddy Voremberg, William Mival, Elly Taylor and Students’ Union President Joel Wilson on Council, but welcome new members Catherine Clarke, Jamie NjokuGoodwin, James Williams, Professor Natasha Loges, Ann Somerville and new SU President Laura Williamson.

As the crisis in music education in our schools continues, the RCM again calls for fundamental and urgent policy change. The UK’s worldwide reputation for musical excellence is potentially a powerful engine for prosperity as the country starts to recover.

Lord

Opposite RCM brass students rehearsing in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall

Black of Brentwood Chairman

The Royal College of Music is a world-leading conservatoire offering an inspiring mix of innovation and 140 years of tradition, reflected in the wonderful new state-of-the-art facilities inside our historic campus in the heart of London.

During the pandemic our community found innovative ways to continue learning and music-making, and I am proud that we have made lasting improvements to the facilities and opportunities we offer students.

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

In a challenging year for our resourceful students and dedicated staff, I am particularly proud of our digital improvements, of our Library which achieved a 95% satisfaction score in the National Student Survey (the highest in the UK Higher Education sector), and of everyone’s hard work to ensure the well-being and mental health of our students.

The move to digital meetings allowed our outstanding professors to participate more fully in College life in a way that fits into their busy professional schedules, and gave students a greater chance to engage with their knowledge and experience.

But it was with joy that we returned to College late in the spring for in-person lessons and live music-making. Performances filmed for our growing online audience included Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals, Handel’s Rodelinda, Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale narrated by Sir Thomas Allen, our one-day Keyboard and String Festivals, and a piano masterclass with Sir András Schiff.

The RCM is committed to the ideals of an inclusive, open and just society, supporting students from diverse social, economic and ethnic backgrounds, and the Diversity Action Group is implementing a broad action plan. In July our Winds of Change chamber series and one day FestivALL celebrated diversity, featuring music from underrepresented composers and performers from across the College.

We remain grateful to all our benefactors, whether engaged in student support, academic initiatives, core activities or in reaching the final fundraising target for our transformational More Music building development.

Professor Colin Lawson CBE FRCM Director

Opposite One of the 2021 Graduation ceremonies, which took place in person in July

I am delighted that for the sixth consecutive year the RCM has been ranked the top institution for performing arts in the UK (2021 QS World University Rankings); we were also rated no. 1 in Europe and no. 2 globally.

The RCM’s core aim is to develop the talent and character of our students to thrive, and the digital focus has brought new opportunities for us to expand their experience of recording and to broaden the reach of our innovative Creative Careers Centre.

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

Despite the global pandemic, our students have enjoyed great success, reaching new audiences through digital concerts and competing in international competitions both online and in person.

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason played Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with the Chineke! Orchestra (who celebrate diversity in composers and performers) in a performance streamed from the Royal Festival Hall, and then again in front of a live audience at the 2021 BBC Proms. Also from the Keyboard Faculty, Dmitrii Kalashnikov was awarded First Prize at the 28th Beethoven Senior Intercollegiate Piano Competition, the second year running an RCM student has won; and Pedro López Salas won First Prize in the Wiener Klassiker International Competition, and joint First Prize in the Franz Liszt Center Piano Competition 2021, both held online.

Composer Andrew Chen was awarded the 2021 Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition, the first RCM student to achieve this. He was also appointed to the new Youth Council of the Ivors Academy, the UK’s independent association for music creators, and was selected for the inaugural ABRSM mentoring scheme for composers.

Petr Sedlák has been appointed co-principal bassoon of the Munich Symphony Orchestra; and flautist Rianna Henriques, along with saxophonist Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson, percussionist Toril Azzalini-Machecler, violinist Shona Beecham, and RCM Junior Department students Imaan Kashim and Amalia Beeko, reached the semi-finals of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent as part of the Chineke! Junior Orchestra.

Zwakele Tshabalala sang in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at the Theater an der Wien, alongside RCM Opera Studio alumni Pumeza Matshikiza, Simon Shibambu and April Koyejo-Audiger. Meanwhile, Jessica Cale won the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, with RCM alumna Milly Forrest being awarded Third Prize, and pianist Hamish Brown winning the accompanist’s prize.

Other successes included cellist Zachary Mowitz’s First Prize in the instrumental professional category at the World Bach Competition, violinist Charlotte SalusteBridoux being signed to the roster of the Young Classical Artists Trust, and Frederick Lam from the Centre for Performance Science developing OccuPain, a web-based mobile platform designed to help musicians with occupational pain.

Opposite First-year undergraduate Jeneba Kanneh-Mason on stage at the Southbank Centre with Chineke! Orchestra

At the RCM we help each of our exceptionally talented students reach their full potential and transform their ambitions into reality.

These programmes were striking in their scope, ambition and achievement. The 14 singers showed enormous commitment, talent and spirit in making transitions between characters, genders, emotional and dramatic situations, locations, and between live and filmed performance.

Claire Seymour in Opera Today on RCM Opera Studio’s Opera Scenes

PERFORMANCE AND PARTNERSHIPS

We proved our flexibility when Covid-19 restrictions meant our usual programme had to be greatly modified, by creating work for film and broadcast and choosing repertoire for reduced-size and distanced ensembles.

Highly innovative projects in the autumn included Jac van Steen conducting the RCM Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Bartók and Grażyna Bacewicz while he was located in the Netherlands, using LOLA (Low Latency) distance technology; and a reduced-orchestra version of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

A violin masterclass with Maxim Vengerov, RCM Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin, was filmed for an online audience, as were a series of In Focus chamber recordings, including music by RCM alumni Elizabeth Maconchy and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

RCM composers collaborated with the Head On art festival in Sydney, Australia and the Autumn Term ended with Opera Scenes, in which Oliva Fuchs directed scenes from a variety of operas filmed in new spaces around the RCM campus.

A further lockdown meant most performances and the annual RCM Crees Lecture, delivered by composer Debbie Wiseman, moved online in the Spring Term. Orchestral Discovery projects included fascinating discussions featuring conductors Vasily Petrenko, Jac van Steen, Nicholas Collon and Natalie Murray Beale. Our programme for International Women’s Day combined recordings from the RCM archives with poetry readings from our Masters students around the world. On our return to College, reducedsized orchestras played Schumann’s and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphonies with Martyn Brabbins and Toby Purser, and the Percussion Faculty broadcast a video showcase.

In the Summer Term, the annual Composition for Screen Showcase was broadcast online, as were our Keyboard Festival and Super String Sunday, while some large orchestral sessions were possible with conductors Martin André, Peter Stark and Jonathon Heyward. Performances from the innovative FestivALL, which celebrated music by underrepresented composers, were broadcast throughout the summer.

Opera included a concert play-through of The Magic Flute, and a remarkable production for film of Handel’s Rodelinda, directed by Jo Davies.

Opposite main Conductor Jonathon Heyward leading the RCM Symphony Orchestra in rehearsal

Opposite bottom left A performance on the Kennedy-Mietke Harpsichord for RCM’s online In Focus series

Opposite bottom right RCM Opera Studio’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda

The RCM’s unrivalled performance programme, enhanced by our close relationships with world-leading musicians, is fundamental to our learning and teaching. It helps develop skills and experience that students need for their future professional lives.

PROMOTING DIGITAL INNOVATION

The RCM adapted quickly and effectively to the new digital era with its introduction of blended learning. Online studying and performance have kept the RCM community together and insights from this experience will shape how we learn and teach for years to come.

Most academic teaching this year was delivered online, using Microsoft Teams classes, pre-recorded video content and our online learning portal learn.rcm. The RCM YouTube Channel saw a 95% increase in views year on year, with users’ time increasing by 45%.

Newly installed Panopto video recording technology has allowed students learning remotely to catch up on classes, while those on site have been able to make high-quality video recordings for assessments, auditions and competitions. The systems have captured over 7,000 hours of material since installation. Generous support for the More Music Technology Fund from the RCM’s Deputy Chairman, Jane Barker CBE FRCM, has been pivotal in securing these achievements.

A student survey in autumn 2020 found there was high satisfaction with the College’s blended learning arrangements. The outstanding support from our Library was also recognised in the National Student Survey 2021 in which it received the highest score of any UK Higher Education institution for access to learning resources (95% student satisfaction). This was undoubtedly helped by the pioneering approach it took to investing in digital music score libraries nkoda and Henle.

Students have also had access to supplementary online talks, workshops and training organised by the RCM’s Creative Careers Centre and Chamber Music teams, featuring a wide range of visiting speakers and artists. In Conversation With sessions saw appearances from a variety of ensembles;

Chamber Unwrapped discussions focused on key repertoire and ideas in chamber music; and Workshop Wednesdays encouraged students to consider jobs in all areas of the musical profession. Orchestra Discovery Sessions also gave students the opportunity to engage with major conductors on orchestral repertoire.

Since the return to campus, the College has continued to share performances worldwide through the RCM YouTube channel. Made-forvideo productions have been especially successful, with Opera Scenes and the In Focus chamber series receiving particular acclaim, while a masterclass with Sir András Schiff was viewed almost 50,000 times in just over a month.

Our Junior Department, Sparks and local community projects have also adapted to use blended learning, mixing online lessons and workshops with ensemble activities.

The innovative Global Conservatoire partnership – launched with three other international conservatoires in May 2021 –enhances our reputation worldwide, and enables us to offer students a new range of online courses and to connect them in a new digital age of global learning.

Opposite

An RCM videographer capturing footage of a performance in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall

PROMIMIC AND HEARTS PROFESSIONAL

The ProMiMiC project (Professional Excellence in Meaningful Music in Healthcare), led by Professor Rosie Perkins from the Centre for Performance Science (CPS) and funded by the Dutch Research Council has started at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. It has adapted to Covid-19 with RCM alumni being trained to connect live over Zoom with patients in the hospital's maternity wards. Meanwhile, the HEartS Professional project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, continues to explore the impact of Covid-19 on professionals in the arts and culture sector.

TRANSFORMING PERFORMANCE PEDAGOGIES: INTERACTIONS BETWEEN NEW TECHNOLOGY AND TRADITIONAL METHODS

Dr Christina Guillaumier and RCM Director of Programmes Dr Diana Salazar’s project is funded by the SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education). This research is exploring how digital technologies contributed to new paradigms in instrumental and vocal teaching during Covid. Drawing upon staff and student interviews, the project will examine ways in which traditional and digital methods of instrumental teaching can enhance student learning.

PIONEERING RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

Knowledge Exchange (KE) activities at the RCM are becoming increasingly important. This work, which includes sharing our research insights with external partners, developing student employability initiatives, and using our resources to create a positive impact on wider society, is central to the College’s mission. The College scored highly in public engagement and skills and entrepreneurship in the inaugural Knowledge Exchange Framework in October 2020, and signed up to the new Knowledge Exchange Concordat in July 2020 to drive our KE agenda forward.

The Centre for Performance Science (CPS) ran a new global leadership training initiative for the UN Development Programme, Thriving in Radical Uncertainty. A series of virtual workshops were delivered from May to July 2021 to twenty leaders from around the world, bringing in the expertise of musicians, magicians, medical professionals and combat pilots. The programme was designed to encourage participants to think about experimentation and risk-taking, about leadership as performance, and about embracing uncertainty.

Dr Maiko Kawabata has been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council/BBC3 Fellowship in Celebrating Classical Music Composers from Diverse Backgrounds, which runs from 1 February 2021 to 31 January 2022. The Music of Kikuko Kanai (1906–1986) will enable the composer’s orchestral music to be heard for the first time outside Japan. A prolific composer, Kanai is a unique figure in Japanese history and can be viewed as a trailblazer for feminism in Japan.

SONGS FROM HOME

Songs From Home, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is an online song writing project led by Dr George Waddell and Professor Rosie Perkins from the CPS. The project is designed to bring the benefits of group music-making online to address loneliness, social isolation and postnatal depression, experienced by up to one in eight new mothers in the UK. Previous CPS research has shown that music can support social connections and the motherbaby bond, and reduce symptoms of postnatal depression. The year-long project began in April 2021 with funding from UK Research and Innovation’s Loneliness and Social Isolation in Mental Health Network at UCL, and in collaboration with Happity, the UK’s biggest platform dedicated to baby and toddler groups and classes.

Opposite An RCM pianist using the CPS’s pioneering Performance Simulator

Research and Knowledge Exchange activities at the Royal College of Music contribute to the global understanding of musical performance and practice.

Over half a million pounds was awarded to the College this year to pursue ground-breaking projects, including those responding to the global pandemic.

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

The ambitious Global Conservatoire partnership sees the RCM working with Manhattan School of Music, the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. This groundbreaking initiative connects students and allows them to learn in a global classroom without leaving their home institution. This online curriculum development project expands each institution’s course offering and encourages an international exchange of ideas, and is funded over two years by an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships grant.

Soprano Laura Mekhail was announced as our second Andrea Bocelli Foundation –Community Jameel Scholar in July 2021. Designed to open the door to gifted singers from around the world who wish to study full-time at the RCM, the scholarship was launched in 2019.

The RCM is working in association with KMEG (Kingdom Music Education Group) which runs after-school music training centres in China, the first being in Shanghai. The RCM designed their curriculum and its professors contribute to teaching there. The College has other partnerships in development in the US, China and elsewhere.

The College has a thriving network of student exchanges with the great conservatories in Europe, US, Japan and Australia.

The Royal College of Music Museum and Library also engage widely with partner collections internationally, including for exhibitions and loans.

Meanwhile, our RCM Ambassadors continue to champion the College and help broaden its supporter base internationally. Current ambassadors are John Wilson, Debbie Wiseman, George Fenton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Gerald Finley, Sir Thomas Allen and Dame Janet Baker.

Opposite RCM staff leading a Global Conservatoire session in the Royal College of Music Museum

Our gifted musicians are the future of the music industry and have never been more in need of support at this essential stage of their development. I am honoured and delighted to endorse and encourage the RCM in their continued efforts to educate, inform and inspire every talented young composer and performer fortunate enough to benefit from their exemplary teaching, thus helping to secure the future excellence of music-making.

Debbie Wiseman, OBE, FRCM, FGSMD, FTCM, Doctor of Music, University of Sussex, Composer/Conductor, and RCM Ambassador

The RCM is a world-leading institution and continues to engage in high-profile global partnerships to extend its links across the world.

CELEBRATING OUR HERITAGE

The internationally renowned collections in the Royal College of Music Museum and Library have together been awarded the prestigious Designated status by Arts Council England in recognition of their outstanding cultural significance.

The new interactive Royal College of Music Museum, redeveloped with a £3.6 million investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Library are at the heart of the College’s More Music development. Together, they hold more than one million objects, including over 20,000 manuscripts, 40,000 early printed scores, and 15,000 musical instruments, portraits, images and engravings. Some of these went on public display in the Museum and in the Rena & Sandro Lavery Gallery in October 2021, including the world’s oldest guitar and earliest keyboard instrument with strings.

Key new Museum acquisitions include Thomas Hawker’s portrait of Mary Harvey, bought at auction from the family collection of the late Countess Mountbatten, with support from the Art Fund, the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and a personal contribution from RCM Director Professor Colin Lawson; throughfracturedmirrors, a digital artwork by two former RCM students installed in the lobby; and a hanging contemporary artwork by Victoria Morton in the double-height atrium.

The new Weston Discovery Centre, attached to the Museum, offers schools and the community the chance to interact with musical instruments; and the Wolfson Centre in Music & Material Culture will house more of the Museum’s collection, offer wider access, and

enable on-site learning and conservation work. The Library’s special collection will continue to be available to consult in the Donaldson Room.

Much of the collection can be viewed online, and our digital exhibitions continue to be popular, often accessed through the Google Arts & Culture platform. The Museum also offered downloadable digital resources for schools and families in the community this year, including Making Monday video tutorials and craft packs, and the RCM Sparks Explorers online programme, which took inspiration from items in the collection.

Conservation work was ongoing during the pandemic. The Library continued to develop the catalogue, and scan and upload material to our collections on the Internet Archive, which supports researchers from around the world. While the Restore a Score event did not take place this year, a number of regular donors have kept the scheme alive and the Library has continued the restoration of precious manuscripts and music books. The Library has also been building its collection of material by underrepresented composers, and acquired the interesting archive of composer Justin Connolly, a former RCM student and professor.

Opposite Visitors enjoying the new Royal College of Music Museum

SHAPING BRIGHT FUTURES

The RCM’s Creative Careers Centre is recognised internationally for its innovative approach to supporting young musicians, and this year it continued to deliver its services online.

The Centre refocused its approach this year in order to best support musicians through the global pandemic. It introduced a weekly series of events called Creative Careers Connect, featuring a broad range of industry specialists, and an online networking space, Creative Careers Community, for students and graduates to discuss their career development.

The Royal College of Music is a world leader in career development for musicians and our graduates remain highly employable. Of the alumni who graduated in 2019 who responded to a survey by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, 86% were employed or engaged in further study 15 months after graduating. The Centre’s services are available to all students and alumni for up to five years after graduation.

Our popular teaching service continued online, creating new opportunities for our students and graduates to be matched with members of the public. In Workshop Wednesdays, organised by the Chamber Music team, students were connected online with a network of professional musicians and

educators, and were encouraged to consider roles in all areas of the musical profession. Another development came in June 2020 with new online scheme RCM PushFar, designed to enable upcoming RCM graduates to form mentoring relationships with experienced RCM graduates.

The Creative Careers Centre’s RCM Gateway scheme would normally provide concert opportunities at prestigious venues, and through the Professional Engagements Service, musicians would be hired for paid performance work, but due to Covid-19, these engagements were nearly all postponed or cancelled.

Aware that it is a challenging time to embark on a career, the Centre launched two exciting new funding schemes. RCM Accelerate offers graduating students grants of up to £5,000 and mentoring support to kick-start a creative project, social enterprise or business idea.

The RCM Musicians’ Grant Fund is also available to final year musicians, offering grants towards the purchase of instruments and technical equipment.

Opposite

An RCM student filming in the Britten Theatre

GLOBAL ALUMNI COMMUNITY

The RCM is immensely proud of its community of alumni from more than 98 countries. Our network now stands at nearly 10,000 alumni, who are among our greatest ambassadors.

This year we brought together alumni from across the world for virtual events for the first time. These included the second More Music Virtual Gala (featuring alumna soprano Rowan Pierce), our Museum launch, a conversation with Sir Roger Norrington led by RCM Director Professor Colin Lawson, and a Q&A session and recital by Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow Martin James Bartlett.

Many alumni maintain close contact with the College: soprano Sophie Bevan and bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu gave insightful online masterclasses for current students; and Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Sarah Connolly, Gerald Finley and Debbie Wiseman became RCM Ambassadors. We also interviewed several alumni for our RCM alumni LinkedIn group.

We were proud to be one of only a few Higher Education institutions to hold in-person graduation ceremonies for our resilient 2020 and 2021 graduates in July. We continue to champion the inspiring achievements of our graduates through our regular e-news to all alumni who have opted in to receive updates by email.

Our alumni have achieved so much this year that it would be impossible to mention all their successes, but here are a few highlights. Pavel Kolesnikov won the Critics’ Circle Young Talent Award 2019 for piano, and performed with the Aurora Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and pianist and conductor Maria Marchant won a Classical Music Digital Award for her innovative live-streamed concert series project 7 Notes in 7 Days at 7pm

Organist Thomas Trotter was awarded the 2020 Queen’s Medal for Music, conductor Avi Taler was a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Fund, and the RCM could claim all six soloists in the English National Opera production of John Adams’s El Niño in November 2020.

Music is what connects us all, and, as graduates of the institution, alumni have a special connection with the RCM and are of vital importance to the future success of the Royal College of Music.

Opposite Soprano Rowan Pierce performing at the 2017 President’s Visit during her time as an RCM student

SUPPORTING TALENT

Scholarships have a profound impact, allowing talented musicians in financial need to study at the RCM and to prepare for professional life on the international stage.

In 2020/2021, £3.5 million was awarded in life-changing scholarships, with 57% of students receiving financial support during their studies thanks to contributions from our generous donors.

The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Matching Fund for Scholarships and Bursaries was generously established by Victoria, Lady Robey OBE HonRCM in March 2021 to strengthen support for this vital area and to inspire others to join us in our mission. We are delighted to have already raised our total target of £100,000.

Each year the RCM awards several scholarships to talented UK students from diverse backgrounds. Building on this initiative, the EDI Matching Fund aims to address further the underrepresented sectors of our multicultural society to unlock the future potential of these aspiring musicians.

From the 2020/2021 academic year, the RCM is also offering a minimum of two tuition fee bursaries per year to students from the most underrepresented sectors in Higher Education in the UK. Donations at every level to EDI Scholarships and Bursaries will have a tangible impact on students, making twice the difference because of this generous matching fund opportunity.

A record £131,594 was raised in the 2020 Big Give Christmas Challenge, thanks to the generosity of 142 donors and the Reed Foundation’s matching gift. This helped us to support even more talented young musicians during a difficult year.

This year, conductor Nicolò Foron (Dangoor Scholar supported by the Reintamm Award) won the International Conducting Competition Jeunesses Musicales Bucharest 2021; and First Prizes were also won by Marianne Huang Yueyin (William Mealings Scholar) in the Hong Kong Pacific Piano Open Competition 2020, and by Victor Maslov (Carne Trust Junior Fellow supported by the Ruth West Scholarship) at the AntwerPiano International Piano Competition 2020.

Soprano Ava Dodd (Karaviotis Scholar) was awarded First Prize in the International Grand Prix of Romania, while mezzo-soprano Annabel Kennedy (Monika Saunders Award Holder) and baritone Edward Jowle (Janet & Michael Levesley Scholar) won First and Second Prizes, respectively, at the AESS Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition. And composer Fei Yang Wong (Robert Anderson Award Holder) was commissioned for a total of 14 new pieces between December 2020 and March 2021 for performance at the biennial Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation.

Opposite Conductor Nicolò Foron (Dangoor Scholar supported by the Reintamm Award) leading an RCM rehearsal

WIDENING ACCESS: RCM JUNIOR DEPARTMENT

Over the past year we have offered a highly successful blended learning programme, combining weekly digital vocal, chamber choir and musicianship classes with socially distanced chamber activities every three weeks. We have delivered over 1,400 one-to-one instrumental, chamber and musicianship classes every Saturday.

Our digital orchestra programme allowed students to work in sections on key orchestral repertoire with our specialist orchestra tutors, and we hosted a popular weekly online performance platform so that students could continue to develop their performance skills, with parents and loved ones joining via Zoom.

Entrance to RCMJD is highly competitive by audition, and in 2020/2021 over £200,000 of bursary support was accessed by families where there was the most need.

The RCMJD has a significant role to play in supporting and nurturing the musical potential of the next generation of students from a diverse range of backgrounds. We have formed partnerships with other organisations who share the same commitment to addressing the lack of diversity in music education such as The Nucleo Project, the London Music Fund and Future Talent.

Our highly successful RCMJD Sparks Juniors programme continues to offer ten free places for 5- to 8-year-old children and their parents to engage with formal learning on our fully funded three-year course.

Many students have taken part in creative digital projects, and our Chamber Choir and Parry Voices produced two beautiful recordings. Our year ended with a fantastic live concert at the Royal Albert Hall, including a superb chamber orchestra performance directed from the violin by RCMJD student Betania Johnny, the current leader of the National Youth Orchestra.

The RCMJD concert at the Royal Albert Hall was a highlight of my musical career so far. I am so grateful to everyone at the RCMJD for teaching me so much throughout lockdown and for inspiring

Betania Johnny, Junior Department student violinist

Opposite Students performing in the Junior Department end-of-year concert at the Royal Albert Hall

The RCM Junior Department (RCMJD) offers the highest level of training to young musicians aged 5 to 18, with one-to-one instrument, voice and composition tuition supported by chamber music, orchestra, choir and musicianship sessions.

me to continue my studies at senior RCM as an undergraduate.

WIDENING ACCESS: RCM SPARKS

RCM Sparks, our accessible learning and participation programme, provides the benefits of music education to young people in schools and the local community where they are needed most.

The RCM Sparks programme is supported by RCM students and graduates, 120 of whom received training this year. Workshops offer inspirational learning experiences to all, regardless of financial means, with free or subsidised places available to children and families who are eligible for pupil premium, looked-after children (and their families), Black, Asian and minority ethnic children or young people and their families, children who live in social housing, families eligible for housing benefit and/or working or family tax credit, families or individuals eligible for disability benefit, service families, families from Gypsy, Romany and Traveller communities, Young Carers and their families, and refugee families or families with migrant status.

The College showed its commitment to widening participation by moving its activities online this year and continuing its work to support hard-to-reach families and schools. RCM Sparks continues to work closely with the Tri-Borough Music Hub, bringing musical activities to schools and families in Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea.

The launch of a digital toolkit meant that schools could download classroom resources and teacher training, including digital composition workshops for secondary schools and listening journeys for primary-aged children delivered via Zoom, while families could also access practical activities for their children.

Mini Sparks offered video song bundles online, and the popular Get, Set, Play course continued digitally, with weekly workshops streamed into families’ homes in some of the most deprived areas in the Tri-Borough. Participants also had instrument packs delivered to their homes.

Meanwhile, Sparks Juniors children and families attended weekly live workshops and an end-of-term celebration hosted on Zoom, with in-person courses resuming in the College from July.

Opposite An RCM student working with participants at an RCM Sparks Explorers course

I am utterly non-musical, so to see my son thrive and enjoy the music environment, one that I could never introduce to him, was something very special for both of us. I saw him communicate in a way he has not done before which was fantastic.

Parent of an RCM Sparks participant

INVESTING IN OUR FACILITIES

The £40 million More Music: Reimagining the Royal College of Music Campaign building development was completed in March 2020 within budget, and offers students, staff and visitors dynamic new spaces and cutting-edge facilities.

The Performance Hall, the Performance Studio and The Cotes-Burgan Atrium were opened for use by students and staff in April 2021. Socially distanced audiences were welcomed into the venues in the Autumn Term.

The state-of-the-art performance spaces feature newly integrated technology which has allowed us to safely adapt our teaching and learning facilities, deliver high-quality online tuition and programme a diverse repertoire of digital performances. We have also started to offer our new venues for hire, and the capacity to support live-streaming with quality audio and video is now in high demand.

The Wolfson Centre in Music and Material Culture was completed in May 2021. It provides space for storage, research and small-class teaching as well as a new conservation workshop. It forms part of the College’s strategy to widen access to its extraordinary archive collections.

The interactive Royal College of Music Museum provides another performance space for students, and will also house temporary exhibitions. The Weston Discovery Centre attached to it is fitted out and ready to welcome families and schools for hands-on musical activities and workshops. Visitors can also contemplate the wonders of the Museum panoramically from The Urs Reist Learning Space.

The new café and The Cotes-Burgan Atrium with its spiral staircase make for such a bright, open space for everyone to socialise. The new Performance Hall is such an intimate performance space for music making, and the beautiful Fazioli piano makes the space so inspiring and attractive.

Sophia Lim, third-year undergraduate

Opposite Guest artist David McCallum leading a trumpet class in the Performance Hall

LEGACIES

Legacy gifts form the bedrock of our fundraising. Whether large or small, they have the power to transform the lives of young musicians and the opportunities we can offer them. Contributing on average over a third of our charitable income, they consistently underpin our important work, even in challenging times, and give us the confidence to plan ahead with the ambition to match our world-class status.

Our valued family of legacy pledgers grew again this year, and we now have 170 members of the RCM Legacy Ensemble. Our pledgers are a mixed group of supporters, including RCM Friends, alumni, staff, Council members, major donors, audience members and music lovers. We are so grateful to everyone who has left or pledged a gift in their Will, helping to secure the future of music for the next generation.

Many people have chosen to direct their gift to a named scholarship as part of the RCM Scholarships Fund, with some bequests endowed so the scholarship can be awarded in perpetuity. Over a third of our scholars are being supported through gifts in Wills. We also have 35 scholarships that have been donated to honour the memory of loved ones.

Other supporters decide to leave fine instruments to the RCM’s collection, enabling students to be loaned a superior instrument for the duration of their studies which helps unlock their full potential. A quarter of the instruments in our string collection are legacy gifts.

This year we received £1.34 million in legacy income – a significant amount, which included a bequest of over £889,000 from the estate of Nancy Wolfers, a great music lover, towards the RCM Scholarships Fund.

Over a third of the More Music building development was funded through gifts in Wills, and we are delighted that so many of our new named spaces recognise the generous support of our valued legators, including the stunning Cotes-Burgan Atrium.

Opposite

The impressive spiral staircase in The Cotes-Burgan Atrium

In terms of [my mother and step-father’s] legacy the RCM has proved a worthy recipient. From our first conversations... all the RCM staff have been so kind. Your generous invitations to my mother gave her such joy in her twilight years and your continuing to keep us involved has been very much appreciated.

James Douglass, son of Celia (née Coates) and Frederick Burgan in a letter to Professor Colin Lawson

OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS

Music can make positive changes and transform lives, now more than ever. We remain strong in the face of the ongoing global crisis, ready to adapt to the changes necessary to secure the future of music through reinvigoration. Our continued success depends on your support.

Thanks to generous philanthropic support, the Royal College of Music has raised over £22 million towards our More Music building development (as of July 2021). Our students enjoy our new facilities, and we welcomed audiences of supporters and friends from autumn 2021. Reaching our £25 million target for the building development remains a priority. However, due to the impact of the global pandemic, we are balancing this with support of the core activities that are essential to preserving our world-class teaching, research and outreach work.

This year the RCM received many significant donations to help us secure the future of music. We wish to recognise Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, Community Jameel International, the Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Trust, The Leverhulme Trust, The Victor and Lilian Hochhauser Foundation and the Wolfson Foundation in particular. We also wish to thank all our leadership volunteers and loyal supporters who have helped make the Campaign a success. We were delighted to welcome former Council Member and longstanding supporter Andrew Haigh as a new member of our More Music Campaign Committee.

We have been moved by the incredible generosity of our wider RCM family, who have come together to help us raise over £270,000 from two virtual galas over the past year. These gifts will enable our students to receive world-leading tutelage at the RCM whilst enjoying an extensive and diverse performance programme.

Our work changes lives – through performance, research, community initiatives and global collaboration.

For those who believe, as we do, that music will play a vital role in our collective recovery, we hope you will help us achieve our ambitious goals during this final phase of the More Music Campaign. From becoming an RCM Friend, through to leaving a gift in your Will, every contribution truly makes a tremendous difference.

There has never been a more critical time to join the RCM family. Thank you for your continued support.

Lily Harriss HonRCM Director of Development & Alumni Engagement

Opposite

An RCM student using the new café facilities, with The 1851 Courtyard visible in the background

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS

Music has the power to transform lives. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, generations of gifted students from around the world have been nurtured and trained at the Royal College of Music.

We would like to thank all those listed below, as well as those who wish to remain anonymous, who have made donations of £1,000 or more between 1 August 2020 and 31 July 2021.

We would also like to thank those who have pledged a gift to the RCM in their Will. The RCM Legacy Ensemble was launched in 2019 to acknowledge the generosity of those who pledge a gift to the RCM in their Will and to celebrate the life-changing impact of the bequests we receive.

MORE MUSIC FOUNDING PATRONS

The Estate of George Frederick Burgan

The Estate of Basil Coleman

The Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Trust

The Estate of Christopher Hogwood CBE HonDMus

Kingdom Music Education Group

Sandro & Rena Lavery HonRCM

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Geoffrey Richards HonRCM & Valerie Richards

The Estate of Neville Wathen

Ruth West HonRCM & the late Dr Michael West Garfield Weston Foundation

LEADERSHIP SUPPORTERS

Jane Barker CBE FRCM

Andrea Bocelli Foundation

The Derek Butler Trust

Philip Carne MBE HonRCM & Christine Carne Meredith & Denis Coleman

Colt Clavier Collection Trust

The Estate of Thomas Cottrell

The Estate of John & Marjorie Coultate

The Estate of Jocelyn Cruft

The Estate of Margaret Dewey

The Foyle Foundation

The Estate of Albert Frost

G & K Boyes Charitable Trust

The Harry & Gylla Godwin Charitable Trust

The Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust

HEFCE

Linda Hill HonRCM & Tony Hill

Their Serene Highnesses Prince Donatus & Princess Heidi von Hohenzollern

Sara Nelson Horner

Community Jameel

Kirby Laing Foundation

The Leverhulme Trust

The Countess of Lichfield

The Linbury Trust

Philip Loubser Foundation

The Estate of William Mealings

The Mirfield Trust

The Polonsky Foundation

Pureland Foundation

The Julia & Hans Rausing Trust

The Reed Foundation & The Big Give Christmas Challenge

The Estate of Michael Rimmer

Victoria, Lady Robey OBE HonRCM

The Estate of Emma Rose

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

Dasha Shenkman OBE HonRCM

The Estate of Nancy Ann Wolfers

The Wolfson Foundation

PRINCIPAL SUPPORTERS

Amaryllis Fleming Foundation

Blüthner Pianos

The Estate of Heather Curry Peter & Annette Dart

The Drapers' Company

The Fishmongers' Company

Martin Fraenkel

J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust

The Harbour Foundation

The Headley Trust

Jules Hess & the late Tony Hess JMC

John Lewis Partnership

The Estate of Sir Neville Marriner FRCM

Rosemary Millar HonRCM & Richard Millar

John Nickson & Simon Rew

The Estate of Sheila & Christine Partridge

Pro Musica Ltd

The Estate of Charles Stewart Richardson

Leopold de Rothschild 1959 Charitable Trust

The Estate of Humphrey Searle CBE FRCM

The Peter Sowerby Foundation

The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation UK

The Estate of Ivor Charles Treby

The Estate of Gweneth Urquhart

Van Cleef & Arpels

Vaseppi Trust

Sir Siegmund Warburg's Voluntary Settlement

Bob & Sarah Wigley

Henry Wood Accommodation Trust

MAJOR SUPPORTERS

C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG

The Victor Dahdaleh Foundation

The Estate of Enid Faithfull

The Estate of Audrey Goodfellow

The Estate of Alan & Sylvia Hammond

The Estate of Freda Betty Koganovitch

The Mills Williams Foundation

Michael & Dorothy Needley

Kathleen Beryl Sleigh Charitable Trust

The Steel Charitable Trust

The Estate of Una Warnes FRCM

The Worshipful Company of Musicians Suha Yusuf Charitable Trust

SUPPORTERS

Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Fund

The Robert Anderson Trust

Ashley Family Foundation

Dr Linda Beeley

The Maria Björnson Memorial Fund

Ian Boag

The John Booth Charitable Foundation Claus & Anne Budelmann

Catherine Clarke

Noël Coward Foundation

Lord & Lady Davies of Abersoch

Diane Davies

Douglas Downie & Kyra von Schottenstein

The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

The Gilbert & Eileen Edgar Foundation

The Exilarch's Foundation

Lesley Ferguson

The Kathleen Hannay Memorial Charity

The Honourable Society of the Knights of the Round Table

The Houston Family

The Innholders’ Charitable Foundation

Kay Huffner

Sir George Iacobescu CBE & Lady Iacobescu David James Richard & Susan Jarvis Karaviotis Foundation

Ivan Katzen

Ruth Keattch

David & Mary Laing

James & Margaret Lancaster

Lee Abbey London

The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust

Dr Mark Levesley & Christina Hoseason

Professor Pat Kendall-Taylor

James & Clare Kirkman

Professor Colin Lawson CBE FRCM

LGT Group Foundation

LIBER Foundation

Lord & Lady Lurgan Trust

The Hon Richard Lyttelton & Romilly Lyttelton

The Helen Rachael Mackaness Charitable Trust Mark Messenger FRCM

Jamie Milford

The Howard & Abby Milstein Foundation

Opperby Stokowski Collection Trust

P F Charitable Trust

The Charles Peel Charitable Trust

The Stanley Picker Charitable Trust

Sarah Pritchard

Russell Race

Mark Redman

John & Jenny Reid

Sir Simon & Lady Robertson

Roland Saam

Hilda Scarth

The Rudge Shipley Charitable Trust

The Estate of Richard Silver

Alethea Siow & Jeremy Furniss

Peter & Dimity Spiller

South Square Trust

Steinway & Sons

Betty Sutherland

Doreen Tabor MBE

Tait Memorial Trust

Ian & Meriel Tegner

Mrs Lynette Tiong

The Robert Turnbull Piano Foundation

Rhoddy Voremberg

Anne Wadsworth OBE & Brian Wadsworth

Sir Peter & Lady Walters

The Estate of John Ward

Garry Watts MBE & Carolyn Ward

Josef Weinberger Ltd

The Wyseliot Charitable Trust

CORE CONTRIBUTORS

The Abinger Hammer Award

Robert Anderson

The Astor Foundation

Sarah & Stephen Baxter

John & Halina Bennett

Stephan & Nilufer Von Bismarck

Lord Black & Mark Bolland

The Bliss Trust

Gary & Eleanor Brass

Peter Brooks

The Brooks Van Der Pump Charitable Trust

Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM & Lady Cleaver

The Estate of Roselyn Ann Clifton Parker

Cockayne - Grants for the Arts and the London

Community Foundation

Gordon & Penny Cooper

The Estate of Margaret L Cooper

Serena Croxson, family & friends in memory of Leng Croxson

Jonathan Del Mar

The Ann Driver Trust

Dr Ian & Janet Edmondson

Baroness Fleet CBE

Douglas & Adele Gardner

Lady Gibbs

Gilbert Ash

Irina Gofman

Peter Granger

Richard Hamilton

Peter & Cynthia Hardy

Lily Harriss HonRCM & Julian Harriss

Greta Hemus

The Derek Hill Foundation

The Victor & Lilian Hochhauser Foundation

Herbert Howells Trust

Clare Hyland

Il Circolo

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

David & Sue Lewis

John & Jackie Lower

Richard Mansell-Jones

The Mercers’ Company

David Mildon

Ellen Moloney

Music Talks

Richard & Rosemary Nelson

Ofenheim Charitable Trust

Keith O'Nions

Gordon Palmer Charitable Trust

Kathrine Palmer

Linda Perez Pilgrim Trust

PRS for Music Foundation

Richard Price FRCM & Sue Price

Catherine Quinn

Christopher & Anne Saul

Lou Slater

The Tamir-Sternberg Foundation

Peter Storrs Trust

Sudborough Foundation

Janis Susskind OBE HonRCM

Dylan Szymanski

Thriplow Charitable Trust

The Thistle Trust

Louisa Treger

The Wall Trust

The William Walton & La Mortella Trust

Jill & Michael Westwood

James Williams

Quentin & Sarah Williams

Catherine Wilson

Yip Wing-Sie

Professor Lord Winston & Lady Winston Moira Witty

The Worshipful Company of Cutlers

The Worshipful Company of Saddlers

RCM LEGACY ENSEMBLE

Dr Emma Adlard

Robert C Andrews

Brian Barker

Jane Barker CBE FRCM

Elizabeth Bates

Lady Eve Bergman

Lord Black of Brentwood & Mark Bolland

Elizabeth Blackman

Brenda Bunyan

Valerie Byrom-Taylor

Sir Roger & Lady Carr HonRCM

Chris Christodoulou HonRCM

Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM

Professor Colin Cree

Katia de Peyer

Paul Duffy Marion Dyer

John East

Pete Fozard

Audrey Fryer

Lady Victoria Harrison

Lily Harriss HonRCM & Julian Harriss

Michael Hodges

Poppy Holden

Susan Holland

David Holohan

Catherine James Edwards

Michael Kadwell

Ivan Katzen

Bryan Kelly

Professor Pat Kendall-Taylor

Nicholas King FRCM

Matthew Knight Noel Lamont

Professor Colin Lawson CBE FRCM

John Lawson

Kenneth & Daphne Midwood

Madeleine Mitchell FRSA MMus GRSM ARCM Ellen Moloney

Avril Nelson GRSM ARCM & Graham

Fearnhead

Grant Newman & Neville McDonough

John Nickson & Simon Rew

Humphrey Norrington OBE FRCM

Terry & Valerie Osborne

Sue Pudifoot-Stephens

Dame Janet Ritterman DBE HonDMus

Victoria, Lady Robey OBE HonRCM

Hilda Scarth

Kyra von Schottenstein

William & Valerie Shackel

Barbara Simmonds

Stephen Stuart-Smith

Susan Sturrock HonRCM

Robert Sutherland

Frances Tait

Patricia & Kevin Thompson

Timothy Wilcox

FINANCES

In 2020/2021, the Royal College of Music made a surplus for the year of £8.7 million. After adjusting to remove the impact of gains and losses and of changes to pension provisions, the underlying surplus was £1.8 million. In the previous year there was a small underlying deficit of £0.1 million.

2020/21 £m 2019/20 £m

Reported surplus (deficit) for the year 8.7 (1.2)

Remove gains/(losses) on investments and disposals (6.6) 2.8

Remove changes to pension provisions (0.3) (1.7)

Underlying surplus (deficit) before gains and losses 1.8 (0.1)

COUNCIL AND DIRECTORATE

Patron

Her Majesty The Queen

President

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales

KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, PC, ADC

Vice-Presidents

The Most Revd and Rt Hon the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury

The Most Revd and Rt Hon the Lord Archbishop of York

The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor of London

Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM

Lady Middleton FRCM

Mr Humphrey Norrington OBE FRCM

Dame Janet Ritterman DBE HonDMus

Sir Ian Stoutzker CBE FRCM

Professor Lord Winston of Hammersmith FRCM

Council independent members

The President

Lord Black of Brentwood (Chairman)

Mrs Jane Barker CBE FRCM (Deputy Chairman)

Ms Catherine Clarke

Mr Peter Dart

Baroness Fleet CBE

Mr Douglas Gardner

Mr Andrew Haigh

Sir George Iacobescu CBE

Ms Ruth Keattch

Mr John Nickson

Mr Jamie Njoku-Goodwin

Mr Andrew Ratcliffe

Mr Geoffrey Richards HonRCM

Mr Rhoderick Voremberg

Sir Guy Weston HonRCM

Mr James Williams

Council ex-officio and elected members

Professor Colin Lawson CBE FRCM (Director)

Mr Kevin Porter HonRCM (Deputy Director)

Professor Vanessa Latarche FRCM

Mr William Mival FRCM

Ms Elly Taylor HonRCM

Mr Joel Wilson (Students’ Union President)

Clerk to the Council

Mrs Charlotte Martin HonRCM

Directorate Director Professor Colin Lawson CBE, FRCM (Chair)

Deputy Director Mr Kevin Porter HonRCM (Deputy Chair)

Artistic Director Mr Stephen Johns FRCM

Director of Communications Ms Talia Hull HonRCM

Director of Development and Alumni Engagement

Ms Lily Harriss HonRCM

Director of Estates Ms Aida Berhamovic

Director of Finance Ms Rachel Harris

Director of Programmes Dr Diana Salazar

Photo credits: Mark Allan: Page 8 Sheila Burnett: Page 28

Chris Christodoulou: Pages 6, 7, 10, 22, 24, 26, 30, 36, 44

Adam Ferguson: Pages 5, 10, 20, 38-39

Phil Rowley: Pages 4, 12, 14, 16, 32, 34, 42

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Royal College of Music