UPBEAT SUMMER 2019 THE LATEST NEWS FROM INSIDE THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC
IN THIS ISSUE COVER: VIRTUAL CONSERVATOIRE’S PRODUCTION OF OTIS AND EUNICE SKYNOTE: AN EXPERT AI TEACHER HELP US MAKE AN ENTRANCE
HIGHLIGHTS
ROBINSON CRUSOE
This spring the RCM Opera Studio marked the 200th birthday of Jacques Offenbach with a performance of his immensely fun operetta, Robinson Crusoe.
Cover/inside front cover photos: Chris Christodoulou
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This issue we pay homage to the RCM’s significant history, while also looking ahead to some of the exciting plans the College has for the future.
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NEWS
The latest news and activities from the Royal College of Music
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
RCM Front of House Manager Mark Traves
On pages 10–11, we celebrate a landmark moment in our More Music Campaign as work begins on the transformation of our historic Entrance Hall. Upbeat traces the fascinating history of this important part of our campus, and reveals why the redesigned space will herald a new chapter for the RCM.
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On page 9, RCM Front of House Manager Mark Traves shares some of his most entertaining highlights from the last decade, which include serving cold tea to HRH The Prince of Wales and tempting Shirley Bassey with a chocolate chip cookie.
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Looking very much to the future, we find out more about a new piece of artificial intelligence designed by researchers at the Centre for Performance Science. SkyNote promises to help violinists acquire skills more efficiently. Read all about this innovative piece of technology, and what machine learning can do for RCM students, on pages 12–13. You can tell us about your own recent projects and achievements by emailing news@rcm.ac.uk. The deadline for the autumn issue of Upbeat is Monday 23 September 2019.
CONTENTS
WELCOME TO UPBEAT
HELP US MAKE AN ENTRANCE
Join us as we celebrate a new chapter in RCM history
SKYNOTE: AN EXPERT AI TEACHER
Discover what artificial intelligence can do for violinists
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SUPPORT US
STUDENT UPDATES
Professor Colin Lawson CBE FRCM, Director
STAFF UPDATES
ALUMNI UPDATES
UPBEAT ONLINE
IN MEMORY
Upbeat is available to read online at www.rcm.ac.uk/upbeat. Please help us to reduce our carbon footprint by receiving Upbeat digitally. Update your preferences via updateyourdetails@rcm.ac.uk Director of Communications Talia Hull Editor Kathryn Lamont Designer May Yan Man Design www.splashofpaint.com Contact news@rcm.ac.uk
UPBEAT SUMMER 2019
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NEWS
IN THE NEWS Right His Royal Highness visits the new building development
RCM TOPS LEAGUE TABLE FOR FOURTH YEAR RUNNING
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he Royal College of Music has been named the top institution for performing arts in the United Kingdom for the fourth year running in the 2019 QS World University Rankings. Research activities, graduate employability and academic reputation were all focus areas, with 15,000 published entries processed from 1,222 institutions. Votes were taken from academics and employers and research output and impact were analysed. The RCM was also named top UK conservatoire for music in the Complete University Guide Arts, Drama and Music League Table 2020. Ten criteria were used to evaluate the entries, with the RCM performing particularly well in graduate prospects and student satisfaction. This success follows the RCM’s ranking as top UK conservatoire for music in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019 and top music conservatoire for overall student satisfaction in the latest National Student Survey, according to the Times Higher Education.
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AN EXTRA SPECIAL PRESIDENT’S VISIT
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he annual President’s Visit is always a significant occasion, but this March His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales had the opportunity to witness the physical transformation taking place at the heart of the Royal College of Music. Entering the space that will become the new 150-seat Performance Hall, he was greeted by a performance from RCM musicians, including Professor Colin Lawson. His Royal Highness stood with Chairman Lord Black of Brentwood as RCM musicians performed Haydn’s March for the Prince of Wales. As well as touring the new building development, The Prince of Wales conferred honours on some leading names in music during a ceremony held in the Blomfield Building. RCM Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin Maxim Vengerov was among those honoured. During the ceremony, The Prince of Wales heard performances from several RCM musicians: soprano and President’s Award winner Julieth Lozano Rolong, flautist Sirius Chau Kei Lok and violinist Emily Sun, both Tagore Gold Medal recipients, and pianist Martin James Bartlett, who was awarded the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Rosebowl.
SOUTH KENSINGTON RCM PARTNERS WITH CELEBRATES ROYAL TIDO MUSIC BICENTENARY WITH Royal College of Music has partnered ALL THINGS BRASS T The with innovative music learning app Tido
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ast month 20 iconic South Kensington landmarks opened their doors and took to the streets for two days of free science, arts and culture events. On 29 and 30 June, the Great Exhibition Road Festival saw the Royal College of Music join forces with 19 other leading London cultural venues in a special celebration to mark the bicentenary of the births of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The festival brought together talent from the RCM, Imperial College London, the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, the Science Museum and others. As part of the festivities, the RCM joined forces with Historic Royal Palaces to mark the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth at Kensington Palace. Brass Revolution! featured a series of performances and workshops specially tailored to entertain and educate guests of every age group, as well as a special collaborative performance from the Prince Regent’s Band and modern funk players.
Below Jacky Xiaoyu Zhang at the III Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition
Music to offer a free one-year subscription to all RCM students. Available as an iPad app or via desktop browser, Tido Music provides almost 10,000 piano and vocal scores from world-leading publishers, including Urtext editions from Bärenreiter and Edition Peters. Throughout the course of their free subscription, students will be able to use Tido Music to support their studies by accessing repertoire instantly and listening to professional audio recordings synced to the notation. Piano accompaniment recordings are included with vocal repertoire, enabling singers to practise any time, and innovative pitch-shift and speedshift tools allow accompaniment parts to be adjusted for individual needs. Tido technology means the app can also follow pianists as they play, turning the pages of the score automatically.
RCM JUNIOR DEPARTMENT PIANIST TRIUMPHS IN MOSCOW RCM Junior Department pianist Jacky Xiaoyu Zhang has been named joint winner of the III Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition alongside Ryan Martin Bradshaw. Ten-year-old Jacky was the youngest finalist and delivered an impressive performance of Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no 2 in G minor op 22 at the Moscow International House of Music. Professor Vanessa Latarche, Head of Keyboard & Associate Director for Partnerships in China, was part of an international jury that included RCM alumnus Alexander Romanovsky, the competition’s Artistic Director, and celebrated Russian pianist Vladimir Ovchinnikov. The prize for first place included the opportunity to participate in a concert with the Moscow City Symphony – Russian Philharmonic. During the gala concert Jacky also shared the stage with renowned conductor and violinist Vladimir Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia.
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NEWS
RCM LIBRARY HONOURED WITH EXCELLENCE AWARD Opposite Virtual Conservatoire’s Otis and Eunice Below The Royal Gala at Windsor Castle
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he RCM Library has received an IAML Excellence Award for Music Libraries. The award was presented by the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres at a ceremony at College Court, Leicester in April. The Excellence Awards are given to a library that has demonstrated sustained good work, good practice with the potential to be adopted and adapted by others, and innovation of lasting value. Adjudicators commended the RCM Library’s ‘amazingly rich physical and online collection supported by highly knowledgeable and experienced staff.’ The citation also highlighted the effective use of the RCM collections to enhance the student experience in academic programming. RCM Librarian Peter Linnitt commented: ‘Following our incredible NSS result last year, it is wonderful that our work in the RCM Library has been acknowledged by our peers across music libraries in the UK and Ireland.’
RCM MUSICIANS LEAD CREATIVE NURSERY SCHOOL WORKSHOPS
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CM second-year undergraduate students have led four workshops in two London nursery schools, in a new initiative that forms part of their academic studies. The students worked with early years children in the Dorothy Gardner Centre and Portman Early Childhood Centre in March. They devised the workshops around two storybooks, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Where the Wild Things Are, and prepared a short performance for the nursery children and staff. The students gained experience in working with playful, improvisatory approaches tailored for small children, and learned how to rely on sign, gesture, sound and movement – with limited explanations – as the principal methods of teaching music. Jessica Pitt, Lecturer in Music Education, commented: ‘I am new to the RCM and as I specialise in early childhood music education, I wanted my students to experience working with the youngest children. As the curriculum is play-based in early years, I had them working in quite playful, improvisatory ways.’
MORE MUSIC ACHIEVEMENTS CELEBRATED AT ROYAL GALA On Thursday 16 May 2019, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales hosted a special gala concert at Windsor Castle. The concert showcased some of the RCM’s most acclaimed alumni, including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Sarah Connolly and conductor John Wilson, performing alongside Maxim Vengerov, Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin, and the RCM Chamber Orchestra. The evening included a performance of Haydn’s Overture to an English Opera ‘Windsor Castle’ and saw RCM Director, Professor Colin Lawson, accompanying Dame Sarah Connolly on the basset horn. The event was also an opportunity to celebrate the achievements so far of the More Music: Reimagining the Royal College of Music Campaign. Work for the More Music building development is well underway and of the £25 million target for the construction element of the Campaign, over £20 million has been raised so far.
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TWO CITIES, SIMULTANEOUS PERFORMANCES
RCM WELCOMES LONDON CANADA’S NAC FAMILIES GET, SET ORCHESTRA AND PLAY
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The RCM and NAC Orchestra were joined by members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and Brent Youth Concert Band & String Chamber Orchestra for a special event called ConneXXions 2019. Live-streaming to Canada in real time, the London ensembles were joined by OrKidstra from Ottawa, Canada, making music together simultaneously across continents. RCM violinist Esther Abrami and acclaimed trumpet soloist Alison Balsom OBE also gave performances.
The ‘Get, Set, Play’ programme explored music from the Groove n’ Play series, devised to develop children’s musical knowledge and skills, and concluded with a live band performance in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall. Families were invited to continue with the programme during the summer term and, in the new academic year, children will be offered specially subsidised music lessons at the Triborough Music Hub’s Saturday Centre.
imultaneous performances of Otis and Eunice were delivered to audiences at both the Royal College of Music and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in March – the culmination of a four-year project dedicated to redefining the boundaries of conservatoire training. Otis and Eunice was the product of an ambitious collaboration between Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Central School of Ballet, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Royal Academy of Music (RAM) and the RCM. Created by Sharon Clark, the production presented a modern retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice. It was performed as two different standalone shows which were linked through dual narratives. During transmission scenes, audiences in each venue were able to see the partner narrative unfold onscreen, through a series of live highdefinition video links using Low Latency (LOLA) technology.
n May the Royal College of Music hosted a series of workshops and concerts in collaboration with the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra from Canada, embarking on a partnership to enable further collaborative events in the future.
his spring, RCM alumna Pip Bryan and a team of musicians from the Royal College of Music and the Royal Albert Hall’s outreach and education ensemble, Albert’s Band, joined forces to teach families from Pimlico and North Kensington accessible instruments such as percussion and ukulele.
The RPO has been working in partnership with Brent Music Service to create a new composition with RCM Sparks young musicians, RPO musicians and the Brent Youth Concert Band, which had its world premiere at the ConneXXions concert.
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NEWS Below CONVO premieres at the Royal Albert Hall
WORLD PREMIERE UNITES YOUNG MUSICIANS AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
RCM MUSEUM TEACHER AMBASSADOR PROGRAMME
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he world premiere of CONVO took place at the Royal Albert Hall on 7 March, performed by 120 young musicians and a massed chorus of 900 primary, secondary and SEND (special educational needs and disability) school pupils and conducted by Ben Palmer and RCM alumnus Matthew Hardy. The ambitious new work, composed by RCM alumna Charlotte Harding, explored the evolution of music and communication through the ages. Commissioned by strategic partners from Tri-borough Music hub, Royal Albert Hall and the RCM, the performance marked the culmination of a two-year project to embed music within school life for all local pupils, irrespective of background. During the year one research and development phase of CONVO, Charlotte, supported by teams of RCM students from the RCM Sparks programme, led a series of school and Triborough Music hub ensemble workshops in order to gather pupils’ input into the large-scale new composition. In year two, RCM Sparks student mentors provided weekly support to the Tri-borough Youth Orchestra rehearsals. It is hoped that CONVO will inspire a generation of pupils and their families to continue to engage with music, to explore creative ideas for communicating and provide inspiration for many more people.
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he RCM Museum successfully ran 13 outreach workshops in March as part of its Teacher Ambassador programme. Working with a team of seven RCM students, museum staff engaged with a total of 263 children aged between 2 and 14 years old. The RCM Museum Teacher Ambassador programme uses the RCM’s heritage collections as a springboard for creativity and inspiration in schools. Dialogue between the RCM Museum and professionals from the teaching sector is designed to enhance the understanding of how the collections can be used to support different strands of the national curriculum. This year, five ambassadors were recruited for the programme: two early years foundation stage (EYFS) teachers, two primary school teachers and one special educational needs and disability (SEND) teacher. During a learning day at the RCM in November 2018, ambassadors had the opportunity to get handson with some objects from the RCM collections and discuss the benefits of using them as a teaching resource. This discussion led to the creation of five new teaching sessions which were then piloted in the March workshops. The new sessions, which aim to support or expand a part of the current national curriculum, will now be integrated into the RCM Museum’s future learning programme, to be rolled out when the museum moves into its new home in 2020.
FEATURE
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MARK TRAVES RCM Front of House Manager Mark Traves talks to Upbeat about receiving his HonRCM in leopard print and serving Prince Charles a cuppa.
Mark joined the RCM as Deputy Catering Manager in 1997 and later moved to the Facilities team. In August 2018, he became Front of House Manager. A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into this front of house position. ‘The RCM is a huge oiled machine,’ he says, ‘there is so much that the general public don’t get to see.’ Mark assigns concerts to his pool of stewards each season and, before every event, runs through a briefing, fire check and fire walk. He works closely with backstage staff too, giving them 10, 5 and 2 minute radio warnings to get the performers ready to go on. Mark Traves’ RCM highlight reel is an entertaining watch. A selection includes: serving dinner to Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya in what is now the Grove Room, watching Leopold de Rothschild’s face light up as he set down his chocolate mousse dessert, and having his photo taken with Linda Gray from Dallas -- now his screensaver. ‘Shirley Bassey once told me I was wicked for offering her chocolate chip cookies’, he continues. And then there was the time he served HRH The Prince of Wales a cold cuppa. ‘I used to give Prince Charles his tea when he visited. One year, when we were ready for him to enter the Concert Hall, I stood on the stage with his tea ready, little knowing that a student had challenged him to a game of pool in the SU. He finally arrived 20 minutes later, and I had to present him with a cold cup of tea’.
Mark’s is a customer-facing role as well, and so patience is a mandatory requirement. It can be challenging trying to get 400 people into their seats so that a performance can start on time. ‘I have had people wanting to take their bicycle into the concert because they want to be able to see it’, says Mark. ‘One customer wanted to bring her own chair into the Britten Theatre because she didn’t like velvet seats’. His passion for the job, however, is obvious, and it’s the little concert-goers he finds the most rewarding. ‘For many kids who come to an RCM Sparks event, it’s their first time in a theatre or concert hall,’ he explains. ‘Seeing their faces when they see the organ or when the lights go down in the theatre is magical, and their cheer when the performers come on is electrifying’.
Below Mark receiving his HonRCM from HRH The Prince of Wales in 2017
My shoes were leopard print and as soon as I saw them I knew they were the shoes I wanted to wear to meet the future King of England.
Of course, Mark’s fondest RCM memory is receiving his HonRCM in 2017. ‘It was one of the proudest moments of my life’, he recalls. ‘I wore a petrol blue suit with a yellow Vivienne Westwood shirt and burnt orange Vivienne Westwood silk tie. Sadly, my dad had died a few years previously, and so I wore a pair of his cufflinks. They were very 1970s: chrome, with large purple amethyst stones. My shoes were leopard print and as soon as I saw them I knew they were the shoes I wanted to wear to meet the future King of England’.
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FEATURE
HELP US MAKE AN ENTRANCE As work begins on the Entrance Hall and Foyer Hall this summer, Upbeat traces the significant history of the gateway to our South Kensington campus, and reveals how you can support this new chapter of RCM history.
Fox made two important donations to the building project totalling £45,000, singlehandedly providing for most of the cost of the new RCM. His generous contribution meant that the construction of a handsome piece of architecture was now possible, and the Exhibition Commissioners reconsidered their offer. Ultimately, it was decided that a larger site on the newly created Prince Consort Road would be a more befitting home for the Royal College of Music, and in 1888 a Building Committee was formed to oversee the project. Plans for the new campus were ambitious. A letter from the Committee to HRH The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in early 1889 decreed that the new building ‘be of a character worthy of the site’. In March that year, HRH approved the appointment of architect Sir Arthur Blomfield to oversee this historic task.
In the 1850s Prince Albert bought a plot of land just south of Hyde Park, and he planned to fill it with museums and colleges dedicated to science and the arts. His vision for ‘Albertopolis’ – or South Kensington as it is better known today – had at its heart two objectives: access and excellence. Now, some 160 years later, the More Music: Reimagining the Royal College of Music Campaign is further building upon these two ideals. Our redesigned entrance will both reflect Albert’s original Victorian vision and support the pursuit of our exciting plans for the future: widening public access to the arts while delivering excellence. The Blomfield Building entrance is steeped in history that stretches back to the the late 1880s. The Royal College of Music (RCM), newly founded in 1882, was by the end of the decade beginning to outgrow its original home in Kensington Gore. In early 1887, the Exhibition Commissioners informally offered the College a site on the west side of Exhibition Road. This might have been where the RCM sits today, had the project not gained the attention of Yorkshire industrialist Samson Fox.
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The Entrance Hall was one of the last sections to be completed. Blomfield, writing to the Committee on 8 June 1893, outlined some of the contractual provisions agreed for the space. The new RCM was to be divided into two halves with a separate entrance on each side of the general entrance for male and female pupils, as well as designated staircases and corridors. Visitors would enter the main entrance through a set of grand doors, furnished from oak to set them apart from the rest of the RCM doors, which were almost all sourced from Baltic lumber. A sum of £4 and 15 shillings was paid for ‘the name of the College and the date of its foundation in bronze letters on the frieze over the front’. The Entrance Hall was also to be distinguished by its elegant interior. Relatively little money was allocated to internal decoration in the rest of the building, but meeting minutes from December 1890 record that, having visited the new premises the previous month, Fox and Blomfield had decided upon marble fittings and an ornamental ceiling ‘at a cost not exceeding £1,000’. Importantly, Fox’s considerable contribution to the College was to be immortalised in an intricate mosaic, designed by Diespeker & Co and placed in the Entrance Hall floor.
In the foyer, the contract called for ‘an inscription in bronze letters in a conspicuous place over the foundation stone recording the facts and dates of its laying’. This stone was laid on 8 July 1890 at a ceremony attended by HRH The Prince of Wales and Princess Maud, with music provided by Fox’s Leeds Forge brass band. Almost four years later, the Blomfield Building was ready to open its doors. HRH The Prince of Wales officially opened the new building at noon on 2 May 1894. In the century that has followed, some of the most eminent musicians in modern history have crossed the RCM threshold -- Benjamin Britten, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Sarah Connolly, Gustav Holst, Joan Sutherland, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ralph Vaughan Williams, to name just a few. From the youngest members of RCM Sparks, to established industry greats, the RCM Entrance Hall has welcomed thousands of musicians who have come to study, perform, research and compose in one of the world’s greatest conservatoires. As we look forward to welcoming many more visitors, we’re asking for your help to make our entrance more robust to withstand the footfall of future generations. Our More Music: Make an Entrance Appeal will fund important building work taking place on the entrance and foyer over the summer, to be revealed at the beginning of the 2019/20 academic year.
commented on the significant role the new building will play in supporting this wider objective: ‘The Royal College of Music continues to pride itself on providing a uniquely enriching learning environment not only for its own students, but for the wider public as well. This project will raise the standard of its student and public facilities to match the excellence of its training, thereby safeguarding the succession of performers, teachers and specialists in community and outreach work.’
Below Artist’s impression of the redesigned Entrance Hall Image: BIGlolly Opposite (bottom) RCM Outer Hall pictured in 1990 Photo: Oliver Davies
When our new Prince Consort Road entrance opens this year, it will create a lasting impression. The redesigned space will reflect the warmth and friendliness of the RCM while conveying our stature as a world-leading conservatoire and arts centre, both widening access and delivering excellence for many more years to come. Every gift will help us to achieve our ambitious vision for the future of music. To find out more about our More Music: Make an Entrance Appeal please visit www.rcm.ac.uk/makeanentrance or contact the Development & Alumni Engagement team on +44 (0)20 7591 4353.
Whilst maintaining the feel of the original entrance, the new space will be opened up to feel lighter and more spacious for those on their way to create, study, listen and perform. Visitors will be greeted by an impressive porcelain-tiled foyer, housing both the new Box Office and Reception. The celebrated mosaic -- which has borne the footsteps of thousands of students, alumni, professors and visitors -- will be carefully preserved, so as to be admired for many more years to come. The redesign of the Entrance Hall and Foyer Hall not only represents a watershed moment in our More Music Campaign; it also opens an exciting chapter in our 137-year history. Our new development, with its 150-seat Performance Hall, interactive museum, collections and open courtyard, will reflect our ambitious plans for the future as we invite many more music-lovers through our doors to enjoy our yearly calendar of concerts and events. The redesigned entrance will play an important part in engaging our valued community of supporters, enriching the way visitors experience the RCM from the moment they arrive. Our President and Patron of the More Music Campaign, HRH The Prince of Wales,
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FEATURE
SKYNOTE: AN EXPERT AI TEACHER Right RCM violinist Katherine Yoon using the SkyNote system
From programs that claim to curate perfect playlists to software that composes machine-made music, artificial intelligence is gaining traction in the industry. Now, a team of researchers at the Centre for Performance Science has developed a system that promises to help violinists become better, faster. Upbeat finds out more about what machine learning can do for RCM students.
The Centre for Performance Science has some good news for violinists. A team of engineers, designers and musicians has created a new technology that helps violin students build awareness of their technique, allowing them to avoid injury and acquire skills more efficiently. The intelligent learning system, SkyNote, is one of a suite of technologies developed as part of the EU-funded Technology Enhanced Learning of Musical Instrument Performance (TELMI) project, and is the culmination of three years of collaborative research undertaken alongside Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and the University of Genoa, as well as the companies Highskillz and SAICO Intelligence. The international team worked closely to find new ways of capturing and analysing violin performance, with the aim of providing valuable real-time feedback. ‘Expert performers have
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exceptional awareness and control of their bodies and instruments, which grants them not only the great consistency of quality professional musicians achieve, but also the confidence and freedom to be spontaneous’, explains Dr George Waddell, Research Associate in Performance Science at the Royal College of Music (RCM). ‘SkyNote helps violinists develop these skills by scrutinising their playing through the eyes of an expert teacher, one attuned to the technical aspects vital to their performance.’ The first step in creating this expert AI teacher was to find innovative detection technologies that could be used to collect a range of performance data, without interfering with playing. SkyNote tracks small markers that are attached to a violin and bow in order to unobtrusively monitor specific aspects of bowing including tilt, speed, weight, contact point,
inclination, and direction. Audio, too, can be analysed: the technology can assess pitch and intonation, dynamics, tone quality and rhythm of a range of instruments. During practice, a camera records all of this data and sends it to specially developed software clever enough to spot errors in technique and provide continual feedback written to a digital score. The next challenge for the team was how best to feed this information back to the violinist in a way that would be both helpful and immediate. For this, researchers worked directly with a group of violin students and teachers, led by RCM violin professor Madeleine Mitchell, to design visualisations that would be meaningful to musicians. Together, they created customised widgets that can be displayed either on a computer screen or directly on the musical score. Importantly, this visual feedback is available both as an overall performance evaluation and in real time as the musician is playing, enabling them to swiftly correct any errors during practice. So far, SkyNote has proved to be a remarkable teacher. In fact, students have showed a twofold improvement after just 10 minutes of using the technology. And importantly, by helping students become more efficient in their practice, the new learning system may help reduce injuries, too. ‘We see this epidemic of injuries among musicians, with rates comparable to professional athletes in terms of injury that affects their ability to perform’, says George. ‘Expectations are constantly increasing, with far greater pressure on musicians to perform more difficult repertoire at a younger age. Extra pressure means more practising, which increases the risk of injury and burnout.’ By enabling musicians to quickly isolate problematic areas in their performance, SkyNote helps them correct any technical errors at an earlier stage, leading to more efficient practice and a reduced risk of injury. There’s no cause for RCM professors to worry just yet, though – we are unlikely to see artificial intelligence machines taking over the classroom any time soon. George says that SkyNote has been designed to support, rather than lead, teaching. ‘Our goal is not to replace or diminish the role of music teachers’, he continues. ‘On the contrary, we want to empower students to be able to develop and refine their own fundamental skills and technique in the practice room so that the precious time spent with their teachers can focus on the greater issues of interpretation and helping a student find their unique voice.’
SkyNote helps violinists develop skills by scrutinising their playing through the eyes of an expert teacher, one attuned to the technical aspects vital to their performance. Dr George Waddell
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SUPPORT US
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 RCM. We would like to thank in particular our More Music Founding Patrons, Leadership and Principal Supporters, legacy pledgers, as well as those who have made donations of £1,000 or more between 1 May 2018 and 1 May 2019. We also wish to thank those donors who wish to remain anonymous. Gifts are listed alphabetically in order of surname.
SUPPORTING THE FUTURE OF MUSIC From becoming an RCM Friend to leaving a gift in your Will, there are many ways you can support the Royal College of Music. For more information, please visit www.rcm.ac.uk/ support Alternatively, contact the Development team on development@rcm.ac.uk
More Music Founding Patrons ABRSM The Estate of George Frederick Burgan The Estate of Basil Coleman Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Foundation The Estate of Christopher Hogwood CBE HonDMus Kingdom Music Education Group Rena & Sandro Lavery National Lottery Heritage Fund Geoffrey Richards HonRCM & Valerie Richards The Estate of Neville Wathen Ruth West HonRCM & Dr Michael West Garfield Weston Foundation Leadership Supporters Jane Barker CBE FRCM G & K Boyes Charitable Trust The Derek Butler Trust Philip Carne MBE HonRCM & Christine Carne 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 Future of Russia Foundation The Harry and Gylla Godwin Charitable Trust HEFCE Linda Hill HonRCM & Dr Tony Hill Sara Nelson Horner
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Kirby Laing Foundation The Leverhulme Trust The Linbury Trust Philip Loubser Foundation The Estate of William Mealings The Mirfield Trust The Polonsky Foundation The Estate of Michael Rimmer Victoria, Lady Robey OBE HonRCM The Estate of Emma Rose Soirée d’Or Scholarships The Wolfson Foundation Principal Supporters C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG Meredith & Denis Coleman The Estate of Heather Curry Peter & Annette Dart Fishmongers’ Company J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust The Harbour Foundation John Lewis Partnership Rosemary Millar HonRCM & Richard Millar John Nickson & Simon Rew The Pure Land Foundation The Julia & Hans Rausing Trust Leopold de Rothschild 1959 Charitable Trust The Estate of Humphrey Searle CBE FRCM Dasha Shenkman OBE HonRCM The Peter Sowerby Foundation H R Taylor Trust The Estate of Ivor Charles Treby The Estate of Gweneth Urquhart Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement The Reed Foundation and The Big Give Christmas Challenge Bob & Sarah Wigley
The Worshipful Company of Musicians Major Supporters Laurie Barry The Alchemy Foundation The Bertarelli UK Foundation Ian Boag The Estate of Joan Bowles Brian & Janice Capstick The John Curwen Society Finsbury Amaryllis Fleming Foundation Hamish & Sophie Forsyth The Headley Trust Dolly Knowles Charitable Trust James & Margaret Lancaster LIBER Foundation Professor Christopher & Vivienne Liu The Estate of Christopher Mason The Estate of Mary Midgley The Mills Williams Foundation Michael and Dorothy Needley QuiPing Wu The Estate of Ann Richardson Alethea Siow & Jeremy Furniss Miss Kathleen Beryl Sleigh Charitable Trust Steinway & Sons Universal Music Group Vaseppi Trust Van Cleef & Arpels The Art Fund Their Serene Highnesses Prince Donatus and Princess Heidi von Hohenzollern The Henry Wood Accommodation Trust
Supporters Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Fund Lee Abbey London Ashley Family Foundation The Estate of Kenneth Atkinson BAE Systems Vivien & Peter Beckwith Dr Linda Beeley June Birch Ingbert Blüthner Lord Black & Mark Bolland The Boltini Trust Bowerman Charitable Trust The Estate of Charles Branchini Sir Roger & Lady Carr HonRCM The Estate of Ella Carstairs Noël Coward Foundation Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE Brigette Davidson The Drapers’ Company The Manny and Brigitta Davidson Charitable Foundation Bob & Susan Eagle The Gilbert & Eileen Edgar Foundation Marc Feigen Lesley Ferguson Fiona & Douglas Flint The Freakley Family Irina Gaydamak Dr Chris Gibson-Smith Elaine Greenberg & Linda Perez The Abinger Hammer Award Terry Hitchcock The Houston Family Kay Huffner Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells JMC David James Joseph & Jill Karaviotis Ruth Keattch James and Clare Kirkman The Honourable Society of the Knights of the Round Table Dr Mark Levesley & Christina Hoseason The Kenneth Loveland Gift The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation UK Lark Music The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust Carol & Geoff Lindey Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust The Hon Richard Lyttelton & Romilly Lyttelton Ian Mactaggart Trust Ronald & Rita McAulay The Mercers’ Company Sir Peter & Lady Middleton FRCM
Jamie Milford The Howard & Abby Milstein Foundation Pro Musica Ltd Professor Luigi & Elisabetta de Simone Niquesa Midori Nishiura HonRCM The Charles Peel Charitable Trust Richard Price FRCM and Sue Price Russell Race The Estate of Charles Stewart Richardson Sir Simon & Lady Robertson Alan Rubin Roland Saam Christopher & Anne Saul Hilda Scarth The South Square Trust Peter & Dimity Spiller Opperby Stokowski Collection Trust Bryan Stott Ian Stoutzker CBE FRCM Betty Sutherland Tait Memorial Trust Ian & Meriel Tegner Anthony Thornton Mrs Lynette Tiong Rhoddy Voremberg Anne Wadsworth OBE & Brian Wadsworth Sir Peter & Lady Walters Carolyn Ward Marc Wassermann and Lisa Osofsky Garry Watts MBE Richard Toeman/Weinberger Opera Scholarship Anthony Weldon FRCM & Jane Weldon Jane Wilson Professor Lord Winston & Lady Winston The Wyseliot Charitable Trust Lake Mozi Zhang Core Contributors Robert Anderson The Estate of Gillian Ashby The Estate of John Barker Mary Batten John & Halina Bennett Lady Bergman The Bliss Trust Gary & Eleanor Brass Peter Brooks Lorraine Buckland Lady Buchanan Roger Chadder HonRCM & Rosemary Chadder Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM & Lady Cleaver Andrew Curran
Jonathan & Belinda Davie Elisabeth de Kergorlay Douglas and Kyra Downie The Ann Driver Trust Dr Ian & Janet Edmondson Alyce Faye Eichelberger-Cleese The Everard Foundation Douglas & Adele Gardner Professor Alice Gast Peter Granger Edwin and Hilary Green The Derek Hill Foundation Lady Annie Harding & Sir David Walker Julian Hardwick Lily Harriss HonRCM & Julian Harriss Greta Hemus John & Susan Heywood The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation Gillian Humphreys OBE HonRCM & Peter David Clare Hyland Il Circolo Michael Jefferies ARCM in memory of Beryl May Jefferies (West) Professor Colin Lawson CBE FRCM David & Sue Lewis Lin Yi Xian Charles & Dominique Lubar Marcus McDonald Avenue Chapter of Royal Arch Freemasons
David Mildon Music Talks Ellen Moloney Peter Neal Jennifer Neelands Humphrey Norrington OBE FRCM Ofenheim Charitable Trust Gordon Palmer Charitable Trust Pilgrim Trust Kevin Porter HonRCM The Finnis Scott Foundation Sudborough Foundation Kara Radcliffe John & Jenny Reid Stuart Rose Kerry & Dimity Rubie Michael Steen Siqi Sun Janis Susskind OBE HonRCM Robert Swannell OBE Sir Richard & Lady Sykes Edmund Truell & Cédriane de Boucaud Qing Wang John Ward Sir Robert & Lady Wilson Rev Lyndon van der Pump FRCM & Edward Brooks FRCM The Wall Trust The York Competitive Festival of Singing
BECOME AN RCM FRIEND Becoming an RCM Friend is the best way to keep up with news and events taking place at the RCM, while showing your support for young musical talent. Join the RCM as a Friend today and you can enjoy a range of attractive benefits including: •
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To become a Friend, you can now sign up online by Direct Debit at www.rcm.ac.uk/support/friends from just £40 per month or contact Miriam Thiede, Alumni & Supporter Engagement Officer, on 020 7591 4353.
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STUDENT UPDATES
STUDENT UPDATES Below Tamaki Sugimoto
COMPOSITION CONGRATULATIONS
KEYBOARD ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Connor D’Netto has been selected as Composer in Residence for the 2019 Australian Festival of Chamber Music… Allan X. Chen’s Capriccioso premiered at the São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival in September, In Time was featured on the RADIA podcast in April, Watch premiered at BEAST FEaST festival in May and Semblance will be premiered in February. Allan’s interactive multimedia sound installation, The Willow Room, has also launched at the Arthill Gallery.
Xuelin Xie has won Second Prize in the Watford International Piano Competition… Lucas Krupinski has performed alongside the Odessa Philharmonic in Ukraine. In April, he toured with Südwestdetusche Philharmonie Konstanz Orchestra and gave two recitals at the Chopin Festival in Serbia… Martin James Bartlett made his Royal Albert Hall debut as part of Classic FM Live in April… Peter Regan won the Hibernian Concerto Competition and performed Prokofiev Piano Concerto no 3 with the Hibernian Orchestra in Dublin’s National Concert Hall in March… Dmitrii Kalashnikov was awarded the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise prize and the Pianiste magazine prize at the Piano Campus Festival International Competition in February… Ana Kipiani and Tamila Salimdjanova were jointly awarded both Second Prize and the Prix de la Ville de LSM at the 13th Concours International de Piano de Lagny-sur-Marne. Ana has also been awarded a Bourse de l’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris – Alfred Cortot scholarship... Rustam Khanmurzin has won Third Prize at the Clamo International Piano Competition... George Harliono and RCM Junior Department alumnus Ben Goldscheider have been announced as Youth Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) Artists 2019 and were also selected to take part in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia in June. The competition was broadcast live on Medici TV.
STRING SUCCESSES Roberto Ruisi won the Strings Final of the 67th Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in February… Helena Bartlett has been named RCM student representative for the British Viola Society… Dillon Jeffares won First Prize in Group C and the Best British Musician Special Prize at the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition… Jamal Aliyev performed on BBC’s InTune in February ahead of a concert at Wigmore Hall… Tamaki Sugimoto has been selected for the London Sinfonietta Academy… the Brompton String Quartet (Maja Horvat, Emily Turkanik, Hannah Gardiner and Wallis
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Left Konstantinos Destounis at the Music, Theatre and Dance Awards in Athens
Power) has won the 2019 St Martin’s Chamber Music Competition... Juhee Yang has been selected for a 2019 Boise Scholarship Award.
VOCAL ACCOLADES
ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC COMPETITIVE PRIZES
Tim Edlin won First Prize in the RCM Concerto Competition… Emily Sierra won First Prize, Annabel Kennedy and pianist Ana Joel Williams won Second Prize and Catriona Manastireanu won First Prize and the Hewitson won Third Prize in the Brooks-van der Accompanist Prize respectively in the AESS Pump English Song Competition. Pianist prizes Courtney Kenny Competition Final… Theodore were awarded to Rustam Khanmurzin (First Platt, Ella O’Neill and Laurence Kilsby Prize) and Ella O’Neill (Second Prize). Laurence won Second Prize, the Help Musicians UK Kilsby was awarded Best Undergraduate Accompanist’s Prize and the Junior Ferrier Performance and Joe Howson was awarded Competition Award respectively at the 2019 Best Student Pianist Performance… Yinzhi Kathleen Ferrier Awards... Michael Bell has Yuan won First Prize and the Esther Fisher been selected for a 2019 Boise Scholarship Prize for Best Undergraduate Performance Award... Charlotte Bowden has been selected in the Chappell Medal Piano Competition, as a 2019 Philip and Dorothy Green Young while Eba Arao won the Hopkinson Gold Artist and has also received a 2018 Harriet Medal and Cyril Smith Prize and Xuelin Xie Cohen Memorial Music Award... James won the Hopkinson Silver Medal and Peter Atkinson and accompanist Hamish Brown won Wallfisch Prize… District Brass won the First Prize in the Somerset Song Competition. 2019 Brass Ensemble Competition… Prince Consort Winds won the 2019 Wind Ensemble Competition… the Alkyona Quartet won the String Quartet Competition… Joe Howson won the Contemporary Competition… Ted Konstantinos Destounis was awarded the Young Black won First Prize, Ki Hyun Lee won Second Artist Prize 2018 by the Greek Drama and Prize, Tim Edlin won Third Prize and Rustam Music Critics Association, during the annual Khanmurzin won the Titanic Memoriam Prize in Music, Theatre and Dance Awards in Athens. the Lies Askonas Competition… Thomas Kelly was awarded First Prize and Victor Maslov was awarded Second Prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Prize for Piano Final.
SHARE YOUR NEWS Tell Upbeat readers about your recent successes by emailing news@rcm.ac.uk
DOCTORAL ACTIVITIES
SPARKS CELEBRATIONS
Sparks Juniors Kelsey White, Sara Saleh and Skye Langley received distinction marks in their recent viola exams and Jazmine Lachos Hernandez passed her grade 2 theory exam.
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STAFF UPDATES
STAFF UPDATES Right Bassoon professor Martin Gatt at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Below Piano professor Leon McCawley Image courtesy of Sara Porter
SHARE YOUR NEWS Tell Upbeat readers about your recent successes by emailing news@rcm.ac.uk
Piano professor and Vocal Repertoire Coach John Blakely has published a new Christian theology book, The Persuasion of Love, which explores the question of theodicy and the idea that ‘the meaning of the universe is love’. Prach Boondiskulchok, RCMJD Chamber Music Tutor, recently premiered his piece Ritus – Four Portraits for String Quartet at Wigmore Hall. The work was performed by the Endellion Quartet in their 40th anniversary concert. Academic Programmes professor Carola Darwin has been awarded an Arts Council England grant which, together with grants from the Ambache Trust and the RVW Trust, has made possible the composition and performance of a new song cycle by Cheryl Frances-Hoad. The cycle sets selected poetry from Kelley Swain’s Darwin’s Microscope and the anthology Guests of Time, and premieres at the Oxford Museum of Natural History in October. Bassoon professor Martin Gatt has spent five weeks adjudicating at the 71st Schools Music and Speech Festival at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Academic Programmes professor Ivan Hewett appeared on Andrew McGregor’s BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library in March, discussing Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor.
RCM Director Colin Lawson was the solo clarinettist alongside the Trinity Orchestra Harrow in an evening concert at Trinity Church in March. The programme included Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, Spohr’s Clarinet Concerto no 4 in E minor, and Beethoven’s Symphony no 7 in A major. Violin professors Natalia Lomeiko and Yuri Zhislin released their latest CD on Orchid Classics in June. The new album features Spanish pianist Ivan Martín and includes performances of Brahms’ Trio in E flat and Acht Stücke, as well as Schubert’s Nocturne. Piano professor Leon McCawley will be performing alumnus John Ireland’s Piano Concerto at the BBC Proms on 31 August, alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Bramwell Tovey. The concert will mark the 150th anniversary of Sir Henry Wood’s birth, and will be broadcast live on Radio 3 and televised later on BBC4. Mark Messenger, Head of Strings, led a session on the conservatoire selection and audition process at the inaugural Stradfest festival at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in March. Mark also directed a masterclass at Fundació Conservatori Liceu in Barcelona and was featured in a video interview for the conservatoire’s YouTube channel. Violin professor Madeleine Mitchell appeared on the Gramophone Podcast in March to discuss the chamber music of RCM alumna Grace Williams. Madeleine’s release of Williams’ Violin Sonata was elected as Guardian CD of the Week. Madeleine will also be giving a recital at the Three Choirs Festival in July, which will include a premiere of two pieces dedicated to her -- Robert Saxton’s Suite for Violin and Piano and James MacMillan’s Kiss on Wood – as well as works by RCM composers Howells and Gurney. Dr Rosie Perkins, Reader in Performance Science, has co-directed a think tank on Singing and Maternal Mental Health. The two-day event was based on research from the RCM-led Music and Motherhood project and has paved the way for continued integration of singing into maternal healthcare.
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Ashley Solomon, Head of Historical Performance, appeared on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune in March as part of the early music ensemble Florilegium. The live broadcast was made ahead of the group’s Wigmore Hall performance of 18th-century music from the court of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Aaron Williamon, Head of Centre for Performance Science and George Waddell, Research Associate in Performance Science, have published three academic articles on the use of technology for music learning. ‘The Evaluation Simulator: A New Approach to Training Music Performance Assessment’, which was also co-authored by Research Fellow Rosie Perkins, and ‘Automatic Assessment of Tone Quality in Violin Music Performance’ were published in Frontiers in Psychology and ‘Technology use and attitudes in learning musical instruments’ was published in Frontiers in ICT. Claire Williams, RCM Junior Fellow in Harpsichord and Continuo, performed with Musica Secreta on BBC Radio 3’s Music Matters in February.
RCM COLLABORATES ON NEW EXHIBITION EXPLORING GEORGIAN OPERATIC CULTURE A new collaborative exhibition between RCM Area Leader in History Dr Wiebke Thormählen, Boughton House and the University of Southampton will launch this summer. ‘A Passion for Opera: The Duchess and the Georgian Stage’ will open at Boughton House in August and will draw on Wiebke’s three year AHRC-funded research project, ‘Music, Home and Heritage: Sounding the Domestic in Georgian Britain’. The exhibition will shine a light on Elizabeth Montagu, 3rd Duchess of Buccleuch, and her relationship with culture. Among the pieces on display will be artefacts unearthed from family archives and from the Montagu ancestral home, Boughton House, including her annotated opera scores and musical caricatures. ‘A Passion for Opera’ will be previewed at a special event in conjunction with Oundle International Festival taking place at Boughton House on Saturday 6 July. The launch will include a special concert featuring RCM alumna Galina Averina and other Opera Prelude Young Artists. Image courtesy of The Buccleuch Collections
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ALUMNI UPDATES
ALUMNI UPDATES SHARE YOUR NEWS Tell Upbeat readers about your recent successes by emailing news@rcm.ac.uk
Below Hyungi Lee at The Bromsgrove International Musicians’ Competition and (bottom) Thomas Blunt
In March Léonie Adams and Richard Smith performed in front of Her Majesty The Queen at the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey, as part of the Dionysus Ensemble. Louise Alder will make her English National Opera debut next spring as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, performing alongside fellow alumnae Sophie Bevan (Countess Almaviva) and Rowan Pierce (Barbarina). Michael Allis has been awarded the 2018 C B Oldman Prize for his book, Granville Bantock’s Letters to William Wallace and Ernest Newman, 1893–1921: Our new dawn of modern music. Eduardo Andrade Azanza has been listed in Forbes México Magazine as one of ‘The Most Creative Mexicans in the World 2018’.
Thomas Blunt has made his conducting debut with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He has upcoming performances with the LPO and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and will also conduct a new production of Rigoletto for the 2019 Glyndebourne Tour. Ross Campbell has published a new book, Singing – An Extensive Handbook For All Singers And Their Teachers, which supports his previous five-volume ABRSM Songbook. The Consone Quartet has been selected to join BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme for 2019/2021 and will perform at BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert series at Wigmore Hall. Pro Cantione Antiqua, founded by Paul Esswood, James Griffett and Mark Brown, has
marked its 50th anniversary. Over the years the ensemble has made over 100 recordings and worked with several notable conductors including alumni George Malcolm, Philip Ledger and Roger Norrington. Joseph Horovitz’s Alice in Wonderland ballet score has been performed in Nevada by AVA Ballet Theatre and his revision of Adolphe Adam’s score for Giselle was performed by Saratoga Ballet in April, conducted by alumnus Barry Wordsworth. In March, Endymion was performed by the Ionian Singers at St Stephen Walbrook, conducted by alumnus Timothy Salter. The piece was commissioned for the RCM’s Centenary Celebrations in 1983. Paul Keohone’s article, ‘Why We Sing’, has been published in Equity magazine and explores why people raise their voices in song in various settings, from the stage of Britain’s Got Talent to a football stadium. April Koyejo-Audiger has been selected to join the Royal Opera House as a Link Artist for 2019/20. April will be performing in the ROH’s new production of Handel’s Susanna in March 2020. Christopher Langdown’s debut Wigmore Hall recording, Live in London, was selected as ‘Album of the Month’ by Divine Art Recordings. In April Hyungi Lee won First Prize in The 2019 Bromsgrove International Musicians’ Competition. The Marmen Quartet and the Ruisi Quartet have been selected to represent the UK in the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition in August, and will compete for a two-year paid residency at Southern Methodist University, Dallas. RCM Speech and Language Coach Norbert Meyn, Ensemble Émigré, Peter Edge and alumnus Danny Driver were among several RCM musicians who took part in a special concert at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste in March to commemorate composer Robert Kahn. Adrian More became the youngest composer ever to receive the Helgaard Steyn Prize in December, which is awarded every four years to a composer who is a leader in his/her field in South Africa.
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Guro Pettersen has performed with the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra in Stockholm as tutti flute and principal piccolo. RCMJD alumna Alexia Sloane has won the BBC Proms Inspire Competition (senior category) and will have her winning piece, Elegy for Aylan, performed at a dedicated Prom on 22 August. Sara Stowe has been awarded funding from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust to perform new works for harpsichord on tour. Her repertoire will include RCM Head of Composition William Mival’s piece, The Siege of Chester. Julien Van Mellaerts represented New Zealand at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in June. RCMJD alumna Zerlina Vulliamy has founded the Oxford Contemporary Opera Society. She directed the Society’s first production, the UK premiere of Gavin Bryars’ Marilyn Forever, in May at the Jacqueline du Pré Building. Wendy Waldock has launched the Hull Late Starters Salon Orchestra for retired musicians, late starters and part-time workers. The orchestra currently has 15 members comprising several alumni including Wendy’s siblings, Jennifer Goodman (clarinet), Roy Goodman (violin) and Malcom Goodman (horn). Elizabeth Wells was honoured with the American Musical Instrumental Society’s Curt Sachs Award in May for her significant lifetime contribution to the history and restoration of musical instruments. Elizabeth was curator of the RCM Museum for over 40 years and instrumental in its development ahead of the opening in 1970. Emma Williams has appeared on a new release by contemporary music ensemble Apartment House, and has joined the group for performances in Denmark, Scotland and France. John Wilson was awarded the ISM Distinguished Musician Award 2018 in March, which recognises outstanding contributions made to musical life in the UK.
Left Léonie Adams and The Duke of Cambridge at the Commonwealth Day Service Below Adrian More
CONNECT Join our LinkedIn group at www.linkedin.com/ groups/1806681 or contact the Alumni team on alumni@rcm.ac.uk or 020 7591 4353.
RCM SOUNDTRACK The latest album releases from our alumni community Jennifer Johnston’s debut CD, A Love Letter to Liverpool features two works from fellow alumnus Richard Miller: an arrangement of The Leaving of Liverpool and an original setting of Roger McGough’s poem, ‘The Gateway to the Atlantic’. Joo Yeon Sir’s Chaconnes, Divertimento & Rhapsodies is inspired by the close working relationships between composers and virtuoso violinists and features performances of Stravinsky, Bartók and Vladigerov. Sara Stowe’s new disk, Ogloudoglou, will be released in September. A diverse track listing includes Scelsi’s Ogloudoglou, Berio’s Sequenza No lll and Sylvano Bussotti’s graphic score Lachrimae. Merel Vercammen’s debut album, Symbiosis, features award-winning Russian pianist Dina Ivanova and compositions from two relatively unknown female composers: Poldowski and Mathilde Wantenaar. Oda Voltersvik’s solo debut CD, Firebird, reflects the unpredictable character of the magical bird in Slavic folklore, with rich, complex pieces that display unexpected musical elements.
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IN MEMORY
IN MEMORY
LEAVING A LEGACY By remembering the RCM in your Will you can play a significant role in helping the College continue to inspire and educate musicians of the future. For more information on leaving a legacy to the RCM, please contact Emma McCormack on 020 7591 4761 or Emma.McCormack@ rcm.ac.uk
Roger Brooks was awarded a scholarship to attend the RCM from 1968–71, where his studies included organ with John Birch, harpsichord with Ruth Dyson and conducting with Denys Darlow. After graduating he taught music at Bromsgrove School and then at Dean Close School, Cheltenham. He then became Head of Music at Dodderhill School, Droitwich as well as organist and choirmaster at Saint John’s Church, Bromsgrove. Roger was conductor of Barnt Green Choral Society from 1997–2001 and later took up the position of Musical Director of Guernsey Choral and Orchestral Society. He passed away on 13 January. Gerald English enrolled in the RCM after serving two years in military intelligence during WW2. He was a member of St Paul’s Cathedral Choir and a founding member of the Deller Consort. After graduating, his international career took him from Glyndebourne to La Scala, and he made 26 appearances at the BBC Proms. He was an RCM professor from 1960 to 1977, and a tutor at New College, Oxford. He served as artist in residence at universities in Australia, emigrating to the country in the late 1970s and becoming Founding Director of the Opera Studio of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Sydney and an Australian Creative Artists’ Fellowship. Gerald passed away on 6 February, aged 93. Heather Harper was born in Belfast in 1930 and began singing lessons at the age of four. She won a piano scholarship to study violin and viola at Trinity School of Music in London. She was a member of the Ambrosian Singers, BBC Singers and George Mitchell Singers. She came to international prominence in 1962 when she stepped in to replace Galina Vishnevskaya in the first performance of Britten’s War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral. Her many recordings include an acclaimed 1966 account of Handel’s Messiah. Heather received the CBE in 1965, and taught at the RCM and the Britten-Pears School in the 1980s. She was a committed supporter of the Ulster Orchestra, appearing during its debut appearance at the 1985 BBC Proms. She passed away on 22 April, aged 88.
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Rosemary Hereford was born on 10 May 1913 at Carbis Bay, Cornwall. She spent her early life in Canada before returning to Cornwall. She enrolled in the RCM in 1931 and became an ARCM in1933, obtaining a Diploma in Pianoforte Accompaniment from the RAM that same year. She taught music in local schools in Cornwall, as well as offering private tuition at home, and was in great demand as an accompanist at music festivals. In 1985, she was made a Cornish Bard. Rosemary passed away on 20 January. Peter Hurford OBE attended the RCM from 1948 to 1949, studying organ with Harold Darke. He then read Music and Law at Cambridge and continued his organ studies in Paris with André Marchal, under whom his fascination with baroque music took firm root. Peter’s advocacy of this period was linked to his aspirations for the restoration of the ‘classical organ’. Appointed Master of the Music at St Albans Cathedral in 1958, he quickly commissioned the rebuilding of the cathedral’s organ according to classical principles, in collaboration with RCM professor Ralph Downes. In 1963 he established the St Albans International Organ Festival, and he was President of the Royal College of Organists from 1980 to 1982. Peter passed away on 3 March, aged 88. John Machin studied Timpani and Percussion at the RCM from 1988–90 before studying jazz at the Royal Academy of Music. Throughout his career he became known both for his musical talent and his warm sense of humour. His flair for pop/jazz percussion led him to join the English electronic music group Lo Fidelity Allstars in 1996 with whom he enjoyed considerable success, achieving two Top 40 hits. John was also much sought after as a session player. He passed away in January 2018, aged 48. Gillian Elizabeth Drummond Wright was a clarinettist and graduate of the RCM. She performed in a number of ensembles, most notably with the Chelsea Opera Group. She taught at St Paul’s Girls School, Hammersmith for many years. In later life Gillian suffered from Parkinson’s disease but remained devoted to music, switching from the clarinet to the recorder. She passed away on 28 March.
GET INVOLVED WITH #RCMMAKEANENTRANCE Whether you are a student, graduate, professor or visitor, we want to hear about the first time you entered our iconic Blomfield Building and began your journey at the Royal College of Music.
Get in touch by emailing news@rcm.ac.uk – share photos and videos or just tell us your memory of the first time you walked through our doors – all submissions will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Amazon voucher.
This summer, we are transforming our entrance through the More Music: Make an Entrance Appeal.
Over the summer, we will be sharing your stories across our social media channels using #RCMMakeanEntrance.
We are opening up our Entrance Hall and Foyer Hall, preserving our mosaic floor and improving access for all.
www.rcm.ac.uk/makeanentrance
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Box Office: 020 7591 4314 weekdays 10am–4pm Upbeat: 020 7591 4730 news@rcm.ac.uk Alumni: 020 7591 4353 alumni@rcm.ac.uk Supporting the RCM: 020 7591 4750 development@rcm.ac.uk Hiring RCM musicians: 020 7591 4367 diana.roberts@rcm.ac.uk The Royal College of Music is a registered charity. No 309268
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