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RCM Community Updates
The latest news from Royal College of Music alumni, staff and students.
Alumni Updates
Performances and Recordings
Violinist Esther Abrami starred in the BST Hyde Park Open House All Things Orchestral event in June.
Avril Anderson, alumna and former composition teacher at the RCM Junior Department, received a performance of her work Repetitive Strain for organ solo, given by David Pipe at Huddersfield Town Hall and in Contu, Milan.
Alumni ensemble BLOCK4 Recorder Quartet, comprising Emily Bannister, Verena Barié, Rosie Land and Daniel Scott, have released their debut album, Beneath a Pale Moon, intertwining early works with contemporary compositions, including music by RCM alumnus Andrew Crossley.
In April, pianist Isolda Crespi performed Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto with the Artave Orchestra in Portugal, conducted by RCM Head of Conducting, Toby Purser.
On 6 May, countertenor Hugh Cutting, harpist Tara Viscardi and Daniel Murphy on guitar/ lute, performed alongside violist Leo Appel at Wigmore Hall in a recital broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. The programme included one of Tara Viscardi’s compositions as well as several of her arrangements.
Composer Dani Howard’s album of Orchestral Works was released in March on the Rubicon label, performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and trombonist Peter Moore conducted by Michael Seal and fellow alumnus, Pablo Urbina.
Anthony Inglis conducted a recording of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade with the National Symphony Orchestra at Henry Wood Hall in London.
Pianist Lucas Krupinski was soloist in Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto in a performance in March with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall.
Trumpeter Niall O’Sullivan performed as a soloist in Baroque to Broadway with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in March.
Lara Poe is featured composer at Korsholm Music Festival in Finland and with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the 2024/25 season.
Cellist Idlir Shyti has released an album of 20th-century works named Intercourse of Fire and Water after the title track, a world premiere recording of a piece by Tan Dun.
Gemma Summerfield made her debut at the Royal Opera House in May, singing Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen and sharing the stage with RCM alumnus, bass Jamie Woollard, as Zuniga.
In May, David Sutton-Anderson, alumnus and former Head of Composition and Musicianship at the RCM Junior Department, received performances of his Mandolin Concerto Shadow of Golden Dream at Brighton Festival given by The Fretful Federation, and of his Falcon Duets in St Mary’s, Wanstead performed by Melanie Henry and Opus Sax.
Composer Christopher Tin was commissioned to write a new ending to Puccini’s Turandot, which was premiered to critical acclaim at the Kennedy Center in May.
Composer, arranger and conductor Gareth Valentine was appointed Musical Director of the Olivier Awards, broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall in April. He is conducting Tulsa Ballet in Cleveland in a ballet he wrote to a commission from English National Ballet, and is due to take Sinatra: The Musical to Broadway in 2025.
Pianist Silu Wang released her latest album, Caress, in April, featuring her own arrangements of film themes.
Clarinettist Michael Whight performs on a new album of contemporary works, Nexus, including music by RCM Senior Research Fellow in Composition, Dr Mark-Anthony Turnage.
Publications and Press
Baritone Peter Brathwaite’s family history of Barbados, Not All of Me Will Die, is scheduled for publication in 2026/27. Peter’s recreation of the Toussaint L’Ouverture portrait is now on display at the National Portrait Gallery, where visitors can hear a clip of the RCM Philharmonic’s recording of Toussaint L’Ouverture by alumnus Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Nicholas McCarthy was interviewed in The Sunday Times in March discussing his recent performances at the Southbank Centre and his trailblazing achievements as a pianist born with one hand.
Awards, anniversaries and appointments
Pianist Constance Bignell turned 100 on 3 May. Her fond memories of the RCM Junior Department include meeting Sir Thomas Beecham and William Lloyd Webber.
Jonatan Bougt (lute) and David López Ibáñez (violin) won First Prize in the Royal Over-Seas League Mixed Ensemble Competition in March as part of the early music group Apollo’s Cabinet, which also performed at the Gold Medal Final at Wigmore Hall. Jonatan won Joint First Prize in the Overstrand Festival of Early Music Lute Competition in April.
Soprano Charlotte Bowden was placed joint second in the International Handel Singing Competition 2024.
Composer Jingyu Chen has won the Tōru Takemitsu Composition Prize.
Pianist Lucy Colquhoun and violinist Laure Chan have been named as BBC Music Magazine Rising Stars for 2024.
Soprano Gabriella Di Laccio and her Donne Foundation broke the Guinness World Record for the Longest Acoustic Music Live-Streamed Concert with a 26-hour concert championing gender equality and inclusion. Let HER MUSIC Play featured 96 musicians – including RCM Governance Services Administrator and Clerk to Council Sharon Moloney – performing music by 140 women and non-binary composers, streamed live to over 10,000 viewers in more than 50 countries.
Composer John Griffiths was a winner at this year’s BMI Composer Awards.
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has been made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter by the RCM’s patron, His Majesty King Charles III.
Dr Rebecca Moseley-Morgan has been awarded her PhD in voice science from University College London with her thesis, ‘A Longitudinal Study of Vocal Functionality and Longevity in the Mature Female Singer’. She presents her work at the Pan European Voice Conference in Santander in September.
In May, mezzo soprano Emily Sierra was awarded the Sarah Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.
As cellist of the Fibonacci Quartet, Findlay Spence has been selected as a Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) 2024 Artist.
Conductor John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London won the BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year Award for their second volume of English Music for Strings on Chandos, featuring works by RCM alumni Vaughan Williams and Howells; they also won the BBC Music Magazine Opera Award for their recording of the original version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Staff Updates
Stephen Johns, Artistic Director of the Royal College of Music, steps down from his role in September having been in this post for 14 years – the first person to take on this newly created position. Stephen said:
It has been a great privilege to work with such exceptional colleagues and students. I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved together and will leave with memories of outstanding student music-making, extraordinary graduate achievements, and the warm and close friendship of colleagues.
Appointments, Awards and Nominations
Gary Ryan has been appointed Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music. He said of the appointment:
The RCM is a truly extraordinary musical environment which I consider my musical home and I am excited to lead the String Faculty forward into a new era, working in partnership with our outstanding students and world-leading professors.
Dr Ed Bennett is one of eight new members elected to Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland, at its 42nd General Assembly.
Musicianship teacher Dr Oliver Chandler has been awarded the inaugural Adele Katz Early Career Researcher Award by the Society for Music Analysis.
Recorder professor Dr Sarah Jeffery’s YouTube channel ‘Team Recorder’, with over 200,000 followers, has been nominated for a REMA European Early Music Award for ‘Media Piece 2024’ in the category of audience engagement.
Trumpet professor Paul Sharp has coordinated the Michael Laird Prize for Historic Brass, honouring the legacy of former RCM trumpet professor, Michael Laird, who was welcomed back to the College to hear a performance by the award’s inaugural recipient, Libby Foxley.
Visiting Professor of Vocal Studies Nicky Spence was made President of the Independent Society of Musicians in April.
Composition professor Errollyn Wallen’s music was featured in a recording that garnered the Premiere Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, alongside works by alumni Elisabeth Lutyens and Elizabeth Maconchy. Errollyn Wallen was also among those selected by BBC Ten Pieces to mark its tenth anniversary with a collection of works by women composers.
Performances, Recordings and Festivals
Prince Consort Professor of Conducting Martyn Brabbins has conducted the first commercial recording of the opera New Year by alumnus Sir Michael Tippett.
Composition professor Kenneth Hesketh’s orchestral work PatterSongs will be given its London premiere at the Barbican in October by the Sinfonia of London conducted by alumnus John Wilson. Hesketh’s chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Composition was published in June, and his album Hände – music for piano with Clare Hammond is released this year on Paladino Music, including a piece dedicated to the late RCM professor Joseph Horovitz.
Joy Hill, conductor of the RCM Junior Department Chamber Choir, Advanced Vocal Ensemble and Upper Voices, performed with Vigala Singers (the RCMJD alumni choir) in the Santa Barbara Basilica in Italy, including a world premiere by RCM alumnus Gabriel Jackson, In the Meadows at Mantua. Martyn Noble, accompanist and organ teacher at the RCMJD, played the Antegnati organ, and the choir performed the ‘Sanctus’ from his Mass in D minor.
Founded by RCM piano professor Dina Parakhina and pianist Oscar Caravaca with the support of RCM Head of Keyboard Professor Vanessa Latarche, the ‘Torre de Canyamel’ International Piano Festival and Academy marks its tenth anniversary this summer, providing a concert platform for RCM international students and alumni. This wonderful experience would not have been be possible without the tremendous help and support of generous sponsors Luis and Vickie Morel.
Movement Coach Desireé Kongerød has co-created a comedy musical magic show which was premiered in May ahead of a national tour in spring 2025.
Vocal repertoire coach and collaborative piano professor Simon Lepper will perform with soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn at the St Magnus Festival and Edinburgh International Festival, including works by alumnus Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Violin professor Madeleine Mitchell undertook a tour of Japan including Kyoto City University of the Arts, partnered with the RCM. She has won the Stuart Burrows Award from the Welsh Music Guild for a musician who has promoted Welsh music, and contributed a solo piece for Lord Michael Berkeley’s album Collaborations, released in June. Her Red Violin festival takes place in Leeds in October, including the release of the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet premiere recordings of Howells and Wood for SOMM, supported by RCM Research.
In March, academic and composition professor Dr Jonathan Pitkin travelled to the 30th edition of the Ateliers du Forum at IRCAM, Paris, to present his electronic piece Study: Boots... and the software package he developed to realise it.
Marketing Manager for Events Stephanie Rawlins is singing with the Crouch End Festival Chorus in Verdi’s Requiem at the BBC Proms.
Research Highlights
RCM researcher Dr Maiko Kawabata has been championing the music of Japanese composer Kikuko Kanai, including the UK premiere of Capriccio Okinawa with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Dr Neta Spiro, RCM Reader in Performance Science, showcased her research in ‘Brief Encounters’ at the Science Museum Love Lates event. She also launched the Musical Care in Dialogue series with a discussion co-led by RCM Director of Music Education, Dr Dave Camlin.
Student Updates
Scholarships, Performances and New Releases
Bassoonist Emily Ambrose has been awarded a place on the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Emerging Musicians Fellowship scheme for the 2024/25 season, working with the orchestra during rehearsals, performances, training and education.
Baritone Daniel Barrett, mezzo soprano Ellen Pearson and tenor Marcus Swietlicki were named as Opera Holland Park 2024 Young Artists, in which capacity they are performing in The Barber of Seville during the summer. Ellen also won first prize in the Charles Wood International Song Competition in Northern Ireland.
Berniya Hamie was awarded one of three Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Piano Scholarships for 2024.
Rianna Henriques has been playing saxophone with the multiple BRIT award-winner RAYE at the BRIT Awards, at the Hilton Honors Secret Social, on The Jonathan Ross Show, and at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend and Reading and Leeds festivals. Rianna will also be playing on the RAYE world tour.
Composer Lucy Holmes has won a place on Britten Sinfonia’s Opus 1 scheme.
Tenor Dafydd Jones joins the Bayerische Staatsoper Young Artist Studio in September. He will join RCM alumni Emily Sierra, Seonwoo Lee and Joel Williams in performances throughout the season.
Pianist Thomas Luke has been accepted as a Young Artist Performer for the PianoTexas International Festival & Academy 2024. This takes place in Fort Worth, Texas, and consists of lessons, masterclasses, concerts and a concerto competition. Only 24 participants from around the world are selected to be Young Artist Performers.
Oliver Lee (Tait Trust Scholar) performed in the Andorra International Saxophone Competition and at the Andorra Sax Fest.
Ilayda Oguz became the youngest and only female prize winner at the International İhsan Doğramacı Composition Competition, for which she was awarded Honourable Mention for her orchestral piece Ben o yılların macerasından geldim... (‘I came from the adventure of those years...’).
Lord and Lady Lurgan Collaborative Piano Fellow Ella O’Neill and alumnus, tenor Laurence Kilsby released their debut album Awakenings in June, including The Seal Man by alumna Rebecca Clarke.
Doctoral composer Jorge Ramos’ Keep Up! for alto saxophone and electronics was featured on the album Windsor Project by Ricardo Pires, a release that has been nominated for Best Classical Music Album at the PLAY Awards. Jorge Ramos’ Passage was played at the Porto Planetarium Dome, and his immersive opera Yum! was performed at the Grand Thêàtre de Luxembourg.
Four members of the RCM Junior Department/ Future Talent pathways programme Safia Andjar, Esra Emin, Zine Ôzmen Akkaya and Daphne Queyquep were invited as Music Masters graduates to play in a chamber masterclass with Randall Goosby in the Purcell Room.
RCM Junior Department pianist Aidan Zhao has been made one of the Lang Lang Young Scholars 2024–26 – one of only five young scholars in Europe.
In April, organists from the Keyboard Faculty visited North Germany to play historic organs once played by the likes of Lübeck, Buxtehude and Bach.
Competition Success
In May, Sacha Bistany won the Royal College of Music Guitar Prize, held in the West Parry Room.
Several RCM musicians were placed at the Ferrier Awards 2024: soprano Madeline Boreham received Second Prize, soprano Charlotte Kennedy was awarded the Loveday Song Prize, and the Accompanists Prize was awarded to Firoze Madon.
The Joan Chissell Schumann Competition Final took place in April. Madeline Boreham won First Prize in the Vocal Awards, with Second Prize awarded to soprano Ceferina Penny and Third Prize to mezzo soprano Lily Mo Browne. For the Pianist Awards, First Prize was awarded to Francesca Lauri, Second Prize to Archie Bonham and Third Prize to George Campbell.
At the Somerset Song Prize held in May, Lily Mo Browne won First Prize, and pianist Abhisri Chaudhuri received the Audience Prize and Wellhayes Award.
Ryan Collis has won the National Centre for Early Music Young Composer Award 2024 in the age 19–25 category. His work Lux Divinae will be premiered by the Tallis Scholars at Saffron Hall in October, and later broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Double bassist Will Duerden has been selected as a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star for 2024, while violinist Katherine Yoon and violinist and alumna Yume Fujise from the Kleio Quartet have been made BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists for 2024–26.
Pianist Amiri Harewood has been selected as a Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) 2024 Artist, and won the Kerr Memorial Prize for an Outstanding Pianist of Promise in the Royal Over-Seas League keyboard section finals.
In May, Adrian Henke won First Prize at the Watford International Piano Competition.
Misha Kaploukhii won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Sheepdrove Intercollegiate Piano Competition in May.
Carne Junior Fellow, violinist Lucilla Rose Mariotti, received the Daniele Gay Award 2024, leading to a performance at the Sale Apollinee of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and another at the awards ceremony at the Tempio Valdese in Milan.
Paul Mnatsakanov won the Kendall Taylor Beethoven Piano Competition 2024, with the Second Prize awarded to Wong Kai Chit Jack. Highly commended students were Kevin Kao, Marco Procacci, Zvjezdan Vojvodić and Hong Zhan.
Mezzo soprano Ellen Pearson and collaborative pianist Archie Bonham won First Prizes and Best Duo Prize at the Ashburnham English Song Awards.
Violinist Deniz Sensoy, cellist Marion Portelance and pianist Cristiana Achim won Second Prize in May’s Intercollegiate Piano Trio Competition. Cristiana Achim has also created Piano-Travel, described as the first online music events and travel guide exclusively dedicated to pianists.
Radu-Gabriel Stoica won First Prize and Special Prize at the Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition held in May in Bacău, Romania.
Composer Alisa Zaika has won First Prize in the New York Cantori Competition.
The RCM Junior Department’s ACE Trio won First Prize in the under 17s category of the 28th Giulio Rospigliosi International Chamber Music Competition in Italy, as well as receiving the Audience Choice Award.
