Industry links to power excellence

RWCMD pushed new boundaries by working with leading artists.

Bringing audiences a wider range of artistic voices, the College delivered more diverse and ambitious productions than ever before and used these collaborative opportunities to enrich learning. Our work also benefits creative industries businesses who employ a high proportion of our graduates.

Roy Williams OBE, one of today’s most sought-after playwrights, was RWCMD’s 2021/22 Writer in Residence. His play Freedom (March on Selma) was written especially for the College, as one of the four plays for the NEW season which premiered in Cardiff and then transferred to The Yard Theatre, London.

As well as creating work directly with students, he also fed the cultural DNA of the College by facilitating the current conversation about plays, writers and the repertoire we are teaching and programming.

Composer, musician and Honorary Fellow, Errollyn Wallen CBE’s ground-breaking Paradis Files took opera to new levels of accessibility, creatively incorporating British Sign Language, captioning and audio description into the performance by Graeae, a company which includes d/Deaf and disabled artists.

For RWCMD, it marked the first production of this scale of accessibility ambition and it fuelled an appetite to stretch further in future. On Nov 4th at a concert celebrating her work at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall, this inspirational international artist was welcomed as the College’s Artist in Residence.

The Matsena Brothers' Shades of Blue merged protest with performance to make audiences really think.

Among the newest Honourary Fellows for RWCMD, the brothers also collaborated on Dream – a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Director of Performance (Drama), Jonathan Munby, which they choreographed with their unique energy.

RWCMD worked collaboratively with nearly 60 artists and ensembles across the year, each of them bringing fresh inspiration to the student experience, through creative challenge, learning and growth.

Ticket-buying

behaviour has changed since before the pandemic.

This year, 78% were booked online, 11% by phone and 10% in person.

Before Covid it was 58% online, 19% by phone and 23% in person.

Student-led collaboration, The Flying Bedroom, took its work on the road. Developed through a partnership with Firefly Press, the company combines four BMus performance students, a BMus composer and two MA Design students who bring children’s stories to life through puppetry and performance. The Flying Bedroom start-up toured north Wales with eight school workshops and eight performances in partnership with Theatr Clwyd Music Service.