Now… relax! - Royal College of Music

The Magazine for the Royal College of Music I Spring 2013
Now… relax!
How the RCM is tackling performance anxiety
What’s inside...
Welcome to upbeat...
When you’re under the spotlight, it’s not always easy to ‘relax’ on stage. But developing
a stage presence and ability to communicate with an audience is a vital part of
training as a musician at the RCM. To help students along, Head of Performance
Science Professor Aaron Williamon has led a team of researchers to develop the first
performance simulator for musicians. Turn to page 12 to find out how he’s using this
new technology to help students improve their performance skills.
Contents
This issue we also say a fond farewell to Peter Hewitt who is leaving us after 22 years as
Director of the RCM’s Junior Department. Turn to page 10 to read his about his time at
the JD, including taking part in the rain-soaked Thames Pageant for the Queen’s Jubilee
Celebrations.
10 Farewell to Peter
We would also like to take this opportunity to invite you all to witness a thrilling
concert. On Tuesday 23 May, the RCM Symphony Orchestra will be performing one of
the truly great orchestral works of the 20th century – Messiaen’s Turangalîla – at the
Royal Festival Hall. Turn to page 9 for further details.
12Simulating and stimulating
We’re always keen to hear from students past and present, so if you have anything you
would like us to feature in the next issue of Upbeat, send your news and pictures to
[email protected] by Monday 29 April 2013.
NB: Please note that we cannot guarantee to include everything we receive and that we
reserve the right to edit submissions.
Upbeat online
Did you know that Upbeat is available to read online at www.rcm.ac.uk/upbeat
If you’d prefer to read it in this way, do contact us at [email protected] and we’ll
stop sending you a paper copy. If you’d like us to send you an email notification
when Upbeat is published, let us know your email address too.
4
In the news
Updating you on recent RCM
activities...
Peter Hewitt reminisces over his
time as Director of the RCM’s
Junior Department
performance
Professor Aaron William tells
Upbeat about his latest research
into performance anxiety
14 Meeting the supporters
Upbeat meets RCM Friend and
Patron, Chelsea Pensioner
David Poultney
16 Student notes…
Current student success stories
18 Staff notes…
News from professorial, academic
and administrative staff
20 Alumni notes…
Updates from RCM graduates
22 Obituaries
PERC’M performing at St Mary’s Church in Beverly
Front cover – Peter Kirk in the RCM International Opera School’s production of Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle
Inside front cover – Variable Geometry ensemble
Inside back cover – A performance of works by Jonathan Dove and featuring artwork by Anita Klein
All photography © Chris Christodoulou
3
In the news...
Soirée d’Or 2012
The RCM’s annual fundraising event,
Soirée d’Or, took place at the V&A
Museum on 5 December last year. More
than £185,000 was raised, which will be
used to provide substantial scholarships
to talented RCM students.
The evening began with a Taittinger
champagne reception in the Medieval
and Renaissance Galleries with music
provided by alumna Charlotte
Harding’s jazz quartet and a trio of
RCM trumpeters, who performed a
new work by current student Brandan
Musk. A five-course dinner followed in
the impressive Raphael Gallery during
which guests were entertained by
alumnus Sir James Galway and RCM
violinist Ksenia Berezina, accompanied
by Peter Limnov.
With the focus on raising funds for
the RCM scholarship appeal Sir Roger
Carr delivered an inspiring speech, in
which he likened the hard work and
dedication of classical musicians to that
of Olympic athletes. He also referred to
the professionalism and sheer pluck of
the RCM Chamber Choir who hit the
headlines last year following their stoical
performance in torrential rain during
the Royal Jubilee River Pageant.
A lively auction followed with bidders
competing for items that included
a performance by Ksenia Berezina
at a private event, a luxury break
in Morocco, a private dinner at the
Dorchester Hotel, and the use of a
private box at the Royal Albert Hall
to attend one of Alfie Boe’s 2013
performances. The evening finally
closed with a rousing performance of
Jerusalem by the RCM Chamber Choir
and audience participation in four
popular carols.
The RCM is very fortunate to have the
support of a hard-working committee
led by Lady Carr (chairman), with
Lady Middleton, Emma Rose, Fiona
Flint, Tanya Rose, Lady Walters, Judy
Mowschenson and Anastasia Christou,
all of whom work tirelessly throughout
the year to secure table sales,
sponsorship and exceptional prizes
to auction on the evening. The next
Soirée d’Or will be held on Wednesday
4
4 December 2013, please contact Mary
Cosgrave ([email protected]) if
you would like to attend.
The RCM thanks the following
companies and individuals for their
generous sponsorship and donations:
RLM Finsbury, Boutinot, British Gas,
Burberry, Richard and Anastasia
Christou, The Dorchester Collection,
Green & Black’s, Inn or Out, Intern
Partnership, Hatch Mansfield, Ketel One
Vodka, London Russian Ballet School,
Mason Rose, Mihaela Christou Bespoke
Jewellery, Hambleton Hall, Nevill Holt,
O.P.I, Paul Wayne Gregory, Percy & Reed,
QMS Medi Cosmetics, Roja Parfums,
Royal Mansour Marrakech, Royal Opera
House, Sally Clarke Ltd, St James’s Hotel
and Club, Steinway & Sons, Steven
Morris and Wilberforce Chambers.
Double win at
Soundtrack_
Cologne 9.0
Honens
International
Piano Competition
Although a relatively recent
competition, it is known as one of the
most prestigious and one of the most
searching in terms of the requirements.
Pavel was required to produce several
recitals and recordings in order to
reach the competition final, in which
he performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano
Concerto no 1.
RCM alumni have scooped two awards
at Soundtrack_Cologne 9.0, one of
Europe’s leading festivals of sound and
media.
RCM Composition for Screen graduate
and now RCM professor Enrica
Sciandrone won the Peer Raben Award
for the best music for a short film. Her
entry, ‘Suckablood’, was chosen from an
unprecedented 320 nominations. The
European Talent Award was awarded to
RCM Composition for Screen graduate
John Chua from Singapore. This is the
second time a graduate of the RCM
has won this award, following on from
Martin Batchelar’s success in 2010.
Organised by the Cologne Congress for
Music and Sound in Film and Media,
SoundTrack_Cologne is a German
festival of music and sound in film and
media, which has developed into one of
Europe’s most important screen music
events. Eighteen students on the RCM
Composition for Screen programme
attended the festival as part of a group
study visit to Germany, sponsored by the
German Academic Exchange Service.
RCM pianist Pavel Kolesnikov has
won the highly prestigious First Prize
Laureate Award of $100,000 (Can) at
the finals of the Honens International
Piano Competition in Canada.
In addition to his lucrative money prize,
Pavel, who studies with Norma Fisher
and is supported by the Russell Gander
Award, has also been awarded a threeyear artistic and career development
programme. Valued at half a million
Canadian dollars, this programme
includes worldwide representation
for three years and a recording on the
Hyperion label.
Lang Lang’s story
The RCM has appeared in a featurelength documentary about star pianist
Lang Lang.
Do or Die: Lang Lang’s Story, part of the
BBC’s ‘imagine...’ series, aired on BBC One
in November. The programme explored
the personal story behind the Chinese
classical music superstar, and included
interviews with various influential figures
in the musical world. These included
RCM Head of Keyboard Professor
Vanessa Latarche, who commented on
Lang Lang’s “real gift” in being able to
bring music to the masses, and praised
his ability to engage children with
classical music.
Several scenes in the documentary –
including the central interview with
presenter Alan Yentob – were filmed
at the RCM, where Lang Lang has
been a regular visitor in recent years:
he has given two immensely popular
masterclasses, received an Honorary
Doctorate, and met participants in the
RCM’s International Piano Course.
A big thank you
In December the Royal College of
Music participated in the 2012 Big
Give Christmas Challenge to raise
funds for our scholarship programme.
We’re delighted to report that thanks
to the great generosity of our donors
we have surpassed last year’s total,
raising a staggering £136,930. Thank
you to all those who contributed to
The Big Give, which will go towards
transforming the lives of talented
young musicians.
Piano masterclass with Lang Lang
5
In the news...
Welcoming
Professor
Alexander Sokolov
Kevin Porter, Professor Vanessa Latarche, Professor
Colin Lawson, Professor Alexander Sokolov
Concert Hall
becomes Scoring
Stage for a day
On 1 November the Amaryllis Fleming
Concert Hall was transformed into a
fully functional scoring stage for the
largest film-scoring session undertaken
at the RCM to date. Composition for Screen student Pierre
O’Reilly organised the session, pulling
together 70 RCM musicians to record
We were delighted to welcome
Professor Alexander Sokolov, Rector
of Moscow Conservatory, to the RCM in
October last year.
In defence of
the recorder!
Professor Sokolov gave a talk, visited
the RCM Museum and discussed future
artistic collaborations with RCM Artistic
Director Stephen Johns. He then met
with Professor Colin Lawson, Director
of the RCM, to sign and re-affirm the
memorandum of agreement between
the two institutions, which allows for
a number of educational and artistic
collaborations.
Head of Historical Performance
Ashley Solomon has featured on
Simon Mayo’s popular Radio 2
Drivetime show.
Central to this historic partnership is
the longstanding close relationship
between the keyboard faculties: each
year, RCM Head of Keyboard Professor
Vanessa Latarche visits Moscow for
a series of auditions, discussions and
masterclasses. The new memorandum of
understanding promises even closer links
in the future.
Following a phone-in confession from
a listener, who disliked the recorder
so much that he hid his sister’s and
children’s, Ashley gallantly went on air
to defend his instrument. He gave a
brief account of the recorder’s history,
before performing a delightful set of
variations on the well-known tune
Greensleeves.
music for two short films. The session
was a great success and enjoyed by the
students, providing excellent training
for something they are very likely
to encounter in their future careers.
The recording was overseen by RCM
Studios’ engineer Steve Harrington, and
utilised the RCM Studios’ live room
beneath the concert hall to house the
percussion section.
Building on the success of this
recording, the RCM Studios team hope
to be able to run more sessions of this
scale in the future.
Student
collaborations
The RCM
Students’
Association
presented
the launch
concert of
the newly
formed RCM
Students’
Film
Orchestra
on 22
January. The concert featured two
UK premieres: John Williams’ original
score for Steven Spielberg’s War
Horse, and Downey Overture by Oscar
Navarro, as well as an original score by
a Composition for Screen student.
6
Open Orchestra
The RCM, BBC Symphony Orchestra and
Drake Music (pioneers of assistive music
technology) have teamed up with three
London boroughs to develop the Open
Orchestra project, a new schools music
programme bringing together children
from special and mainstream schools.
This seven-month initiative is in
collaboration with the Tri-Borough
music hub of Hammersmith & Fulham,
Worldwide
Connections
In September the RCM Studios hosted
a unique one-day event that brought
together experts from Europe and the
USA to demonstrate some of the latest
technical developments in remote
learning and participation.
The highlight of the day was a live
link-up that allowed for an astonishing
performance of Mozart’s Clarinet
Concerto by duo partners more than
300 miles apart: pianist Dominic
John at the RCM, and clarinettist
Ryan Penman at Napier University
in Edinburgh. This amazing feat was
only made possible by using a system
developed at the Trieste Conservatoire,
Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster.
Children from two primary schools in
each borough (one mainstream and one
special school) will be offered an exciting
introduction to the orchestral world,
and given the opportunity to create new
musical material.
RCM paintings
available online
Working on the theme of “flight”,
the children will use creative music
technology to assist the composition
process in workshops led by Drake Music
associate musicians, BBC Symphony
Orchestra musicians and RCM
students. The project culminates in a
performance of the new work as well as
other orchestral repertoire given by the
BBC Symphony Orchestra at a schools
concert on 22 May.
The Open Orchestra project is just one
of many initiatives in 2013 being led by
RCM Sparks, the RCM’s ground-breaking
learning and participation programme.
which allows musicians to play
together over the internet without any
appreciable delay.
Further contributions came from
representatives of the LSO and the BBC,
who shared their experience of using
web technologies to deliver everything
from school music workshops to the
Olympics. The Arts and Humanities Streaming
Conference was hosted in conjunction
with JANET, the organisation which
runs the computer networks for
universities and colleges. Following the
conference the RCM has updated its
existing videoconferencing technology
to provide enhanced opportunities for
students and researchers to collaborate
with specialists around the world,
without ever leaving the building.
John Wall Callcott
Thanks to a project undertaken in
partnership with the Public Catalogue
Foundation and the BBC, the paintings
from the RCM’s Special Collections can
now be viewed online for the first time.
The collection features more than 120
works, mainly portraits of musicians,
dating from the 16th century to the
present day. Some are on public display
in the RCM Museum, but many are
relatively unfamiliar, even to scholars.
They include the portraits of Joseph
Haydn and Ralph Vaughan Williams;
sketches of paintings later destroyed (a
1905 portrait of Elgar) or never finished
(an 1890 portrait of Paderewski);
and striking portraits of less familiar
musicians such as that of the composer
John Wall Callcott (pictured).
Head of RCM Special Collections
Professor Paul Banks commented: “The
inclusion of the RCM Special Collections
in this wonderful and unique national
project is an exciting landmark in our
efforts to make the rich collections of the
RCM more accessible to scholars, students
and the general public.”
All these paintings can be viewed on
the Your Paintings website at
www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings
7
In the news...
Kids take over the
RCM Museum
On 23 November, the RCM Museum
welcomed a group of children, aged
8–10, to participate in the National
Museum Takeover Day.
Following a tour of the Museum, the
children were given the creative task
of designing a Visitors’ Trail pack, full
of fun facts and activities, for future
young people to enjoy. One participant
summed up the day by saying how
much she enjoyed: “making posters,
taking lots of photos and learning about
the instruments!”
Save the date!
Alumni Reunion
You can see the result of their hard
work, Music Quest, at the entrance
to the RCM Museum. Visitors are
welcome to explore the RCM Museum
Tuesdays to Fridays, 11.30am – 4.30pm.
Admission is free.
On Saturday 7 September 2013
there will be a special reunion event
for those who attended the RCM
between 1965 and 1975.
The lunchtime event is being
organised by RCM Assistant Librarian
Angela Escott (née Whelan) and
Colin Dowdeswell, and offers an
opportunity to reconnect and
reminisce with fellow alumni. If you
know any former classmates who
might be interested, please encourage
them to email [email protected]
with current contact details.
Lark Insurance
Scholarship
A new scholarship for RCM students
has been established thanks to the
generosity of Lark Insurance, specialists
in made-to-measure musical instrument
insurance.
The inaugural Lark Insurance Scholar is
violinist Joseph Devalle and members
of the Lark Group have visited the RCM
several times to hear him play, including
a performance in the Amaryllis Fleming
Concert Hall and a masterclass with
Nicola Benedetti.
David Foster, Director of Lark Insurance,
said: “We are delighted to be playing our
own role in securing the future of the very
best emerging musicians. We look forward
very much to supporting Joseph’s progress
and watching him reach his full potential,
as well as helping the wider student body
8
Joseph Devalle in a masterclass with Nicola Benedetti
in other ways through exclusive offers and
specialist advice.”
Lark Insurance’s generous support is
greatly valued and is a leading example
of the way businesses can become
integral to the success of tomorrow’s
international artists.
Without scholarships, many of our most
talented students would not be able to
seize the opportunity of studying at the
RCM. To find out how your organisation
can support a scholarship at the RCM
please contact Nicholas Selman at
[email protected]
or 020 7591 4320.
An invitation
Upbeat Turangalila advert:Layout 1
21/02/2013
13:51
Page 1
Calling all Alumni join us FREE OF
CHARGE for our biggest
concert of the year!
On Thursday 23 May, the RCM Symphony Orchestra is heading to
the Royal Festival Hall to perform Messiaen’s epic TurangalîlaSymphonie, one of the great orchestral masterworks of the
twentieth century. This very special concert forms part of the
Southbank Centre’s year-long festival The Rest is Noise.
We would love the entire RCM family past and present - to join us on our big day
out, and so we’re offering two free tickets
to all RCM alumni.
To reserve your tickets, call the RCM
Box Office on 020 7591 4314 and quote
“ALUMNI”. IMPORTANT: The closing date for
this offer is Thursday 16 May. Your tickets
will be available to collect from the
Southbank Centre Box Office on the
evening of the concert.
We look forward to seeing you at
what promises to be a magnificent event.
7.30pm | Thursday 23 May | Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
Messiaen - Turangalîla-Symphonie
RCM Symphony Orchestra | Thierry Fischer conductor | Stefan Stroissnig piano
Cynthia Millar ondes martenot • www.rcm.ac.uk/messiaen
9
Farewell to Peter
After 22 years as Director of the RCM’s
Junior Department, Peter Hewitt is leaving
for new adventures abroad. He tells
Upbeat his most poignant memories…
How did you come to be Director of
the RCM Junior Department?
I’d been teaching music in schools for
a number of years, latterly as a head of
department in Hertfordshire. Then this
opportunity arose at the College, and for
some reason I got it.
I’d always known of the Junior
Department. Edmond Fivet was the
Director then, before that it was Barbara
Boissard and Michael Gough Matthews
(later Director of the RCM), also Marjorie
Humby and Angela Bull – an illustrious
set of forbears! I like to think it was
serendipity that landed me here.
I came into the Junior Department on
several Saturdays before I officially took
up the position, just so I could see how it
worked, and I remember being absolutely
amazed by the quality of the teaching
and the focus teachers gave to individual
students. I like to think that is still a
hallmark of what we do now.
10
How has the Junior Department
changed during your time as Director?
The number of teaching staff has
increased and the quality of teaching
is at least as good as it’s ever been. The
number of students is also buoyant and
the overall level of applicant at audition
is rising inexorably. We’ve introduced
new instruments such as Jazz piano and
Jazz saxophone and the curriculum has
evolved too – there is now chamber
music for all and a wider range of such
ensembles, and choral singing is offered
to everyone, something close to my
heart. I’d say Musicianship – classes
such as Improvisation, Composition and
Practical Musicianship – has also really
developed over recent years. “Peter Hewitt was extremely kind
to me during my time at RCMJD,
as he was to a great many of my
contemporaries. From a young
age he encouraged me to develop
as a composer, and the success of
Saturday mornings owed much to
his incredible energy and ability to
enthuse and organise a myriad of
teachers and students every week.
Peter is a superlative musician himself,
and would even occasionally step in
and take rehearsals when tutors were
indisposed.” – Tommy Hewitt Jones
(no relation!), composer and RCMJD
alumni 1996-2003
We give increasingly careful guidance
towards career pathways for students
now too. I’m very proud that our
students go off in many different
directions. It’s our job to make sure their
decision is as informed as possible and
of course we’re delighted if they want to
study at a conservatoire, particularly the
RCM, but sometimes it’s appropriate for
them to follow a different pathway.
How well is Sparks Juniors, the JD’s
outreach programme, working?
I was closely involved, with Hayley
Clements and Sue Sturrock, in setting up
Sparks Juniors, since a key feature was
how to integrate the students with the
rest of the JD. And I think it’s worked very
well – particularly through the choirs –
and it’s been great to welcome them and
their families into the community.
In my time, about 2,000 students have
come through the Junior Department.
And they’ve gone onto all sorts of careers
and branches of music. Some of them
have even returned to the JD as teachers.
There is an incredible loyalty to the
department and the College itself.
What is it that makes the Junior
Department so special?
It’s that coming together of like-minded
people, all wanting to make music
together at a very high level, which on
the whole they’re not able to do locally.
There is a very warm family atmosphere
here: the team and I know all the
students very well, as we also know their
teachers and their families, which makes
for a wonderfully personal approach.
I work very carefully to match new
students with teachers. You try to
address individual student needs and
then find somebody who can best
develop them. And people seem to
sense that we focus on the person, not
just the music making. I like to think of
it as nurturing rounded and grounded
people who just happen to be skilled
creative musicians. I have to mention my
fantastic admin team too – we have such
short terms and they do a brilliant job
packing everything in, making Saturdays
as efficient as they can be.
It’s been going for four years now and
they’ve really become part of the fabric.
It’s great to see them all benefitting
from belonging to such a marvellous
institution. In the future, I’d like to see
the graduates really coming through
as skilled and full members of the JD.
This hasn’t happened yet and it is a very
ambitious wish, but that would be the
ideal. It would be wonderful to be able
to provide that quality of experience
to much larger numbers, but we are
constrained by the size of the building.
How does the JD collaborate with
other institutions?
We’ve set up a number of collaborations
over the years which have greatly
benefited our students. Two I’m
particularly proud of are Sound Moves
and Living Song.
Sound Moves is a project with young
dancers from The Place, and is led by JD
teachers David Sutton-Anderson and
Avril Anderson. Composers from JD
collaborate with young choreographers
to create a piece which is then performed
by fellow students both here at the RCM
and at The Place. It’s been going for
about 14 years and is just terrific.
Similarly Living Song, a collaboration with
the English Folk Dance and Song Society,
has been an eye-opener for everyone
involved. The students go back to original
source material, learning folksongs by ear,
and then our composers produce their
own versions, very much in the spirit
of Vaughan Williams. I think a highlight
of my time at RCM was a performance
on stage by Sam Lee (nominated for
the Mercury Prize last year) singing a
folksong, barefooted, and holding the
audience in the palm of his hands. The
RCMJD chamber choir then performed
the (very fine) newly composed versions
of the songs. It was very special.
I think that this cross fertilisation –
whether it’s dance, folksong, jazz, early
or world music – is part of what makes
this place so exceptional. It’s opening up
possibilities and freeing up the creative
musical mind.
What about your favourite
JD moments?
Well, recently JD students got to
participate in the Thames Pageant –
part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
celebrations. I was on the boat with The
Mayor’s Jubilee Band which was made
up of players from all four London based
Junior Departments, their associated
boroughs and senior colleges. It was
such fun, although we were soaked and
freezing, and desperately disappointed
not to be featured on the TV coverage!
The Mayor’s Jubilee Brass Band
an impact on our students and it was
also a great opportunity for them to
collaborate with Senior College.
I can’t help not mention the recent
BBC Young Musician successes… but
the JD has always been prominent in
this competition, from Michael Collins
onwards. There are too many prominent
participants to mention!
Also, opportunities like performing every
piece from Bartók’s Mikrokosmos at the
Southbank were special. It made such
“I remember the first time I met Peter
– he was walking down the steps
of the Concert Hall and I guessed
he was the new Director as he was
the only adult not surrounded by
children. I said to him he should get
to work straight away and pointed
him towards some parents to speak
to. I remember he hesitated for a
moment, but then got straight to it.
He’s always been a very fair person
to work with and a good listener. I
particularly admire him for keeping
up the tradition of singing – it’s such
a fundamental skill and important
part of developing as a rounded
musician – and many young people
simply don’t get the opportunity
these days.”– Joan Hale, former
RCMJD flute teacher
Do you keep in touch with many
JD alumni?
Yes, and it’s fabulous to see names of
former Juniors on orchestra lists, on
stage, and in chamber groups. But not
only in musical contexts – some are
now sitting at board level at major
institutions. The training we offer is
fantastic and it sets them up for the rest
of their life, but it doesn’t necessarily
have to be in music. Let me mention
two sisters who were at the JD before
my time: one is now an extremely senior
partner at a financial institution and the
other a member of a leading orchestra.
So it goes both ways, even within
families.
How will you remember the Junior
Department?
On one level it’s all a wonderful golden
blur. On another level, one mentions
a name and it sets up a chain of
memories. But actually every Saturday is
memorable. You see these kids bounding
up the steps in the morning and dragging
themselves out at the end of a very long
day still with their eyes blazing. Anybody
who works in education can’t fail to be
inspired by that.
Peter with Lara Melda (BBC Young Musician 2010)
If you are a Junior Department
alumnus, or know of any former
students who would be interested in
staying in touch with the RCM, please
email [email protected] with current
contact details.
11
Simulating and stimulating performance
Performing at one’s best in public can
be difficult for any musician. Head of
Performance Science Professor Aaron
Williamon tells Upbeat about the RCM’s
new performance simulator, which aims
to help students hone their performance
skills…
How did the idea of the performance
simulator come about?
Compared with other conservatoires and
universities, RCM students have perhaps
the highest number of opportunities
to perform in front of a live audience –
but you can never have enough! So, we
wanted to develop a facility that could
give students the chance to develop and
refine their public performance skills,
allowing them to review and reflect
on their performances and to make
successful transitions from the practice
room to the stage. In parallel with this,
our research indicates that performance
anxiety is a persistent problem for many
musicians worldwide. With this in mind,
we were aiming to provide a learning
environment in which the risks of reallife performance could be recreated,
although controlled, and thereby help
musicians address and manage anxiety
problems.
How does the performance
simulator work?
Students are booked to perform at a
specified time. When they arrive, they
are shown into a warm-up room where
they can unpack and start their preperformance routine, whatever that
may be. Our backstage manager gives
them warnings before they’re due to go
on stage: “You’re on in 15 minutes… 5
minutes… Please come with me.”
Then, they walk to the ‘backstage area’,
which looks much like the backstage of
any concert venue: it’s small and a little
shabby. There, we have CCTV footage
showing the audience finding their seats,
and they can hear the usual low murmur
of the audience talking. The backstage
manager confirms that the front of house
is ready to start the performance: the
audience is seated and the spotlights are
on. The stage door opens, the applause
starts and the student walks out onto
the stage. Under the spotlights and with
the audience clapping, the performer
takes a bow, gets ready to begin and then
starts the performance.
12
The RCM performance simulator
Our audience is made up of individual
footage of real people, compiled into
one large image and projected into the
space. The musician sees them through
the glare of the spotlights and can hear
their applause, their coughs and sneezes,
and even their mobile phones loudly and
clearly. We control the audience from
backstage, such as how often they cough
and how enthusiastically they applaud
(or boo). The purpose of the simulation
session – be it to enhance presentational
skills, work on anxiety problems or
address specific research questions –
determines how the audience interacts
with the performer. Video cameras
capture the performance as it happens
from several angles, and these videos can
be taken away by the student for study
and review.
performing, and what we can do in this
context is expose them systematically
to situations with varying degrees of
risk and challenge. The video footage
is essential too, as it allows them to
judge for themselves whether they are
communicating and projecting the
image they would wish to.
We also have the option of simulating
an audition situation, in which case
we project a panel of three ‘expert’
judges. They too can be controlled from
backstage to respond to the performance
with, for instance, enthusiasm,
indifference or hostility. We’ve posted
a short video of how the performance
simulator works at
www.rcm.ac.uk/simulator
We’ve observed that musicians’
physiological and psychological
responses to performance situations
don’t always correlate. Some people
experience elevated heart rate yet
interpret this a positive sign that they
are ready to perform (as distinct from
being ready to practise). Other people
may have the same heart rate response
and experience debilitating anxiety
symptoms. This is why it’s important to
understand both general and individualspecific responses to performance
situations and then apply learning and
performance enhancement interventions
that are best suited to the individual
musician. We see the performance
simulator as central to our ongoing work
in this area.
How do these sorts of experiences help
students improve their performance?
Exposure to performance situations
and reviewing one’s skills is one way
we can help musicians enhance their
performance and feel more confident
on stage. Some musicians have anxiety
problems even after many years of
How do you measure musicians’
responses to performance situations?
We measure physiological responses in
performance with a new wireless device
called a BioHarness. It captures heart
rate, breathing rate, skin temperature
and movement data. We also have
standardised questionnaires for
measuring factors such as performance
anxiety, self-confidence and performance
quality.
In January Professor Aaron
Williamon was featured on the
popular BBC Radio 3 series Between
the Ears to talk about his research.
Three RCM students also took part,
relaying their experiences of using
the performance simulator. Here are
a few extracts from what they had to
say. To listen to their interviews visit
www.rcm.ac.uk/scalpelandbow
“The simulation is such a good tool –
to go in there and put yourself in the
position of running through the piece,
really perform it and see what all the
hours of rehearsal and practice have
come to” – Postgraduate cellist Jane
Lindsay
Surigical simulator at Imperial College
Has simulation been used in
other fields?
Yes, the most widely known example is
flight simulation, but in fact, simulators
are currently used to train surgeons and
athletes. We developed our simulator
in collaboration with London-based
design consultancy Studiohead, who
worked with Imperial College to create
several surgical simulators, and with the
Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in
Lugano. To our knowledge, this is the
only facility of its kind worldwide.
How does your research link with the
current surgical simulation work at
Imperial College?
Well surprisingly, there are a number
of similarities between musical and
surgical performance. One example is
to look at how teams of people come
together: with a surgical team, it’s often
only the smallest of gestures or glances
that indicate to a colleague to pass a
scalpel or to help execute a procedure.
Likewise in ensemble performance,
musicians too make subtle movements
to communicate visually with each other
and with their audience.
Also, both groups can learn a lot from
simulation, and unfortunately, neither
gets to be ‘in the spotlight’ as often as
they and their instructors might like. A
trainee surgeon won’t be let loose on
real patients often until very advanced
stages of training. Sewing up a wound on
a prosthetic sitting on a table is relatively
straightforward, but if you place that
same prosthetic on the arm of an actor,
dress it well with fake blood and tell
the actor to squirm (or to complain or
swear) while the trainee is sewing up the
wound, you’ll see performance levels
drop dramatically. They have to learn to
deal with real world situations and to
develop good interpersonal skills.
Similarly, as I mentioned before, it can
be difficult for student musicians to
have regular access to famous venues
and real audiences. Musicians too need
to respond to performance problems as
they arise and to hone their interpersonal
skills. By simulating performance
conditions, we can give surgeons and
musicians valuable, real-world training.
How do you hope the simulator will
develop in the future?
We’re currently considering several
additional environments and types of
audiences to simulate. Educationally,
we’re now developing curriculum-based
opportunities for students to improve
audition techniques, and soon we hope
to make the simulator available for oneto-one lessons and chamber coaching.
The simulator is already being used on
our MSc in Performance Science, and
we have plans to offer it more widely as
part of the RCM’s undergraduate and
postgraduate curricula. If any students
are interested in using the simulator now,
it’s best for them to contact me directly,
and I’ll see how we can help.
“During the simulation it felt much
like a real performance. I felt I got into
the zone quickly and that I was really
performing on stage, not just playing
in a practice room” – Undergraduate
cellist George Ross
“I felt nervous and uncomfortable
going into the simulation… as I went
in I was worried I’d mess up the
performance. It was good to practice
in the simulation environment as a
preparation for a performance in
front of real people. In general I tried
to ignore the audience, but there
was a lot of coughing which was a
bit distracting”– Junior Department
cellist Linden Ralph
Any other projects in the pipeline?
Much of our research at present focuses
on musicians’ health and wellbeing,
examining ways of improving and
promoting health and preventing
performance-related injuries. This an
area in which we’ve worked for several
years, and it is now producing some very
tangible outcomes. More generally, we
have a large (and growing) cohort of PhD
and MSc students who are working on
fascinating projects that span the field of
performance science.
Find out more about the Performance
Simulator and the work of the RCM
Centre for Performance Science at
www.rcm.ac.uk/cps
13
Meeting the supporters...
some great people – Dame Vera Lynn,
Katherine Jenkins – they were both
super. I’ve got some lovely photos of us
all with them too.
It was Warner Music who were behind
the CD – they’d previously produced The
Soldiers and most recently did Military
Wives. Our CD got to number 14 in the
charts and we even got a Gold Disc – my
daughters were so excited about that. In
fact my daughter Rosemary took it back
with her to America where she lives.
Do you have a favourite song on
the disc?
No, I’d sing anything! But I did get to
sing “Danny Boy” as a solo. We were just
waiting around in the studio and I saw a
book open with the music. I just started
singing and the producers said they’d like
to put it on the record.
David Poultney
An RCM Friend and Patron, Chelsea
Pensioner David Poultney has a great love
for music, a bullish energy for life and a
strong belief in supporting causes close
to his heart. In 2010, he and six other
Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Hospital
released an album in order to raise money
for the Chelsea Pensioners’ Appeal: “Men
in Scarlet” sold more than 100,000 copies
and helped fund the building of new
accommodation for the retired soldiers.
The members of the all-male choir were
brought together by their love of singing,
and David agrees that singing is in his
blood, as he tells Upbeat…
When did your love of music begin?
I’ve always been interested in music and
first started singing when I was just four
years old. I’m Welsh, you see, singing is
what we do! If you say to a Welshman:
“Sing!”, he’ll sing. An Englishman would
be too timid! You know, music is the
most important thing in a Welshman’s
life. There’s a saying: “To be born Welsh
is to be born privileged. Not with a silver
spoon in your mouth, but music in your
heart and poetry in your soul.”
Can you tell me about recording the
album Men in Scarlet?
It was a very hectic time. We’re old men
and had to be out of here at half past
seven in the morning, tearing off to some
recording studio. But we got to sing with
14
You do a lot of work raising money for
charities, why is that?
I enjoy collecting for charities – last year
I raised more than £5,000 for the Royal
British Legion selling poppies at Charing
Cross railway station. I also collect for the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the
Army Benevolent Fund and the Institute
of Cancer Research. I like keeping busy,
and I enjoy going out and talking to
people.
And because I’m Welsh, I also enjoy
supporting musical causes: I support the
RCM’s Restore a Score – it has to be done
– and I support the Welsh Singer of the
Year competition.
What do you enjoy about visiting
the RCM?
It’s part of my ritual. My friend John is
92, a real old boy, but he’s fit and has
medals in all directions. We enjoy coming
to the College together when we can. I
enjoy hearing the Symphony Orchestra,
and that wonderful feeling as they come
out on stage. I remember one concert
where they had six harps, my favourite
instrument. I also like brass instruments
and seeing how much the students
enjoy playing. I like looking at them and
thinking: “they’re going to be famous
one day!”. And I also like that they come
from all over the world – from Japan to
America.
And you have an unusual connection
with the RCM’s Britten Theatre?
Yes, I left the army when I was 30 and
went to work on ‘Civvy Street’. One of my
jobs was working as the Office Manager
for a firm of architects, one of whom was
Sir Hugh Casson, who later designed the
Britten Theatre.
What’s life like as a pensioner at the
Royal Hospital?
I used to live in a very small room, 9ft by
9ft, with no windows. But now I’m in a
newly built room with an en suite, there’s
so much more space.
Not that I’m always in my room – I stay
busy! There are always lots of activities
going on here and I’m also often out in
my scarlet coat representing the hospital
– particularly collecting for charities and
meeting people – I’ve met Prince Charles,
Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron…
I think it’s so important to be busy. My
advice is: start something you’re never
going to finish – then you’ll always have
something to do!
RCM Friends and Patrons provide vital
support to the RCM and its talented young
musicians. Restore a Score is a fund set up
to conserve the manuscripts, printed music
and recordings held in the RCM Library. To
find out about any of these schemes and
other ways to support the RCM please visit
www.rcm.ac.uk/supportus
Welcome to new Friends and Supporters
We are delighted to welcome the following people who have recently made
their first donation to RCM
Ian Adam
Brendon Bernard
Charles E Bradley
Peter Cargin
Lord Clanmorris
Daphne Clarke
Geoff Cox
Emma Davis
Mark Deli
Michael Earrey
Elizabeth Hale
Martin Holloway
Johanna Holmes
Michael and Rita Laven
Patricia Litke
Peter Lobban
Zarina Membery
Alison Midwinter
Sir Jeremy Morse KCMG
Heather Murphy
Mr and Mrs HWB Page
Alan Sainer
Irene Sarsby
Robert Sarsby
Michael Shipley
Jenny Tindale
David White
Pauline Williams
Supporting the future of music...
Music has the power to transform
lives. Thanks to the generosity of our
supporters, generations of gifted
students from around the world have
been guided and inspired at the Royal
College of Music. We would like to thank
in particular those who have made
donations of £1,000 or more in the
last twelve months – gifts are listed in
descending order.
Supporters of named scholarships, prizes and Junior Fellowships
Estate of Dr Neville Wathen
ABRSM
Leverhulme Trust
Soirée d’Or Scholarships
Estate of Ian Evans Lombe
Estate of Roselyn Ann Clifton Parker
The Richard Carne Charitable Trust
Laurie Barry and the John Barrry Scholarship
for Film Composition
Estate of Dr John Birch FRCM
H R Taylor Trust
HF Awards
John Lewis Partnership Scholarships
The Tsukanov Family
Richard and Rosemary Millar
The Worshipful Company of Musicians
Hester Laverne Award
Charles Napper Award
Lydia Napper Award
The Michael Bishop Foundation
The Reed Foundation
Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Trust
The Hon Ros Kelly
Opperby Stokowski Collection Trust
The Lee Abbey Award
Celia and Andrew Curran Scholarship
Stephen Catto Memorial Scholarship
The Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers
The Estate of Mr Charles Knoll
Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust
Ian Stoutzker OBE CBE FRCM
Ian and Meriel Tegner *
The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation UK
Gilbert and Eileen Edgar Junior Fellowship
Phoebe Benham Junior Fellowship
The Mills Williams Foundation
The Derek Butler Trust
Andrew and Karen Sunnucks
Monica and Guy Black Scholarship
The Charles Peel Charitable Trust
The Ackroyd Trust
The Richard Toeman/Weinberger Opera Scholarship
The Wyseliot Charitable Trust
The Wall Trust
The Stanley Picker Scholarship
Professor Lord Winston
Lark Insurance Scholarship
Steinway & Sons
The Rayne Trust
The Boltini Trust Scholarships
Jonathon Bond
Richard and Debbie Ward
David Laing Foundation Scholarship
Independent Opera Artist Scholarship
South Square Trust
Sir Peter and Lady Walters
Edward Brooks FRCM
Sir Gordon Palmer Scholarship
Douglas Downie
Mark Loveday Scholarship
Noswad Charity
Else and Leonard Cross Charitable Trust
Midori Nishiura
Kirby Laing Foundation
The Sylvia Paterson Award
The Bliss Trust
Supporters of RCM Sparks
J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust
John Lyon’s Charity
David Ross Foundation
The Ernest Cook Trust
EMI Music Sound Foundation
John Lewis Partnership
The Stanley Foundation
Dr Susan Sinclair and Rodolphe Olard
Anonymous
The Oldhurst Trust
HPS Trust
Members of the RCM Chairman’s Circle
Philip Carne HonRCM and Christine Carne *
Michael and Ruth West *
Dr Leonard Polonsky and Dr Georgette
Bennett *
Sir Vernon Ellis FRCM and Lady Ellis
Jane Barker *
Sir Roger and Lady Carr HonRCM *
Guy Dawson and Sam Horscroft
Emma Rose and Quentin Williams *
Linda and Tony Hill
James and Clare Kirkman *
John and Catherine Armitage *
Gisela Gledhill *
Dr Mark Levesley and Christina Hoeseason *
Alethea Siow and Jeremy Furniss *
Members of the RCM Director’s Circle
Richard and Sue Price
Victoria Sharp
Charles and Kaaren Hale
Peter and Dimity Spiller
Sir Peter and Lady Middleton FRCM
Judy and Terence Mowschenson
Terry Hitchcock
Sir Sydney and Lady Lipworth
Vivien McLean
Metherell family
John Nickson and Simon Rew*
Louisa Treger
Patrons’ Circle
Russell Race*
Rhoddy Voremberg
John Cheng
Costas Kaplanis
John Ward
Ellen Moloney
Betty Sutherland
Mrs Victoria Moore-Gillon FRCS
Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM and Lady Cleaver
Dimity and Kerry Rubie
Tania Chislett
Halina and John Bennett
David Poultney
David and Sue Lewis
Monica Moezinia
Mr and Mrs Charles Robinson
Ruth Rothbarth
Other generous donors
Jane Kessler
The Farthings Trust
The Henry Wood Trust
Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement
The Robert Fleming Hannay Memorial Charity
John Topham
Karen Cook
Miss Kathleen Beryl Sleigh Charitable Trust
RLM Finsbury
The Seary Charitable Trust
St Marylebone Educational Foundation
Roland Rudd
Interros
The Sharp Foundation
Centrica plc
The Rothermere Foundation
Geoffrey Richards HonRCM
Ann Driver Trust
Serena Fenwick
Mark Wood
Paul Wayne Gregory
Dorchester Collection
Bill Bolsover
Fiona Wilson
Webster and Davidson Mortification
for the Blind
Nevill Holt Opera
Sir David Cooksey
The Derek Hill Foundation
Professor Colin Lawson FRCM
Philip Jackson
Janis Susskind HonRCM
Peter Granger
Blair Wilson Award
Clifford and Maggie Abrahams
Bell Percussion
Kathleen Trust
Michael Steen OBE HonRCM
Mrs Terry Collins-Tveter
Miel de Botton
Helena Morrissey
Nicola Jones
Knights of the Round Table
Nonna Materkova
Sir David Lees
Kilfinan Trust
Inn or Out
Richard Davey
Friends of the National Libraries
Roja Dove Limited
* also support a named award
For more information about supporting
the RCM, please visit
www.rcm.ac.uk/supportus
Alternatively, contact Irisa Frankle,
Development Assistant on 020 7591 4861
or [email protected]
15
Student notes
Composition
congratulations
Arne Gieshoff’s work Stanza was
performed by the BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra and Martyn
Brabbins in Glasgow. The concert was
recorded by BBC Radio 3 for their
contemporary music programme Hear
and Now… Adam Kornas has won the
Lord Mayor’s Composition Award. His
prize includes £2,000 and a performance
of his work Paradise Regained at Mansion
House… Catherine Cheung has won the
Herne Hill Music Festival Composition
Competition with her saxophone quartet
Suspend/Coruscate…
Keyboard
accomplishments
Pianist Yoshio Hamano has won First
Prize at the Nordic International Piano
Competition in Malmö, Sweden, with the
splendid prize of a Blüthner Grand Piano
and concerts in Sweden and Japan…
Pianist Laura Dickson has given an
evening recital at Park Place in Wickham
in aid of Dorothy’s Dream, The Rowans
Hospice at Home Appeal… Pianist So
Yeong Kim has been selected for this
year’s Foyle Future Firsts Programme
with the London Philharmonic
Orchestra… Pianist Samson Tsoy has
won Second Prize at the 23rd Haverhill
Sinfonia Soloist Competition… Pianist
Anna Fedorova performed at a special
concert in memory of Arthur Rubinstein
at Carnegie Hall, New York. She also
spent two weeks at the Verbier Festival
in Switzerland where she was awarded
the prestigious ‘Prix - Foundation
Neva’… Pianist Konstantin Lapshin has
performed in the Rachmaninov Hall
in Moscow, the Pump Room in Bath,
Pushkin House in London, and the
Assembly Room in Lincoln as part of his
Doctoral Project ‘Rachmaninov
Rediscovered’… Valentin Barray has
won Third Prize and a Special Prize for
the best accompaniment of a French
mélodie at the Claude Bonneton
International Piano Competition in Sète,
France.
String successes
Winner of BBC Young Musician 2012,
Laura van der Heijden has performed
Walton’s Cello Concerto with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan
Hall… Violinists Suijin Park and
Mari Poll reached the semi-final of
the Michael Hill International Violin
Competition in New Zealand, while
Benjamin Baker won the Development
Prize. Benjamin also won Second Prize
in the inaugural Orpheus Musician of
the Year with First Prize going to alumna
and bassoonist Tamsin Thorn. Both
musicians performed at a celebratory
concert at St George’s Church, Hanover
Square with the Orpheus Sinfonia…
Violinist Laure Chan has performed a
programme of Fauré, Chausson, Ysaÿe
and Ravel at the Sevenoaks Music
Festival prize winners’ concert…
Konstantin Lapshin
Anna Fedorova
16
Laura van der Heijden
Laure Chan
Woodwind
triumphs
Spotlight on…
Flautist Diego Aceña Moreno, oboist
Alasdair Hill and clarinettist Adrian
Somogyi, members of the Cataleya
Quintet, have performed at The
Leverhulme Trust annual reception in
Unilever House in London. All three
students are supported by the trust,
one of the most generous supporters of
young musicians in the UK.
Joanna Songi
Cataleya Ensemble
Vocal achievements
Sopranos Joanna Songi and Anna
Anandarajah have won Second Prize
and the Audience Prize respectively
in the Maureen Lehane Singing
Competition at the Wigmore Hall…
Baritone Morgan Pearse was one
of three soloists in a performance of
Haydn’s Creation with the Hastings
Philharmonic Choir, conducted by
Marcio da Silva… Soprano Laura
Wright has been chosen by the Rugby
Football Union as England’s first official
Laura Wright with English Rugby players
National Anthem singer. She will sing
ahead of the international matches
against South Africa and New Zealand, as
well as all of the home games in the Six
Nations tournament in 2013… Soprano
Louise Alder has featured on BBC Radio
4’s Today programme with Royal Opera
House Director of Opera Kasper Holten,
talking about the state of opera and
life as a young singer today… Two RCM
Junior Department students won prizes
in the final of the Association of English
Singers and Speakers Catherine Lambert
Junior Recital Prize: Julius Haswell won
First Prize with his themed programme
of English song, poetry and prose entitled
‘Love lost through war’, while Rhys
Jupiter Brown took Third Prize and the
Speech Prize.
RCM cellist Yuki Ito has been named
as a Second Prize winner at the highly
prestigious Young Concert Artists
International Auditions in New York.
Yuki was given the opportunity to
take part in the semi-final auditions
in New York after he was awarded
First Prize at the European Young
Concert Artists Auditions in Leipzig.
As a result of his success Yuki will
be awarded future engagements
worldwide, the first taking place in
Tokyo.
More than 300 musicians from 41
countries took part in this year’s
Young Concert Artists Auditions, for
which the criteria are exceptional
musicianship, virtuosity, individuality,
projection as a performer, and
promise. The organisation has
discovered and launched the careers
of many internationally celebrated
musicians including pianists JeanYves Thibaudet, Emanuel Ax, Murray
Perahia, Jeremy Denk and Richard
Goode; soprano Dawn Upshaw, and
violinist Pinchas Zukerman.
Yuki has also recently released his
debut album. Accompanied by RCM
alumna Sofya Gulyak, the recording
features popular cello works by
Rachmaninov and was chosen as
‘disc of the month’ by The Strad
magazine. Rachmaninov: Cello Works
(Champs Hill Records) is available
to buy through iTunes, Amazon,
NaxosDirect, and Europadsic.
17
Staff notes
the special qualities of moonlight that
have inspired great composers such as
Beethoven and Debussy. She has also
recently released Cuba España – her fifth
CD on Nimbus Records.
Guitar professor Carlos Bonell
Guitar professor Carlos Bonell has
re-released his classic album The Private
Collection with new artwork and liner
notes. The album features a number of
Spanish works by Granados, Albéniz and
Villa-Lobos and is available to purchase
from www.carlosbonell.com.
Assistant to the Deputy Director,
Director of Programmes & Research
and Artistic Director Rebecca Mair has
performed with the Rolling Stones as
part of their 50th anniversary tour at the
O2. Singing with the choir Voce!, they
accompanied the band in the classic hit
You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
Tom Fox
RCM Maintenance Officer Tom Fox
created a moustache-shaped guitar in
aid of Movember, a charity that raises
money and awareness for prostate cancer
research. Made from 100% reclaimed
materials, it included a piano stool leg for
the neck, a picture frame for the body
and a resonating body made from a shoe
polish tin. The guitar was auctioned for
charity on eBay at the end of November.
Junior Department piano teacher Clara
Rodriguez has given a candlelit recital at
St Martin-in-the-Fields. The programme
centred on the theme of spirituality and
18
Viol consort coach Claire Bracher has
recorded a CD of solo works by Telemann.
Released on the Early Music label SFZ,
it is the first recording of the complete
surviving works for viola da gamba.
Piano professor Leon McCawley has
given a solo recital at Wigmore Hall. His
programme spanned two centuries of
keyboard music from J S Bach’s Italian
Concerto in F to Liszt’s Les cloches de
Genève from Années de pèlerinage.
Flute professor Gareth Davies has written
a memoir of the London Symphony
Orchestra on tour, focusing on their
historical first visit to America in 1912
and their most recent 2012 US tour.
Principal Flautist in the LSO, Gareth tells
the remarkable story through recently
discovered diaries and archive material
from London and New York newspaper
reports. The Show Must Go On will be
published by Elliott & Thompson Limited
in May.
Professor Colin Lawson has released
his latest CD on Clarinet Classics. The
recording features Mozart’s Clarinet
Quintet, performed on a specially recreated
basset clarinet in A, as well as the world
premiere recording of the A major Rondo,
originally intended for the Quintet but
instead recycled as an aria for Così fan tutte.
He is joined by the Revolutionary Drawing
Room ensemble featuring violinist Adrian
Butterfield.
Composition professor Kenneth Hesketh
has completed a new work for dance
– Forms entangled, shapes collided –
commissioned by ensemble Psappha and
Phoenix Dance Theatre in Leeds, and
supported by The Royal Philharmonic
Society Drummond Fund. The work tours
nationally from February 2013 passing
through Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester
and London’s ROH2 Lindbury Theatre
amongst others. The work is one of 16
new commissions to mark the Royal
Philharmonic Society’s bicentenary in 2013.
On 21 April Head of Strings Mark
Messenger is running the London
Marathon once again to raise money to
support extraordinary young musicians.
This year it coincides with the RCM’s
Super String Sunday: throughout the
day you will be able to track his progress
round the course while enjoying a
feast of music making. Hopefully he’ll
make it back to the RCM in time for
the final performance! You can support
Mark at uk.virginmoneygiving.
com/madviolinist or find out more
about the event at www.rcm.ac.uk/
superstringsunday
Head of Historical Performance Ashley
Solomon performed with the RCM
Ensemble in Association Florilegium
at the launch of Kings Place’s 2013 Bach
Unwrapped series. The programme
featured two seasonal cantatas, in which
the group was joined by four solo singers
including alumni Elin Manahan Thomas,
Sally Bruce-Payne and Jimmy Holliday.
Area Leader in Composition for Screen
Vasco Hexel has composed music for the
Discovery Channel’s feature documentary
Terror in the Sky – the 9/11 Tapes. His
music was also featured on BBC One’s
Panorama and in the Christmas campaign
of Channel 4 subsidiary S4/C, Wales.
Language coach Norbert Meyn has been
appointed Fellow of the Higher Education
Academy (FHEA) after completing
a course on teaching and learning in
higher and professional education at the
Institute of Education.
Junior
Department
violin teacher
Viktoria
Grigoreva
has founded
a new
summer
course in
Jersey. The
course aims
to provide
world class
education to
students from internationally acclaimed
musicians. This year it will be held from
26 July to 5 August, and invited professors
include Zakhar Bron, Leonid Gorokhov,
Leonid Margarius, Dmitry Bashkirov,
Mark Messenger, Vanessa Latarche and
Katya Lebedeva.
www.jerseymasterclasses.com
- Piano and Strings -
26th July 2013 to 5th August 2013
Patron: Vladimir Spivakov
Our goal is to provide world class
education to students who want to
learn from internationally acclaimed
musicians and pedagogues. Our
distinguished professors are experts
in developing to the full the talent of
modern-day, award-winning
performers.
The Masterclasses take
place in Jersey, away from the
pressures of the outside world,
students are able to learn and
work in a relaxed, stimulating
and contemplative environment.
Dmitri Bashkirov
Piano (Russia/Spain)
Vanessa Latarche
Piano (UK)
Yekaterina Lebedeva
Piano (UK)
Leonid Margarius
Piano (Italy)
Zakhar Bron
Violin (Russia/Germany)
Viktoria Grigoreva
Violin (UK)
Mark Messenger
Violin (UK)
Leonid Gorokhov
Cello (Germany/UK)
Jersey Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, The Tsukanov Family
Foundation and Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation.
www.jerseymasterclasses.com
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© 2012 Jersey International Master Classes. All Rights Reserved.
Head of Opera Michael Rosewell has
conducted performances of Britten’s
Albert Herring at the Royal Opera House
together with the award-winning Aurora
Orchestra. The cast featured alumni Mark
Wilde (in the title role), Martha Jones
and Rosie Aldridge. Rupert Christiansen
from the Telegraph said “Michael
Rosewell’s conducting of an excellent band
sustains the dramatic impetus admirably
as well as honouring its crystalline
instrumental detail”.
The Tippett Quartet, featuring Junior
Department violin teacher Jeremy
Isaac and alumnus John Mills, has been
appointed Artists in Residence at Sidney
Sussex College, Cambridge. Working
closely with students and musical director
David Skinner, they will give a series of
concerts, workshops and masterclasses,
and expand their impressive discography.
Spotlight on…
Jersey International Masterclasses
Jersey International Masterclasses work closely and in cooperation with:
Florilegium
and Performance Culture in NineteenthCentury Britain). The latter volume
is a Festschrift in honour of the 80th
birthday of the distinguished musicologist
Nicholas Temperley.
Assistant librarian Monika Pietras has
graduated from City University with
an MSc in Information Management in
the Cultural Sector, accredited by CILIP.
She also had an abridged version of her
dissertation published jointly with Dr
Lyn Robinson in the Library Review vol.
61 (8) – Three views of the musical work
– bibliographical control in the music
domain.
Junior Department recorder teacher
Rebecca Austen-Brown has performed
on the soundtrack of two current box
office hits: Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and
Tom Hooper’s recent interpretation of
Victor Hugo’s epic tale Les Misérables.
Deputy librarian Peter Horton has had
two book chapters published: a study
of the way anthem texts changed in the
19th century (in Martin Clarke (ed.),
Music and Theology in Nineteenth-Century
Britain) and a study of English song in
the 1840s (in Bennett Zon (ed.), Music
Prince Consort Professor Sarah
Walker CBE celebrates her 70th
birthday at Wigmore Hall on 13
March. Following similar events for
her 50th and 60th birthdays, she is
yet to decide whether to wait ten
years for the next, or to go for a
75th…?
Sarah, who retired from performing
a few years ago, now spends most
of her energy imparting wisdom
to RCM students, but she will be
taking an active part in this concert
supported by what she calls ‘a cast
of thousands’! The distinguished
actress Eleanor Bron leads a line-up
that includes two former members of
the RCM International Opera School
Laura Mitchell and 2012 Kathleen
Ferrier winner Kitty Whately,
alongside baritone Stephan Loges,
pianist Graham Johnson, a girls’ choir
and two violinists. The music and texts for this
programme have been adapted
by Graham from one of his most
popular Songmakers Almanac
concerts: Let us Garlands Bring – a
Shakespearian extravaganza which
includes repertoire ranging from John
Dankworth’s The Complete Works to
Joseph Horowitz’s dramatic scena
Lady Macbeth.
19
Alumni notes
Double bassist Damian Rubido
Gonzalez has taken up the position of
Associate Principal Double Bass with the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the oldest
surviving professional orchestra in the
UK.
Composer Chris Green recently worked
on the audio for the computer game
Need For Speed Most Wanted with
Electronic Arts. He also featured on the
November cover of worldwide magazine
Computer Music.
Violinist Wonhee Bae has won the
Ocean Classical Awards 2012 in Germany.
Following her winning performance of
Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the
Philharmonie der Nationen, Wonhee
was awarded €15,000 and the chance to
perform with various orchestras in major
halls in Frankfurt am Main and Munich.
Anna Rice
Composer Anna Rice has scored a 52part animated series called Wild Grinders
for Nickelodeon USA. Prior to this she
was commissioned to write the score
for Sean O’Casey’s play Juno And The
Paycock, the inaugural co-production
between the Royal National Theatre and
Abbey Theatre of Ireland, directed by Sir
Howard Davies and starring Ciaran Hinds
and Sinead Cusack. Alto flute specialist Carla Rees has
given two concerts with her ensemble
rarescale at Shoreditch Church in
London. The concerts featured new
music for chamber ensemble, including
works by RCM professor Michael Oliva,
and provided the opportunity to hear
Carla’s newly replaced quarter-tone bass
flute.
Violinist Ben Lee has broken his own
Guinness world record after playing The
Flight of the Bumblebee in 58.05 seconds.
Performing on Superhuman Showdown,
broadcast on the Discovery Channel, Ben
was also named the fastest ‘superhuman’
on the planet as he beat off tough
competition from a speed shooter and a
base jumper.
Conductor Sir Colin Davis has been
awarded a medal from the Berlioz
Society in recognition of his work in
promoting the music of the 19th-century
French composer. Colin was particularly
recognised for his work as the first
conductor of the Chelsea Opera Group
and its leading role in the post-war
Berlioz revival.
20
Pianist Christopher Guild has
performed at the Kelly College Concert
Series in Devon. The evening recital
included music by CPE Bach, Janáček
and Schubert, ending with Mussorgsky’s
Pictures at an Exhibition.
Ben Lee
Pianist Peter Bradley-Fulgoni has
released PianOLYPHONY, a new CD
featuring music by Liszt, Busoni,
Schoenberg, Berg and Gerhard. It also
features the Hindemith Sonata, which
Peter has long wanted to record, having
first heard it in the 1970s when acting
as page-turner for his teacher and
RCM professor for many years Kendall
Taylor. The CD was launched at a recital
at the Circolo Filologico in Milan last
November.
Soprano Abigail Mitchell has been
awarded a place on the prestigious Santa
Fe Opera Festival Apprentice Programme
for 2013. She will be covering the role of
the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, a role
she previously performed at the RCM
International Opera School.
Christopher Guild
Composer Oliver Rudland’s new work
for trombone and piano has been
premiered at the Royal Academy of
Music. The Conquests was performed
by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s
Principal Trombone Matthew Gee as
part of the 2012 London Trombone
Festival.
Conductor Andrew Mogrelia has been
appointed Music Director and Principal
Conductor of the Queensland Ballet
in Brisbane, Australia. He took up the
appointment on 1 January 2013 and
will conduct Cinderella in April and The
Nutcracker in December.
A CD dedicated to the late Hubert
Dawkes has been released by Bryan
and Diana Beggs. Featuring local singers
and recorded at St Michael’s Church in
Andover, the disc features Dawkes’ final
work They That Wait Upon The Lord. The
CD is available from the producers on
01264 365 190, and all proceeds will be
shared between St Michael’s Church and
Naomi House Children’s Hospice.
Margaret Fingerhut
Irmina Trynkos
Andrew Mogrelia
Organist and composer Robert Coates
has edited and published the first edition
of John Ireland’s Magnificat and Nunc
Dimittis in A. Written in 1905, it was
never published and is now available
from Cantando Musikkforlag in Norway
at bit.ly/UmFjee
The Jacquin Trio, featuring clarinettist
Jessie Grimes, violist Zoë Matthews and
pianist Charis Cheung has been awarded
a Tunnell Trust Award which will see
them performing at Scottish music
clubs in 2014. They are also ‘Ensemble
in Residence’ at The Forge in Camden
for 2013 where their three-part series
includes premieres and contemporary
works by Huw Watkins, Simon RowlandJones and Paul Patterson.
Pianist Margaret Fingerhut has joined
the roster of professors at Trinity Laban
Conservatoire in London. She has also
recently undertaken a series of lecturerecitals and masterclasses in California
and Canada.
Composer David Braid’s new work, a
setting of the 11th-century Latin text
Alma Redemptoris Mater, has been
performed by the Chapelle du Roi at St
John’s Smith Square. The evening concert
also featured settings by Renaissance
composers Tallis, Palestrina and Victoria.
Violinist Irmina Trynkos has released her
debut CD with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra. It features works by the
forgotten Romantic composer Ignatz
Waghalter including his 1911 Violin
Concerto and earlier Violin Sonata,
which won the coveted Mendelssohn
Prize in 1902. The disc forms part of the
project by Irmina to publicise the works
of this little known composer and is
available on Naxos.
www.waghalterproject.com
Composer Mark Bowden has composed
a new percussion concerto heartland for
Evelyn Glennie. The work will be
premiered at the Vale of Glamorgan
Festival in May 2013 and is a
collaboration with the choreographer
Eleesha Drennan and the National Dance
Company of Wales.
Alexandra Wood
The Jacquin Trio
Violinist Alexandra Wood has been
appointed Leader of the City of London
Sinfonia. Alexandra took up the position
in January 2013 and is particularly
looking forward to the CLoSer concert
series – intimate and informal music
experiences – at the Village Underground
in Shoreditch.
21
Obituaries
Sir Philip Ledger FRCM, professor at
the RCM for many years, died on 18
November 2012 at the age of 74. He
was one of the most notable church
musicians of recent years. He read music
at King’s College, Cambridge, where he
later succeeded Sir David Willcocks as
Director of Music from 1974 to 1982.
His recordings with the Choir of King’s
are much loved, in particular the Festival
of Nine Lessons and Carols. He will be
remembered for many of his choral
arrangements and other compositions,
in particular his Easter cantata The Risen
Christ and new settings of popular texts
such as Adam lay y bounden and A
Spotless Rose. At 23 he was appointed
Master of Music at Chelmsford
Cathedral, making him the youngest
cathedral organist in Britain. He joined
the professorial staff of the RCM in 1962.
He later went on to become joint Artistic
Director of the Aldeburgh Festival, and
enjoyed working closely with Benjamin
Britten and Peter Pears. In 1965 he
became Music Director and Dean of Fine
Arts at the University of East Anglia and
in 1982 became Principal of the Royal
Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
(now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland)
until his retirement in 2001.
The distinguished pianist and RCM
alumna Julia Cload has died at the
age of 65. She was born into a family
of musicians: her father John Cload
was a founding member of the London
Philharmonic Orchestra while her
mother was a highly regarded violin
teacher who also studied at the RCM.
Julia studied at the RCM with Cyril
Smith before continuing her studies at
the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.
Following her debut, playing Beethoven’s
Third Piano Concerto with the LPO
under Sir Adrian Boult, she was much in
demand as a concerto soloist, appearing
again with the LPO, the RPO, the Hallé,
the RLP, various BBC orchestras and the
London Mozart Players. As a recitalist
she frequently recorded for the BBC
and appeared at major venues in the
UK, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary
and Switzerland. Her recordings of
Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Das
Wohltemperierte Clavier as well as
Haydn’s 20 Sonatas were singled out for
special praise.
22
so many years, I can honestly say he was
the epitome of the perfect second oboe;
not only was there never a note out of
place, but he was a fantastic support to
the principals, usually Peter Graeme (also
an RCM professor) and Neil Black.”
George Hurst
Former conducting professor George
Hurst has died. Born in 1926 in Scotland,
George was closely associated with
several British orchestras during his long
career. He was also a profound influence
on many performers and conductors.
He studied piano and cello in London,
but was evacuated to Canada during
the Second World War. He later became
Professor of Composition at the Peabody
Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
Encouraged by the pianist Dame Myra
Hess, George moved back to Britain,
and in 1953 conducted the London
Philharmonic Orchestra with Eileen Joyce
as soloist. In 1958 he was appointed
Principal Conductor of the BBC
Northern Symphony Orchestra. He also
often worked with the Scottish National
Orchestra, and in 1968 helped to launch
the Bournemouth Sinfonietta as an
offshoot of the Symphony Orchestra.
George first conducted the BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra in 1982, later
becoming its Chief Guest Conductor.
As a conducting professor at the RCM,
George was a significant influence on the
development of many British conductors.
Perhaps his greatest influence was on Sir
Simon Rattle who recollected that, aged
11, he had attended a performance of
Mahler’s Second Symphony conducted
by Hurst, and found it a “Damascene
experience”. Rattle later said: “It’s because
of that evening that I’m a conductor.”
James Brown, oboe professor at the
RCM from 1964 to 1995, has died at the
age of 83. Jimmy, as he was universally
known, was an extremely busy orchestral
player. Described by a colleague as
“everyone’s favourite second oboe” – a
huge compliment – Jimmy rejoiced in his
role at the very heart of the woodwind
section. Alongside his very active
performing career Jimmy unearthed,
edited and published numerous works
for oboe which added substantially to
the solo repertoire. Bassoonist and RCM
professor Martin Gatt commented:
“Having sat behind Jimmy in the ECO for
Raenelda MacKie
RCM Doctoral student Raenelda
MacKie died on 23 December 2012. She
was diagnosed with cancer less than two
years ago and had bravely undergone
both chemo- and radio-therapy.
Raenelda was working on a thesis on the
Catalan composer Federico Mompou –
supervised by Richard Langham Smith,
Ingrid Pearson and Julian Jacobson – and
had made some crucial discoveries.
She will be sorely missed not only by
those who worked closely with her, but
also by many of the RCM postgraduate
community, who encountered her as
a lively contributor to the Doctoral
seminars during 2010 and 2011. RCM
Research Professor Richard Langham
Smith commented: “As her principal
supervisor, I can testify without a shadow
of doubt that Raenelda was one of my
best ever supervisees and also one of the
most rewarding and fun to be with. She
had all the right skills for her subject: first
and foremost unlimited enthusiasm for
researching the composer for whom she
had unbridled passion. There is no doubt
that her enthusiastic work on her thesis
— well on the way to completion — kept
her going through what turned out to be
her terminal illness.” To read Richard’s full
tribute, please visit
www.rcm.ac.uk/news
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