Fanfare

fanfare

Fanfare ~ the magazine for Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Association is a voluntary organisation supporting the work of Conservatoire students.

Autumn 2019

Birmingham City University

Welcome to the autumn 2019 edition of Fanfare Magazine Welcome back to another packed edition of Fanfare!

Perhaps most gratifying of all our summer news was the announcement that for a second successive year Royal Birmingham Conservatoire has once again achieved the highest result of any music college for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey, this time pulling clear of our nearest rival – the Royal Academy of Music – by eight per cent. Our BA Acting also scored a perfect 100 per cent for overall satisfaction, and BA Applied Theatre an impressive 95 per cent.

Although some people might imagine that RBC is closed over the summer holidays, in fact it is a hive of activity!

This summer, six recordings by our students were completed for the Naxos label and, by all accounts, they were a huge success: they should start appearing around this time next year. Away from the Conservatoire, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival once again saw an impressive representation by RBC graduates and current students – including involvement in productions that received excellent reviews, and awards.

This means a huge amount to everyone at RBC, as our students are – and always will be – our number one priority.

Postgraduate pianist Emanuil Ivanov’s First Prize in the prestigious Busoni International Piano Competition was a phenomenal achievement. Previous winners of the competition include Alfred Brendel, Martha Argerich and Maurizio Pollini, and Emanuil’s triumph over 420 applicants for the Competition confirms the opinion which I have recently been hearing from many in our profession – that we currently have the most exciting Keyboard Department in the UK.

An important focus of this issue is the huge amount of outreach work that Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is undertaking with extremely limited resources both at home and internationally. This work is increasingly vital as governments absolve themselves of their responsibility to introduce young people to the arts. If you know of anyone who might be able to help us develop this area of our work, or indeed support any area of RBC, please do get in touch with our Director of Development (details page 23).

RBC’s international profile continues to grow, and this year’s ‘Last Night of the Proms’ featured alumna Laura Mvula’s beautiful composition Sing to the Moon, which was seen by a global audience of many millions.

Contents 14 | Learning and Participation Programme – reaching out across the UK

2 | Welcome from the Principal 4 | Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

16 | ARCO Project 2018/19

6 | An interview with Professor Alison Honour, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean of Faculty of Arts, Design and Media

17 | Alumni spotlight: Anton Clarke-Butler 18 | Conservatoire news

8 | Composition Department festival: CODA

20 | Alumni news

10 | Foundation Course in Acting

22 | Thank you to all our supporters

11 | Being an accompanist at RBC 12 | Applied Theatre with elderly people

Professor Julian Lloyd Webber Principal, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

James Cheadle

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Greg Milner

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Front cover image taken by Nick J. Davis at the world record-breaking 88 Pianists project. More info page 19.

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Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire I have always felt that the ethos of a junior conservatoire should be to provide an environment where the brightest and best of our young musicians can work together and thrive.

As an integral part of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, we set ourselves as educators, and our students, the highest possible standards. To do this we aim to provide as much support and flexibility within our provision as possible, so that the needs of each student, and their individual musical journey, are acknowledged and respected.

From this September, we are extending the opportunities offered by the Junior Conservatoire for young pianists in the region through our new Intermediate Piano course.

Lauren Zhang

It would be impossible to reflect on the successes of the past year without mentioning the extraordinary performances of Junior Conservatoire student, Lauren Zhang, since her triumph in the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2018 competition. Witnessing the progress made by our many talented young musicians is always incredibly rewarding, but to watch a young artist of Lauren’s ability continue and even accelerate in her meteoric rise is quite amazing. I shall never forget her extraordinary, highly coloured, performance of Ravel’s La valse in its original piano version that demands extraordinary technical ability alongside an understanding of its orchestral colours. She is much in demand as a concert artist across Europe and beyond, and her performances here at the Conservatoire have included playing for HRH Prince Edward at the Royal Gala Opening of our building. Inspired by her successes, our summer concert included a performance of Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, with the piano solos shared by eight of our most talented young pianists. The result was both musically satisfying and visually exciting, as the young pianists moved between the two Steinway grand pianos on stage in the Bradshaw Hall.

Junior Conservatoire images by Nick Robinson

that lies in our children. About 70 children join us every Saturday for a mixture of individual and ensemble work, supported by Kodály and Dalcroze Eurhythmics classes.

senior Conservatoire. More and more of our students are selecting Royal Birmingham Conservatoire as their first choice; Théa will be joined by Ben Partridge and Angus Sharp from our Jazz Department, flautist Rebecca Coleman and trumpeter Hannah Matthews.

Looking to the future, I am particularly aware of the difficulties that young pianists experience in finding high quality teachers and instruments. From this September, we are therefore extending the opportunities offered by the Junior Conservatoire for young pianists in the region, through our new Intermediate Piano course, aimed at pianists who show potential but have not yet had the chance to shine.

Financial support plays an essential part in ensuring that the most talented young musicians from around the West Midlands and beyond are able to benefit from high level training and the magnificent facilities of the Conservatoire. A total of 45 students are currently supported by the government’s Music and Dance Scheme National Grants, helping us to recruit students from diverse backgrounds, but all with a common passion and talent for music. Alongside these grants, generous support for bursaries from the Leverhulme Trust and Wolfson Foundation ensure that the opportunity to study at the Junior Conservatoire remains open to all.

It has been a busy year for our other departments too, and our students continue to notch up successes both within and outside the Conservatoire. Six of our young string players became members of the National Youth Orchestra during the past year, in a season that finished with a Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, whilst our Wind Orchestra performed Malcom Binney’s Four Character Studies from Master Humphrey’s Clock in this year’s Music for Youth National Festival at Symphony Hall, here in Birmingham. Also in our Woodwind Department, flautist Alanagh Bohan won a place in the prestigious Curtis Institute Summerfest Young Artists programme with a full scholarship.

As we move into the new academic year I feel the excitement build not only at the prospect of welcoming back our returning students, but also to see how our new intake responds to the challenges of being a part of this conservatoire. But there is an added bonus for me; the great privilege of being able to watch and listen as some of our junior alumni move on to the next stage of their musical journey here at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

The negative impacts of the E-Bacc and cuts in funding for music within the educational sector are very real, and as a junior department, we have a role to play in trying to minimise the effect on young people. We continue to support the work of our Young Strings Project, which, with its open access provision for children aged five and six, has proven over and again the latent musical ability

Our Composition Department is thriving under the inspirational guidance of composer Kirsty Devaney.

Alex Wyatt was one of only seven young composers invited to join the National Youth Orchestra, while fellow student Théa Deacon auditioned successfully for our 4

Tim English Head of the Junior Department Find out how you can support our Junior Conservatoire on pages 22-23 5

An interview with Professor Alison Honour, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean of Faculty of Arts, Design and Media A National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Professor Honour originally trained as a fine artist before taking on various higher education roles including technician, Course Leader, Head of Department and Head of School.

2019, the idea being that the Faculty has clear career development and progression pathways.

What experience of other institutions have you already found useful to apply to your role at BCU? I’m really keen to develop a leadership culture and ethos that has a positive impact on others, which I think is vital for a university to have in place. I’d describe myself as an altruistic leader; I think a successful leader believes in positive and generous leadership – what you leave behind and helping others to progress – not leadership for self-gain.

I’ve had some really positive experiences, and worked in some institutions which have strong development opportunities for career progression that have been made widely available, where many colleagues have benefitted.

I’ve been fortunate to experience some inspiring leadership styles, but I’ve also come across leadership styles based on fear culture and around self-gain, as opposed to what benefits a leadership team can bring to a university in terms of transformation. Having seen such a range of styles, both positive and negative, I have been able to reflect upon what sort of leader I want to be, and what sort of change I want to make. I also think the range of roles I’ve had has given me an understanding of all the parts and cultures that make a university work, particularly in the creative subjects, but also in other areas I’ve been responsible for in previous roles.

She then moved into leadership and spent 10 years at Oxford Brookes University, rising to the position of Associate Dean of Student Experience, before becoming Pro-Vice Chancellor of De Montfort’s Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities. Her career in creative arts and higher education leadership has spanned over 30 years.

What is your creative background, and how did that lead you to your current role?

I trained as a fine artist specialising in sculpture at Central St Martins, and then held pretty much every role that exists within a creative faculty at a university, teaching across a range of disciplines. I later moved into leadership because I felt compelled to help students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, increase their cultural capital and discover the opportunities that a university education can provide. I’m also interested in exploring interdisciplinary pedagogy and social innovation, which led to the award-winning project I carried out at Oxford Brookes in collaboration with Oxford University, called Oxfordshire Social Enterprise Partnership (OSEP), which concentrated on positive social impact.

I’m also an Aurora national role model for Women in Higher Education Leadership for the Leadership Foundation in the UK, which I got involved in because I am passionate about the development of others in research, teaching and leadership pathways. That work has partly informed the work we are doing in the Arts, Design and Media Faculty at BCU to create a new structure and staff development scheme which launched at the end of August

What has really impressed you about the Faculty? Have you found anything that has surprised you or stood out?

How resilient it has been despite significant change.

Change is good, but it’s about how change is managed, and I think that has been a challenge in the past. It has impressed me how well staff have responded despite those challenges. The staff here have strong communities, they go above and beyond, and they are incredibly dedicated and student-focused, putting 100% into what they do.

Our students have also impressed me; we have a wide demographic, some students coming from really challenging backgrounds, and we have a diverse cohort that come from local to global communities. The quality of work they achieve and confidence level they get to, and where they go in terms of their careers or postgraduate study, shows there’s an ambition there; a drive and energy about the students, and I think that’s really recognised by the number of awards they win – they are stand-out students. I think the excellence that exists is demonstrated by our recent QS world rankings, in Art & Design, which placed 150-200, so I think our reputation is special at BCU. 6

As a country we could lose our world-renowned reputation for producing creative individuals and industries. Without creative thinkers you can have all the STEM subjects in the world, but you would miss some of the most adaptable, resilient, problem-solving team-workers, and people who are passionate about their discipline. Without those graduates the other sectors would suffer, because they unlock the potential of other disciplines with their attributes and talents. That’s before considering the economic importance of the creative industry, which is now worth £100 billion and is the fastest-growing industry in the UK.

Sometimes our league table placements and rankings don’t reflect our high standards, and that is our next priority. We need to remove that sense of doubt, and show the world how great we are. I joined BCU because I love to see the potential in things that aren’t quite fully formed and it was this that excited me about that the role and the opportunity to help realise the full potential of the Faculty.

I felt that BCU was on the runway ready to take off and we are already starting to see it fly.

What has been your experience of the Conservatoire?

The Conservatoire is a really special part of the Faculty.

I’ve been to numerous events, and I’ve really enjoyed meeting staff and students. During my interview for this role I still remember the students who took me round music and acting – they particularly stood out. That was a real moment for me; you can see when students are genuinely passionate, and that was one of the things that made me want to come here. Everything from the Eastside Jazz Club to the intimate atmosphere of the Recital Hall, the Organ Studio, seeing students practise, have all shown me the extraordinary musical activity that goes on in the Conservatoire. I think the facilities also provide an opportunity for the City of Birmingham to be part of RBC’s audience, providing a glimpse into the passion, hard work and sacrifice it takes to succeed in those disciplines.

What do you think the Conservatoire can do more of to bring in more city residents, and BCU staff and students from the wider faculty and university to concerts?

There’s still a lot of work to do to turn the University inside out, to bring the city in, and that will have a ripple effect. I think it would be really interesting to think about starting a community orchestra or choir that students could lead. The outreach work at RBC is excellent already, so continuing and developing that is so important. I think the ARCO project is vital as well – based on allowing wider participation in music where it might previously have been unavailable – and the Junior Conservatoire also provides so many opportunities. I think these things show what’s important to RBC and its values.

I think it’s about continuing to welcome and invite new audiences and focus around engagement activities that students can lead. It could be anything, but just to engage with what’s happening and to bring our students in; some don’t have the cultural capital to see themselves in that space. So we need to break down those barriers and welcome them in, and expose them to that experience.

What do you think the Conservatoire offers the Faculty and BCU that is special and valuable?

I think the idea of cultural capital and providing opportunities for our students to go to concerts, or to study alongside other students that are passionate about their discipline and see how hard they work, is a really good thing for all students to experience from each other. The desire to achieve the excellence that you see at RBC is so valuable to the Faculty and to the University. Also just the fact we are offering music; we’ve seen over the last 10 years the offer of music squeezed out of schools, and closed across many universities. I fought to keep the music faculty open at Oxford Brookes because I believe it’s so important.

What faculty projects and ideas do you have in the pipeline and what are your priorities for the future?

I think the new structure should address some of the external factors, and the roles we are launching will provide ongoing career progression and opportunities so we can be resilient and adapt to challenges by retaining great staff. We’re also looking at designing bespoke learning environments in each school, bearing in mind our number of commuter students and what makes them want to stay on campus, thereby improving the student experience.

Also I shall be travelling to at least eight countries this year to work on our local to global presence and open up those markets – taking Birmingham out to the world, and bringing to BCU – through international opportunities.

In addition, the other big project is to launch a centre of excellence for diversity and inclusion in the arts, bringing together research, pedagogic practice, and live projects in the city. We want to ensure that every school has an ambitious project to raise their profile and provide extraordinary learning experiences for their students, in partnership with key stakeholders. In addition we’ve just started looking at how we might develop enterprise and entrepreneurial activity, commercialising our knowledge and activities and generating more external income.

This should help to increase the impact of our research, both regionally and globally. Beyond this my priority and ambition for the Faculty is to be one of the largest HE providers of outstanding creative education in the UK which fosters extraordinary talent and produces graduates that are able to fully realise their aspirations.

How do you view the landscape of arts education in the UK at the moment?

I’m worried about the arts education landscape, but it’s not enough to be worried, we need to be action-orientated.

We have phenomenal support from the schools we work with, and we also need to offer free continued professional development for teachers; the expertise of those creative subject teachers is disappearing because the posts aren’t available. We need to own the space, take responsibility, be insistent, inform policy, and explain why it’s important.

I think we can talk too about the link between young people’s mental health and the lack of deep-flow activity, which is focused around making, producing, playing and performing. I think those things are missing from our curriculum; that ability to enter a deep-flow state of engagement allows us to slow down, in a world where young people are rarely disconnected from social media and don’t often have the time to slow down. I think there are moments when it’s important to do nothing but reflect and get some distance, but young people don’t have time to ‘do nothing’, get critical distance, experiment and take risks; which is what a creative education gives.

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Composition Department festival: CODA Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s CODA Festival took place in June. The Festival is organised and run by the Conservatoire’s Composition Department as an annual celebration of their new work, but the proposalbased nature of the programming also allows involvement from students from outside the Department who also have a passion for creating and performing new music.

CODA allows composers who have been working on long-term projects to showcase their work for a wider audience to enjoy.

Millicent James

understanding of the subject. I am pleased to say the feedback was extremely positive and seemed to reflect my aims.

CODA allows composers who have been working on long-term projects to showcase their work for a wider audience to enjoy. This year, composer and violinist Anna Marie Olson launched her multi-track violin album, Circles, and songwriter Hannah Liu, played tracks from her Christian-pop debut album My Saviour the following evening. The latter also featured performances from other Birmingham-based songwriters, including myself.

Composition tutors Dr Michael Wolters and Dr Paul Norman devised a harp-based concert installation, She Plays Angel Music (Where People Might Die), where the piece was performed amongst the crowd in the Conservatoire’s Recital Hall. Another piece, titled Analysis, was an incredibly intimate and interactive piece by research student, Susie Self, about her life experiences.

Dr Paul Norman

It’s an intense experience for both audience and participants – with events running from 11am to 11pm each day – but also extremely rewarding, exciting and engaging. An opportunity for current artists to showcase their work is vital, and I am always proud to be involved, which is why I have written about just some of the wide array of musical happenings that took place during the Festival.

Not all pieces were lengthy. l(a, by Paul Norman, took place in the Lab, and the audience were seated in a semi-circle facing a solo grand piano waiting patiently for what would occur. The room darkened, and the composer approached the piano in a traditional fashion and sat down as if readying himself to play. Rather than playing a piece, he remained there, unfazed, as a leaf was dropped from the balcony above, before leaving the venue again.

The whole piece lasted thirty seconds at most but, within that incredibly short period of time, it became something thought-provoking and enchanting.

This year’s Festival opened with Millicent James’ World Music Showcase, which featured new music

by Birmingham composers, inspired by styles and genres from across the globe, from Gamelan to Gospel.

Millicent wanted to create an event which allowed for more representation and diversity within the Festival programme, a sentiment which I feel was achieved and appreciated by everyone. The seats were full and the audience left smiling. It set the precedent for what would be an eclectic and enjoyable two days of events.

Each year the CODA Festival provides an opportunity for artists to explore pressing current issues. Third year student George West had a clear message he was trying to convey throughout his involvement in this year’s festival. His installation arr. ran for a whole day in one of the Conservatoire’s workshop rooms, and was created from copious amounts of discarded sheet music, collected from the building’s waste paper bins. They were littered all over the room and used to construct a fully-functioning badminton court, where participants could use rackets to launch paper shuttlecocks over a paper-chained net.

He said his work ‘forces the audience to confront the wasteful attitude of society in various practical activities’.

In collaboration with composers Peter Bell and James Abel, George also took part in a performance in the Conservatoire’s Foyer, which involved constructing an umbrella out of the same discarded materials. The trio made music by amplifying the sounds created from doing so, and played from the material to produce a new piece which audience members witnessed during their prefinale coffee breaks.

My own contribution, SKIN, took place on the second evening of the festival. The audience were invited to stand tightly packed in a marked box in the middle of the room, surrounded on four corners by musicians, including myself. The following concert-installation consisted of a piece structured in five ‘chapters’, based on the possibilities of how one could approach body image: ‘surface’, ‘identity’, ‘confinement’, ‘expectation’ and ‘ownership’. Each part featured a different combination of projected film, live semi-improvised music, surroundsound vocal harmonies and excerpts of interviews I had conducted over months with colleagues on how they related to their bodies. The event lasted 30 minutes in total, in which I aimed to spark conversation and a deeper 8

The closing piece on the first day of the festival welcomed back department graduates Dan Cippico, Tom Earl, Oliver Farrow and Peter Bell as ‘RM2’, a witty name for their group taken from the name of the composers’ room in the old conservatoire building. Their piece, Fragmentary, allowed audience members to gather on cushions around them for a relaxing evening of mixed media music, which provided the perfect wind-down after the first day. The final event of the festival, in contrast, was a rather fierce, improvisatory noise gig in the conservatoire’s foyer. The piece was led by self-described ‘transatlantic punk/no wave/free improv collaboration’ duo ‘Phame’. I took part in an ensemble of musicians who performed a loud, semi-improvised score in sunglasses, as the duo threw themselves around the Foyer in a violent display of energy. This was a vibrant conclusion to the festival, as well as a shock to half of the Jazz Department who were passing through the Foyer after the evening’s gig in the Eastside Jazz Club!

Emily Abdy MMus Composition student

George West’s arr. installation

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Foundation Course in Acting Our Foundation Course in Acting at RBC, which offers both full-time and part-time modes of study, has long been successful in providing students with the opportunity to increase their acting skills and their confidence in preparation for drama school auditions; whether that be continuing with us, or applying to other drama schools for their training.

Being an accompanist at RBC September 1986 marked the start of my journey with Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, then known as the Birmingham School of Music. When I had auditioned the year before, out of all the colleges I applied for, I knew that Birmingham was the place I felt most at home, something which many years down the line it still is.

Joanne accompanying musicians in a masterclass with oboist Jonathan Kelly

The full-time course attracts students who are working towards achieving a place on a BA Acting course at a drama school, whereas the students who opt for part-time study may come on to the course to discover or learn more about acting, or perhaps rekindle a past passion or interest in the subject. The two pathways offer many of the same modules, often being taught by the same staff members, but while the full-time course is delivered across five days, the part-time course runs over two evenings a week for three terms, in the final term the part-time students work on a play ready for a public performance at the end of the year. The full-time students are with us for two terms and end their time with a public performance which is generally in the form of a showcase in an external theatre.

them to integrate the skills they are working on into more intense rehearsal scenarios. Students work on a devised storytelling project, a musical theatre showcase and a Shakespeare project ahead of the final showcase performance.

Although the course is a non-award-bearing method of study, students are all entered for a Grade 8 Trinity exam and the result of this exam provides UCAS points.

Students from both pathways are often successful in securing places on a variety of BA degree courses in Acting and Musical Theatre, both in the UK and abroad, and we’re delighted that each year some successfully gain a place on our own BA Acting course here at the Conservatoire to stay and complete their training with us.

Rob Miles Course Director, Foundation Course in Acting

Alongside skills classes, students on the full-time course work on four large-scale projects which allow

“The staff are so passionate about what they do and would always be there for us.

Whether you sent an email asking for some advice or just wanted someone to help you freshen up a monologue after class, they really couldn’t do enough to ensure we got the most out of our time at RBC.” Foundation student Images by Hannah Kelly

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The wind and brass departments I work with both feel like a huge family and both have a holistic approach to their students’ musical education; the happier they are, the better the results.

I am part of a team of three full-time pianists who accompany the students at RBC, alongside Jon French, Head of Piano Accompaniment in Vocal Studies, and Dr Robert Markham, Senior Tutor in Piano. My role is Head of Piano Accompaniment in Wind and Brass Studies, and it keeps me extremely busy! My daily life consists of any combination of rehearsals, coaching sessions and performance classes. Alongside this, I perform with students in masterclasses, concerts, competitions, and any assessments and recitals they have. I help plan recital programmes and play for any recordings to prepare for exchange auditions, funding auditions, and so on. I also play for entrance auditions to the Conservatoire, so I am involved with the students right from the very beginning of their journey. In some cases I have worked with them and watched them develop over seven years, during which time it is a pleasure to see how they grow and develop as musicians. It is very rewarding to be able to take a step back and feel pride, knowing that I have been a part of that development.

The role of an accompanist – or collaborative pianist, whatever you like to call it – can sometimes be seen as a ‘back seat’ role, when it is actually far from that. For me, my job isn’t just about playing the notes on the page, but looking beyond them and working with each individual to bring out their ideas and thoughts on what a particular piece means to them, and how they can interpret that. I have played hundreds of pieces over the years, and many I’ve played over and over again, but with each player it’s

different, and this is what keeps things fresh; it never gets jaded.

The bottom line is that we are in the entertainment business, and in any performance we have to be able to communicate to the listeners – I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to get to do that every day in my role at RBC. I have had the privilege of performing with many visiting artists over the years, and watching and listening to such great role models can really inspire the students.

Many of our students have gone on to have very successful, busy careers. For example trumpeter Alan Thomas, our Associate Head of Brass and section leader with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, was one of the first brass final recitalists I played for at the Conservatoire, and Max Garrard, French Horn and RBC Performance Coach and Mentor, who also plays with Opera North, is also an alumnus of the Conservatoire – just a couple of success stories among many.

Working at the Conservatoire means I get to work with two very supportive Heads of Department on a daily basis too – Jenni Phillips our Head of Woodwind and Amos Miller our Head of Brass – and I also support them with the running of their departments throughout each year.

So, as we prepare for another year here at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, I will personally look forward to welcoming the next generation of musicians to come through our doors, and to watching how they develop as musicians during their time here.

One thing is certain, they will find the atmosphere very friendly and supportive.

Joanne Sealey, ABSM, GBSM, HonRBC Head of Piano Accompaniment in Wind and Brass Studies

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Applied Theatre with elderly people Applied Theatre has a reputation as a very youth-centred area of work – people expect our students to be spending all their time making up contemporary plays full of social media links and chart music about teenage issues, to take into schools and communities. That is certainly part of the story, but only part.

In addition, the value to older audiences was particularly striking. The Middleton Road residents, whose voices were heard in the performance itself, clearly loved the focus being on their memories, and were both moved and entertained; the audience at Bournville Gardens, who had not been involved in the research process, also found the piece particularly touching. The performance there was followed by a long stay in the hall as many of the residents spoke with the students about their own memories, feelings and thoughts triggered by the story.

We heard that these conversations continued for days and weeks, and were felt to have real value to the wellbeing and happiness of those people.

Susie Boden, who runs the events at Bournville (where music performances by Conservatoire students are also a regular occurrence) was very struck by the reaction to Lifting the Lid.

Peter Wynne-Willson

Recently, as well as projects in special schools, nurseries, and work with primary and secondary age students, Applied Theatre students at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire have also been bridging the generation gap in the other direction – creating work for and with older people.

“The Conservatoire students’ visit to Bournville Gardens created a great inter-generational opportunity for our residents. The play was very professional, and their understanding of the parts they performed was amazing and extremely thought-provoking. It brought back lots of memories for our residents, good and bad, and created a lot of further discussion about the subjects involved.”

In the summer, our first year undergraduates created a new play called Lifting the Lid, which they devised from interviews with the residents of Middleton Road sheltered housing in Kings Heath. It became a deeply moving piece centred on the memories of a woman who had given up her child for adoption in the 1950s. As well as being performed at the Conservatoire to the public, the play was also seen by the older people who helped with the research and then taken for a special performance at Bournville Gardens, a senior living centre run by Extracare on the Bristol Road, at the site of the former Bournville College.

The value of these projects runs in various directions.

First and foremost the students’ work is really enjoyed by the public audiences. Lifting the Lid, which was devised under the expert guidance of my colleagues, Terina Talbot and Bobby Colvill, drew high praise from the people who watched it in the Lab at RBC, because it had the authenticity that only comes from work that is based on real testimony, the kind of detail that rings true to audiences, because it is true.

Applied Theatre is about using the power of theatre to make a real difference, and this kind of response in any group of participants is the most significant measure of success. Susie has since asked our students to start up a regular drama club for the elderly residents, planned to begin this term, with a group of undergraduates going in each week to run drama sessions and hopefully encourage the residents to create some new work of their own to show the youngsters.

A touching and sensitive story, delivered with thought, insight and exceptional talent. I loved the inclusion of real peoples’ stories’.

[Lifting the Lid Audience Member]

This latest project builds on work we have been doing for some time with older people, and specifically older people living with dementia. For the last few years, the Applied Theatre course has had a really fruitful partnership with Age Concern – each spring groups of third year students attend day centres running participatory drama sessions.

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Images of Lifting the Lid

These sessions are brokered by Mollie Guilfoyle, one of the highly experienced practitioners in the Applied Theatre team, who has been working in this field herself for many years.

stages of life often have so much more locked away than we realise, and drama can be the key.

Applied Theatre is about using theatre and drama skills to make a difference, and there is no better feeling than knowing that a performance or a workshop has had a real and lasting impact. These projects are full of moments like that, and with so much vitriol around between generations at the moment, it is perhaps more important than ever to encourage telling and listening to each other’s untold stories.

These longer-term projects are not about performance, they are part of a programme involving the seniors participating in drama – communicating, expressing, exploring, sharing, being valued as artists and storytellers, and having fun. In these sessions it is not unusual to see our students visibly moved by something they see or hear. Drama like this is at its very best with groups that are often undervalued or patronised, and the moments of realisation always seem to involve someone being empowered to surprise – ‘I never knew that about him’, ‘I didn’t realise she could do that’. Human beings at all

Peter Wynne-Willson Course Director, BA Applied Theatre Find out how you can support Applied Theatre at RBC on pages 22-23 13

Learning and Participation Programme – reaching out across the UK Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Learning and Participation (L&P) programme is a national initiative to work in partnership with the wider music education and schools’ sector, improving and enhancing young people’s musical journeys, through collaborative and participatory music education initiatives.

Image of George Kirkham at the 88 Pianists project by Nick J. Davis

primary aim is to provide inspirational performance and education activities within education and community contexts. The Ensemble performs a wide range of music from ELO’s Mr Blue Sky to Holst’s The Planets and John Williams’s Theme from ET! A flexible ensemble that can play music from many different genres in one performance, the LEAP Ensemble enables RBC to engage with a wider range of young people and adult audiences.

Concerts are presented in interesting and participatory ways to engage the audiences, sometimes in more formal concert hall settings, but also frequently popping up in unusual locations! The LEAP Ensemble has become a desirable group for RBC students to perform in, and next year the ensemble will be working on a new commission, based on the Silk Road, for several schools and public concerts.

This year RBC has worked in partnership with Gloucestershire Music, Dudley Performing Arts, Coventry Music, Cornwall Music Hub, Oldham Music Service and Gwent Music to provide musicians with side-by-side rehearsals and performance projects alongside RBC students and staff. These opportunities encourage young people to practise, and provide them with the inspiration to continue on their musical pathways. RBC students, many of whom are only three or four years older than the young people they are sitting next to, communicate real stories about what it is like to study at a conservatoire and strive to become a professional musician. By reaching out to young people between the ages of 11 and 16, we hope to inspire them enough to consider taking their music-making to the next level at a UK conservatoire or university. Already several students who are entering into the undergraduate programme at RBC have accessed these partnership activities through our L&P programme.

We aim to develop long-term partnerships with music hubs, so we can meet young people more than once and help nurture a love for all things musical.

This year the LEAP Ensemble have visited schools to give concerts to over 3,000 young people in Somerset and Cambridgeshire, worked alongside 200 young musicians on a residential course in Cornwall, collaborated with Birmingham Hippodrome on their summer in Southside Festival, where we performed moon landing themed repertoire across the city to audiences in the Arcadian Centre and Birmingham Bullring, and performed at Birmingham Town Hall as part of a civic engagement programme called Echo Eternal for young people from diverse backgrounds across the city.

Advocating music in secondary schools RBC delivers a Partnership Schools Programme for secondary schools across the West Midlands. We work in partnership with Music Teachers and Senior Leaders in schools to develop music opportunities that counteract the recent cuts resulting from the pressures of achieving the EBacc and of the lack of arts within the compulsory curriculum. This year RBC has worked with eight schools, and recently provided them with the opportunity to bring their groups to perform in our Bradshaw Hall. The RBC Partnership Schools Programme forms an important and vital part of the L&P programme, and we are continually looking to support inspirational music teachers with their work.

Support us The RBC L&P Team is grateful to all the external funders and supporters of our programme. To enable us to increase our impact on children and young people, it is essential to receive external support. So if you are interested in helping us grow and engage with more young people, please contact RBC’s Director of Development Robin Leonard, details on pages 22-23.

The LEAP Ensemble SoundLab

RBC’s Learning and Participation programme is the most broad and diverse of any UK conservatoire, each year we engage with over 5,000 young people across the UK, reaching from Cornwall to Tees Valley. The programme has grown significantly over the past three years, and aims to support Conservatoire students learning to work in education and community settings. More than 120 RBC students have worked alongside the L&P Team and tutors to deliver a wide variety of activities. This work complements the extensive and comprehensive pedagogy and community engagement modules, compulsory for all RBC students.

SoundLab is an inclusive music project based in Coventry that aims to engage young people who otherwise would not be able to access music education provision. The programme is a partnership between RBC, Coventry Music, Positive Youth Foundation and Coventry City Council.

Richard Shrewsbury, HonRBC Head of Learning and Participation Richard.shrewsbury@bcu.ac.uk

RBC’s LEAP (Learning and Participation) Ensemble is a chamber orchestra of 18 players, a mixture of current advanced students and alumni of the Conservatoire. Its

SoundLab images by John Palmer

Delivered every Saturday during term time, the programme engages regularly with 45 young people from diverse backgrounds across the city. The programme has already had significant successes, including performances at major festivals, alongside members of the Coventry-based band ‘The Specials’, and in July at the National Festival of Music for Youth. Young people who attend the centre are in control of their own artistic aims, building on the music they enjoy, and regularly challenged to create new music under the guidance of an expert SoundLab team of RBC graduates and community musicians. The model for the delivery of SoundLab in Coventry has been so successful that RBC is looking to launch its next centre in Birmingham in 2019/20. To find out more about the project, visit www.soundlab.org.uk.

With pressures on music hub budgets and the downturn in music provision in secondary schools, our L&P programme provides an essential extra resource and advocacy tool for music teachers and senior leaders in education. It is impossible to plug all the gaps in music education provision that are constantly appearing, but, by effective partnership working and creative ways of pulling together funding to support the activities, we are making a significant contribution. RBC is nationally and internationally renowned for providing high quality pedagogical programmes; here are a few examples of the ways in which we are making a difference.

Supporting music hubs 14

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ARCO Project 2018/19 Throughout the past academic year, ARCO has seen months, days and hours of tuition from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire staff, students and alumni through online lessons in the Distance Learning Hub, two live festivals held at the Morris Isaacson Centre for Music (MICM), and two exchange opportunities for our senior ARCO musicians to the UK. In addition, a joint research project between the Faculty of Education and RBC, for potential publication in the British Journal of Music Education, has been written by Kirsty Devaney, Alistair Rutherford and Louise Lansdown. ARCO has also made a formal agreement with Colourstrings – the internationally acclaimed Finnish String Pedgaogical method – with all of their training materials, (both videographic and teaching books) made available to all RBC ARCO Teachers; as well as being implemented into all ARCO Teacher Training for this coming academic year.

Alumni spotlight: Anton Clarke-Butler My name is Anton Clarke-Butler, I’m a Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumnus and I live in Birmingham.

It was an honour for me to study at such a renowned music college within my home city.

I play the clarinet, and I gained both my undergraduate and Master’s degrees at RBC, learning a lot along the way.

It was certainly a rollercoaster of a journey, from being in practice rooms for numerous hours every day until the building shut, to being involved in several projects in and outside of the college, and dealing with several ups and downs in my personal life. But I must say, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I learnt so much from the people in the Conservatoire, including the lecturers, tutors, and fellow students, and also from my family and friends during my study.

The last few months have been particularly exciting.

Another ARCO festival was held in the first week of July at the MICM and Louise was joined by tutors Jan Repko, Alistair Rutherford, Lucy Nolan, Toby Holden, Peggy Nolan, Alicia Valoti, Nicholas Fidler, Lieva Starker and Claudia Dehnke in Soweto, delivering fabulous 1 to 1, chamber music, orchestra and a multitude of different sessions. This was followed almost immediately by the South African National Youth Orchestra Viola and Double Bass ‘What it Takes’ course held in Brixton and hosted by managing director, Sophia Welz. CBSO’s Principal Double Bass Anthony Alcock travelled to South Africa specially to deliver the course, and RBC violists Alistair Rutherford, Toby Holden, Louise Lansdown and Nicholas Fidler coached the violists.

Concert at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront Amphitheatre

ARCO also supported Olga so she was able to attend the Colourstrings training course in Roehampton University, London for a week during her time in the UK. Our thanks go to RBC alumnus Claudia Dehnke who spent hours of her time teaching on the ground in Soweto to coach the ARCO Octet, who were invited to perform in Darling (a gorgeous town 80km north of Cape Town) at ‘Voorkamefest’ (Front Room Festival) from 6-8 September.

Alistair Rutherford, Anthony Alcock and Louise Lansdown coached and travelled with the Octet down to Cape Town, eventually playing 12 shows of Beethoven was One Sixteenth Black to rave reviews in Darling.

A few days later, our ARCO cellist Sifiso Mbatha travelled to London to perform at an ARCO fundraising concert organised by RBC Violin Tutor Jiafeng Chen at St. Johns Smith Square, and also auditioned for the Purcell School, and attended the summer National Youth String Orchestra Course in Monmouth School for Girls. At the start of August another ARCO cellist Kamogelo Maraba travelled to the UK to attend the Pro Corda North Course held at Ampleforth College, accompanied by his mother Olga Maraba (our main ARCO violin teacher).

Alistair Rutherford, Research Assistant to the ARCO Project was on the ground in Soweto throughout the month of September, during which time he worked tirelessly on the management of the project, development of structure at the MICM, individual coaching and lessons with every single ARCO student (25 across violin, viola, cello and double bass) as well as the booking and preparation for the tour to Cape Town.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors, in particular the Vice Chancellor’s Office and ADM faculty of BCU for supporting all of our work. If you would like to find out more about our work and future plans, please email louise.lansdown@bcu.ac.uk, and if you would like to support the ARCO project, please contact RBC’s Director of Development Robin Leonard (details page 23).

Dr Louise Lansdown, Head of Strings & Alistair Rutherford, Research Assistant

Rehearsing for the Cape Town exchange concert

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Throughout my time at college, one of the most important things I valued was feeling that I had a role to play within the Conservatoire. I tried to involve myself in as many projects as possible; both performance and education based. In terms of playing, I managed to have an opportunity to play in all the different types of orchestral and chamber projects at some point during my time at the Conservatoire. That involved CD recordings, live broadcast performances, a tour trip to China, concerts at Symphony Hall and Town Hall, training schemes and side-by-sides with professional orchestras (including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and the Welsh National Opera), alongside working on some fantastic projects with some amazing conductors.

My attitude to learning was one of dedication and a desire to achieve. This was even more important to me given that I was behind when I arrived at RBC, due to starting late on my classical musical journey in comparison to the people around me. I refused to give up, and ensured that I grasped everything I could, and worked my socks off to ensure that I would leave with the highest level of qualification and chance for employment.

The thing that I love the most about what I do now is that I have a varied career. I privately teach students, I play, I do workshops, I meet amazing people, I see amazing places, and I inspire young people through my own learning.

If I could pass any advice onto a student or learner it would be to always respect the people around you, as it is most likely those people are the ones supporting you on your journey. The world of music can be small, and it is likely you’ll work with some of the same people as you progress, so don’t burn the bridges you form along the way. I remember that my first professional work once I left college was from a person who remembered me when I was young and hadn’t heard me play in years, but just knew through experience that I was someone decent to work with.

Since graduating a little over a year ago, I have achieved some of my lifelong career dreams which, at one time, I may not have felt were possible. I have been involved in playing with a touring orchestra that supported famous artists as such as Steve Hackett and Led Zepplin Boys.

This year, I was invited to play at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms 2019 season – to have my family in the audience watching me perform at such a globallyrecognised venue, with them knowing my journey from the start, is still an experience that I will never forget!

Also, so many people often forget where they come from, as they become more successful and they fail to acknowledge that others are also on their own journeys.

So, I would advise others to never lose your authenticity, and go for your dreams.

I have even been able to be take part in social impact and community outreach projects, ranging from flash-mobs in public shopping malls, to play days where the Conservatoire supported some of the educational teaching hubs we were linked to.

Anton Clarke-Butler BMus and MMus graduate Follow Anton on Twitter: @antonclarkeb 17

Conservatoire news NSS Success

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ur BMus and BMus Jazz courses achieved 93% and 91% respectively in the 2019 National Student Survey, and BCU as an institution (including the Conservatoire) achieved 92% for overall satisfaction in music. This makes us top in the UK for the second year running! Our BA Acting managed to improve on last year’s excellent 97% score for overall satisfaction, reaching the full 100% this year, and Applied Theatre also received an excellent 95%.

First ever 5G music lesson

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oyal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Eastside Jazz Club acted as one of just three venues hosting the world’s first 5G music lesson, led by popular musician and songwriter Jamie Cullum. Cullum, playing piano in London, performed live with amateur musicians in Bristol and Birmingham, teaching the musicians in a unique multi-site lesson that connected the three cities across the UK. The event was organised by the charity Music for All, and aimed to demonstrate how 5G technology can remove barriers to learning by delivering super low-delay connectivity over distance, enabling skills to be shared with others wherever they may be located.

67 French Horns at New Street Station

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n June, our Brass Department welcomed French Horn superstar Sarah Willis for her first official visit as International Chair In Brass. During her stay she ran a two-day programme, including 67 French Horns flash-mobbing Birmingham New Street railway station, conducted by our Principal Julian Lloyd Webber. A video of the performance is available to view on Sarah’s You Tube channel and has been watched by nearly 5,000 fans already.

Royal Patron visit

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e are delighted to announce that, following the departure of Aidy Spillett at the end of last term, our new Head of Percussion Toby Kearney joined us at the start of September. At the start of the autumn term we also welcomed Nicholas Stringfellow as Associate Head of Strings, and Dr Adam Whittaker as Head of Pedagogy and Lecturer in Music. Last but not least, we’re delighted that CBSO Section Leader Bassoonist, Nikolaj Henriques, will be joining our woodwind teaching staff.

Image by Nick Robinson

Breaking and Entering film success

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hort film Breaking and Entering received an honourable mention at the Los Angeles Television and Film Festival in June. Earlier in the year it won best comedy short at the Independent Film Awards in London, and was selected to screen at the Swiss Film Festival Aaretaler Kurzfilmtage. The film stars final year actors Rory Dulku, Stephanie Austin and Samuel Van Greuningen, and is directed by RBC Tutor Clifford Milner.

Drummer Jakob Terry, guitarist and singer Jeremy Levif, and bassist Alyson Knott

Percussionists perform at BBC Young Dancer

M Tzu-Jo Hang: Concerto Prize winner

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zu-Jo Hang (known as Jojo) was the first percussionist since 2006 to win our prestigious Concerto prize. The competition was judged by three high-profile adjudicators: David Pickard (Director of the BBC Proms), Stephen Lumsden (CEO of the artists’ agency Intermusica) and Jenny Chadwick (Concerts Director of the CBSO).

Birmingham Record Company Day t an eclectic one-day festival in May 2019, Birmingham Record Company signed a distribution deal with the renowned NMC Recordings, meaning that NMC will re-release the BRC back-catalogue through their own distribution networks. Recordings from the day were broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show.

The BRC label was established in 2013 to promote the bold and exciting new music being created in our Composition Department.

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n June we welcomed our Royal Patron, HRH Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex. He dropped in on a range of rehearsals, including Mozart Flute Quartet and Dvorak Piano Trio, Applied Theatre, and Summer Opera rehearsals of Mansfield Park. He also had his first tour of the our state-of-the-art recording studio facilities.

usicians from the Conservatoire’s Percussion Department performed alongside Shree Savani for the grand final of BBC Young Dancer 2019 at the Birmingham Hippodrome. The performance was broadcast on BBC 2.

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New Appointments

President Sir Simon Rattle visit

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BC President Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE DUniv visited the Conservatoire at the end of March. Principal Julian Lloyd Webber welcomed him and gave him his first tour of our music building.

Record-breaking 88 Pianists featured on The One Show

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n August Royal Birmingham Conservatoire was featured on BBC’s The One Show, in coverage of the world record-breaking attempt to beat the highest number of people playing a piano at the same time.

The project, called 88 Pianists, was a collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Engineering and eight other UK universities. Over 2,500 young people across the UK designed mechanical finger extensions to allow 88 people to play the same piano at the same time – the number of keys on a grand piano!

Sell-out immersive theatre: …Until Proven Guilty

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ed by third year Stage Management student Lucy Gosden, RBC Stage Managers put on a sell-out immersive theatre experience called …Until Proven Guilty at a disused prison known as the Steelhouse Lane lock-up in May. The experience put groups of audience members in the roles of six suspects in a recent murder, who then had to decide who the murderer was using the evidence available.

RBC was the musical partner on this amazing initiative, which aimed to prove that future generations have huge creative capacity, invention and innovation, by linking engineering and music. You can find out more about the project here: www.88pianists.com Image by Nick J. Davis

When Tuba Come One: ITEC winners

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uba Quartet ‘When Tuba Come One’ won the ensemble prize at the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference at the University of Iowa in June. The group, made up of current RBC brass students Amy Ewen, Ben Smith, James Hobbis and Mark Dilley, fundraised to travel to the USA to compete for the prize.

RBC pianist wins first prize Image by Candian Li

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Congratulations to RBC pianist Emanuil Ivanov for winning first prize in the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in September!

Image by Hannah Kelly

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Alumni news Laura Mvula receives Honorary Doctorate

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cclaimed singer and composer Laura Mvula, (alumna, HonRBC), received an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University at the graduation ceremonies in July. The honour was conferred on the composition graduate to mark her outstanding contribution to music before an audience of music and art graduates at Symphony Hall. To add to an exciting year, Laura’s piece Sing to the Moon was included in this year’s Last Night of the Proms.

Martha Thompson joins Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice

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lute graduate Martha Thompson started her role as Music Therapist at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice near Manchester in June.

ne of the highlights of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe was one-woman show #HonestAmy, a hilarious one-woman ukulele comedy starring RBC graduate Amy Booth-Steele, directed by well-known actor, director and writer Kathy Burke. Ahead of the Festival it was rated as one of the 12 best shows at The Fringe by the Guardian.

This was one of many productions at The Fringe that involved our graduates, and even some current students still completing their training!

e’re thrilled that RBC alumna mezzo-soprano Samantha Oxborough has been announced as one of the National Opera Studio’s Young Artists of the Year for 2019/20. The programme, which supports 13 singers and 4 répétiteurs each year, selects singers with the greatest potential and provides a 9-month programme that gives them experience of the wide range of skills needed to be an opera singer working at the highest level.

Ashley Tucker in West End comedy

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cting graduate Ashley Tucker has been cast as Ruth Monaghan in the West End show A Comedy about a Bank Robbery.

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cting alumna Helen George of Call the Midwife fame is making a return to the stage in My Cousin Rachel, which opens in Bath in November before touring the country including Richmond Theatre in the West End.

ll of the actors playing the Queens from the critically acclaimed musical SIX were nominated for ‘Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical’ at the Olivier Awards, including RBC graduate Alexia McIntosh who plays Anne of Cleves.

Alumna turns 100!

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e send warmest congratulations and best wishes to our first centenarian, Margery Elliott HonFRBC, who celebrated the great day on 26 July. A few months before, and after years of meticulous research, her book The Story of Rotton Park was published by Brewin Books.

Seb Yates Cridland cast as Ringo Starr

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ongratulations to Seb Yates Cridland who will be joining the international tour of Yellow Submarine as Ringo Starr from October.

Image by Idil Sukan

Joshua Ford stars in feature film

Rebeca Omordia: concert series recognition

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BC alumna and HonRBC Rebeca Omordia launched the first ever African Concert Series at the October Gallery in London this year. The programme aims to reflect the depths and diversity of African art music.

Rebeca appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour and was featured as Rhinegold’s Artist of the Month promoting her concert series.

Three 2019 acting graduates write and perform original material for John Thaw graduate festival

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Catherine Tyldesley stars with Jason Manford in Scarborough

n July acting graduate Joshua Ford attended the world première of Cosmos, a contemporary sci-fi feature film he stars in.

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hree of our 2019 Acting graduates have had selfwritten productions chosen to be part of the John Thaw Initiative Graduate Season at The Actors Centre.

The initiative has been created to give drama school graduates a platform to showcase their new and exciting work. Ria and Bea, written by and starring Kate Roche and Amelia Landon, and British Born Chinese by Eric Mok will both be included in the season.

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Alumna as Brünnhilde in The Ring

atherine Tyldesley, HonFRBC, stars alongside comedian Jason Manford in the new BBC series Scarborough, which started in September. Catherine is also one of the celebrities taking part in this year’s BBC Strictly Come Dancing!

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BC alumna Catherine Foster received a 5-star review in The Daily Telegraph for her performance as Brünnhilde in The Ring Cycle at Budapest Wagner Days 2019.

Rosie Coles in David Walliams production

Adam Lawrence: What Is Your Name

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cting graduate Adam Lawrence has co-written, produced and acted in a short film called What Is Your Name alongside Tony Pitts. BAFTA and Oscar nominated Baldwin Li was executive producer on the project. The film made Official Selection for Fastnet Film Festival in Ireland, which Adam attended in May.

Maraca 2: Singapore Symphony Orchestra

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cting graduate Rosie Coles is playing Sapphire in the UK tour of David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy, including coming to Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre in November.

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urrent members and graduates of RBC’s Composition Department, Andrew Hamilton, Maya Verlaak and Genevieve Murphy (HonRBC), participated in the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s festival of new and experimental music ‘Tectonics’ in May. The première of Genevieve’s new work Calm in an Agitated World was given at the festival, as well as the UK première of Andrew Hamilton’s orchestral piece C.

Helen George to return to the stage

#HonestAmy at Fringe

Samantha Oxborough: National Opera Studio Young Artist

Tectonics fest

Alexia McIntosh: Olivier award nominee

Phillipa Flynn appearing in The Girl on a Train

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raduate Phillipa Flynn is appearing in The Girl on a Train which opened in July at the Duke of York Theatre in the West End.

Alan Magor appears in The Mousetrap

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cting graduate Alan Magor is playing the role of Detective Sergeant Trotter in the world’s longest running theatre show, The Mousetrap.

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lumni percussion duo Maraca 2 performed a concerto in May this year with the Singapore Symphony orchestra at the Esplanade Concert Hall under conductor Pascal Rophé. Tim Palmer and Jason Huxtable met at RBC and are both Honorary Members and Visiting Tutors.

Stage Manager joins Harry Potter team

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tage Management graduate Linden Jago has joined the backstage team for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre in the West End.

Dorothy Howell’s piece played at the Proms

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ast member of RBC staff Dorothy Howell’s piece Lamia was included in BBC Prom number 46, played by the CBSO and conducted by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, one hundred years after its first performance.

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Thank you to all our supporters Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is extremely grateful for the generosity of all its donors during the 2018/19 financial year, in particular the following individuals, organisations and trusts.

Individual Donors The Family and Friends of Margaret Asher S S Baden Andrew Banks The Estate of Royston Beech Margaret Beesley Ian Bentley Dr Keith Bradshaw OBE DL Tony & Veronica Bridgewater A J Briscoe Paul Butcher Tony Davies & Darin Qualls Stuart Denning Professor Andrew Downes H J Edgar Alan Fairs G Gregory John Gripton & Rosemary Phillips Tony Hales CBE Elizabeth Hobbs Mark Hopton Sean Kelly Donald Main Kerry Milan Herm Miller Marita Morrison A R Phillips Andrew Rackham Richard Rathbone Joseph Seager Margaret A Tait Judith Taylor A C Turner

The Delia Hall Accompanist Prize Fund

The DMC McDonald Foundation Fund

The Marjorie Hazlehurst Pianist Trust Fund

The James Maddocks & June Mills Trust

The David Vann Scholarship Fund

The Sheila & Colina Hodge Memorial Fund

The John Mayer Fund

The Joseph Weingarten Memorial Trust

The Doris Newton Music Club Prize Fund

The John Avins Trust

The G F Hodson Fund

The Leverhulme Trust

Jane Williams & Bob Walker

The Michael Bishop Foundation

The Corton Hyde Early Music Scholarship Fund

Legacy Fellows

The Music and Dance Scheme

Tony & Veronica Bridgewater

The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust

John Gripton & Rosemary Phillips

The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Association The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Trust

Jeremy Patterson Richard Rathbone Jane Williams & Bob Walker

Foundations and Organisations Awards for Young Musicians Cheltenham Ladies College Churchill Music Marden House Concerts Orchestras for All PRS Foundation Signatur Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund

The Schubert Ensemble Trust The Wolfson Foundation Universal Music UK Sound Foundation In addition, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire wishes to acknowledge the valued contribution of the following trust funds which continued to support its students during the past financial year.

The Ambache Prize Fund

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation

The Ashleyan Opera Award Fund The Michael Beech Fund

The Aspinwall Educational Trust

The Bradshaw Fund

The Brooks Van Der Pump Charitable Trust

The Anthony Edward Brookes Trust

The Carne Trust

The Malcolm John Bullock Fund

The Denis Matthews Memorial Trust

The John Campbell Fund

The DMC McDonald Foundation

The Ella Mary Cheshire Fund

The Ernest Cook Trust

The Conservatoire Endowment Fund

The Fidelio Charitable Trust

The A Corfield Trumpet Prize Fund

The GDST Shrewsbury

The Gordon Clinton Fund

The George Cadbury Trust The Gibbons Family Trust

The Steve Elliott Development Award Fund

The Headley Trust

The Gazder Fund

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The Winifred Micklam Fund

The Elizabeth Rollason Trust Fund The Weingarten Kodaly Fund

The Dame Gillian Weir Prize Fund The Gwyn Williams Bursary Fund The Dr Stanley Wood Fund

Support Us! If you are interested in finding out more about any of the activities highlighted within this issue of Fanfare, if you would like to support the Conservatoire more broadly, or if you are thinking of including Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in your Will, please contact: Robin Leonard Director of Development Tel: 0121 331 5534 Email: Robin.Leonard@bcu.ac.uk

Tzu-Jo Hang performing in the 2019 Concerto Prize.

Image by Graeme Braidwood.

When Tuba Come One at ITEC 2019

Trust Funds

The Alan Edward Higgs Charity

The Margaret Pascoe Scholarship Trust Fund

The Eveline Harrod Bequest

The Family and Friends of Gwyn Williams

Marita Morrison

The Renna Kellaway Fund

The B Brown Memorial Fund

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ARCO violinist Mpilo during a flash mob at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, 29 September 2019.

Find out more about ARCO’s latest news on page 16.

Issue 9, Autumn 2019

Birmingham City University