Guildhall School News Autumn/Winter 2011

news GUILDHALL SCHOOL

Autumn/Winter 2011

Meet Sir George Martin

Class of 1948

p12 Acting in China

p19 Milton Court –

Project past the halfway mark

p20 Hannah Stone made Royal Harpist

Forthcoming Events The WOMEN

The Women

Carnegie Hall Showcase

Thu 13, Fri 14, Sat 15, Mon 17, Tue 18 October • 7.30pm Mon 17, Tue 18 October • 2pm

Tue 24 January 2012 • 7.30pm Senior musicians from the School visit Carnegie Hall in NYC

by Clare Boothe Luce

Aces & Jacks Aces & Jacks

Mon 24, Tue 25, Wed 26, Thu 27 October • 7.30pm Tue 25, Thur 27 October • 2pm

Britten A Midsummer NightI s Dream

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor

The School’s series of performances by senior professors Wednesday 30 November • 7.30pm

Nicolai’s treatment of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor

Mhairi Lawson soprano Jane Booth clarinet Eugene Asti piano

Rhodes Piano Trio James Boyd viola Arisa Fujita violin

London Jazz Festival

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

The School’s renowned Jazz Department showcases its work in two performances

...think only this of me... think only this of me...

Faculty Artist Series Wednesday 16 November • 7.30pm

Thu 10, Sat 12, Mon 14, Wed 16 November • 7pm

Fri 11 November • 7.30pm Fri 18 November • 7.30pm

...

Tue 28 February, Thu 1, Sat 3, Tue 6 March 2012 • 7pm The School takes on Britten’s 20th-century masterpiece in the Barbican Theatre

A collection of short plays by David Mamet

Nicolai

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Fri 2, Sat 3, Mon 5, Tue 6, Wed 7 December • 7.30pm Mon 5, Wed 7 December • 2pm A devised collaboration by Guildhall School actors and musicians

Friday 30 September • 7.30pm Wagner Prelude & Liebestod: Tristan und Isolde Poulenc Gloria Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra Tuesday 8 November • 7.30pm Ravel La valse Ravel Piano Concerto in D Mussorgsky orch. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition

Masterclasses – Visiting artists include: Valery Gergiev*

Bernard d’Ascoli

Endellion Quartet

Anne-Sophie Mutter*

Wednesday 21 September

Tuesday 25 October

Wednesday 2 November

Sunday 27 November

Colin Currie

Sir Colin Davis and Nikolaj Znaider*

Imogen Cooper

Paul Lewis

Monday 7 November

Monday 12 December

Monday 31 October

Gerald Finley

Sir John Eliot Gardiner*

Friday 7 October

David Alberman, Roman Simovic and other LSO players* Saturday 15 October

DaXun Zhang Wednesday 2 November

Friday 11 November

Thursday 15 December

* Part of Centre for Orchestra: a unique collaboration between the LSO, Guildhall School and Barbican creating a forum for orchestral development in the 21st century.

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For further information about any Guildhall School event, please go to www.gsmd.ac.uk/events GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2011

Contents

Editorial

FEATURES

NEWS

4 Barbican/Guildhall

6 2012 and Tuition Fees Your questions answered

Creative Learning Putting their best foot forward

10 Gold Medals and Lutine Prize

7 Help young people,

11 A Bumper Year for

if you can David Hamilton on the importance of giving back

Scholarships

12 Acting in China Students talk of trying new techniques and new food

15 The Reflective Conservatoire Details of next year’s conference

26 Obituaries ALUMNI COMMUNITY PAGES

20 Royal Harpist Hannah Stone’s new appointment

16 Sir George Martin

22 Over To You

Producer, composer, living legend

Written by and for alumni

23 Class Notes

19 Milton Court

Alumni news

Campaign Update Building momentum

25 Reunions

Welcome to the Autumn/Winter 2011 edition of Guildhall School News.

For this issue, I had the great pleasure of interviewing the legendary record producer and Guildhall alumnus Sir George Martin. This fascinating gentleman has so many great stories to tell that we could easily have dedicated an entire magazine to them, were it not for all the other news we have to share with you.

Our Milton Court building project and fundraising campaign are progressing apace and so we sent our Events Committee on site to get a feel for the new performance spaces and the opportunities they will present in 2013. The joint Barbican/Guildhall Creative Learning Division has hit the ground running, with an impressive portfolio of projects having taken place throughout the year, reaching out and engaging an ever-widening array of people in music and drama. Our students, staff and alumni continue to find their work recognised and acclaimed by prizes, fellowships, awards and the occasional Royal appointment.

Further afield, in April a group of Acting students and staff visited the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, where they worked with Chinese students, and students from ArtsEd, to devise a piece of musical theatre. We look forward to taking Guildhall Artists to perform in New York for the first time, at our Carnegie Hall showcase in January 2012, and hope to share this special occasion with as many of our North Americabased alumni as possible. Of course, wherever you are in the world, we are keen to stay in touch.

Recent and Coming Up

We hope you enjoy reading the magazine and if you have something that you would like us to consider for a future edition, please email your submission, with accompanying images, to editorial@gsmd.ac.uk.

With best wishes,

Editorial Group Rachel Dyson (Editor), Alumni Relations Manager Deborah MacCallum, Director of Corporate & Student Affairs Jo Hutchinson, Marketing & Communications Manager

Rachel Dyson Editor

Duncan Barker, Head of Development Phylip Harries & Richard Grosse, Falconbury Ltd Contact: editorial@gsmd.ac.uk The Guildhall School of Music & Drama is provided by the City of London Corporation

(Please note, we cannot guarantee to include everything that we receive and we reserve the right to edit submissions.)

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Barbican/Guildhall Creative Learning Projects Since the launch of the joint Barbican/Guildhall Creative Learning Division 2009, virtually every strand of our work has had a cross-campus element – providing Guildhall School students with valuable opportunities to develop their skills, showcase their work, collaborate with leading artists, and enriching the Barbican Centre’s programme with a wide range of new talent, skills and ideas. Below is a taster of just some of the major new projects to have taken place in the past 12 months.

City of London Academy

CoLA-i Festival – Creative Learning took over the City of London Academy Islington for a week, with pupils working across the artforms. Guildhall students played an important role in inspiring the young people through performance.

Come and Play

Come and Play – The doors of both the Barbican and Guildhall School were open to people of all ages to come and try musical instruments for the first time or to brush up forgotten skills. This open weekend was truly a cross-campus event, with students, graduates and staff of the School leading workshops alongside musicians from the BBCSO and LSO.

“[It’s an] excellent opportunity to get children involved, they’ve never held an instrument, look at them – and it’s free!”

Parent (Jazz Workshop).

Best foot forward – Creative Learning worked with eight groups from five primary schools to create original music and choreography over the course of an academic year.

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Gustavo Dudamel

“The experience is very lively and fun. The artists make us feel welcome and bring out the best of our talents.”

Year 9 CoLA-I Student.

Gustavo Dudamel Masterclass – Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director of the LA Philharmonic (Barbican International Associate) led an orchestra assembled from members of Barbican Young Orchestra, Junior Guildhall, LSO on Track and Centre for Young Musicians (CYM), along with LSO and LA Philharmonic players in an inspirational open rehearsal. This was the first time young musicians from across the campus had collaborated in this way, and lays valuable groundwork for the future.

Reverberations, the Influence of Steve Reich – Creative Learning brought together an ensemble drawing students from Junior Guildhall, CYM and the department’s creative ensembles. This group created and performed a new work inspired by Reich’s music. Steve Reich visited the

News group during rehearsals. Guildhall graduate ensemble, Jetsam, was also programmed as part of the festival, and students from the Percussion Department collaborated with visiting ensemble, So Percussion.

Pit Theatre LAB – The Creative Learning Division has access to the Pit theatre for many weeks of the year.

This has enabled students to use the space for developing and testing ideas in a creative laboratory setting.

East London Creative Jazz Orchestra – Formed around the June 2010 Barbican residency of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, this ensemble of young people from East London

has collaborated with Guildhall Jazz students and received further tuition from Head of Jazz Martin Hathaway and other Jazz department staff.

This relationship with the academic department has brought an additional dimension to the work, providing a valuable learning platform for the young people and students involved.

East London Creative Jazz Orchestra

“This was indeed a ‘celebration of young talent’ – a sneak hearing of the musical future… A word to sum up the evening? Inspiring.”

Colin Anderson, www.classicalsource.com v Thomas Hardy Senior Manager, Barbican/ Guildhall Creative Learning Division

Sneak Preview of Milton Court for the School’s Events Committee It was on with the steel-capped boots, ‘hi-vis’ vests, goggles and gloves for the 16 members of the Events Committee as we visited the Milton Court building site on 30 June. McAlpine staff led the team around the site, pointing out key spaces and rooms, including: • the auditorium of the theatre, including orchestra pit, stage area and where the seating will fit, rehearsal rooms, TV Studio and gym, many of which are double-height and very spacious compared to current facilities • the Studio Theatre, complete with intricate soundproofing features to protect the space from the noise of passing Tube trains, the Studio Theatre foyer and bar area • a view over the Concert Hall (currently in scaffolding) and the space for artist dressing rooms The visit was arranged to inspire the Committee who are currently working on plans for the opening of Milton Court in autumn 2013 and its first public season. It worked! v Jo Hutchinson Marketing & Communications Manager

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2012 and Tuition Fees:

??

????

Your questions answered We know that many of you have questions about the new tuition fee system which comes into place in 2012/13, so we put a few of the most common questions to Kirsty Elinor, our Student Funding Officer…

How much will you be charging a new undergraduate UK/EU student in 2012?

The School will be charging £9,000, the maximum allowed by the Government.

So what will the School do with all the extra money?

There is no ‘extra money’. The new fee level will help the School recoup the income lost by the withdrawal of all public funding for teaching following the Browne report.

I’ve been accepted to start my undergraduate programme this year in September 2011, but can’t afford to pay more in 2012. What should I do?

The new fee regime will affect only new UK/EU students starting on an undergraduate programme from September 2012. Students on programmes that started before this will be under the current funding system – receiving the same support that they received in 2011/12.

What Government support is available to students starting their programme in 2012/13?

For an eligible student, there will be a tuition fee loan covering the whole fee and a living cost loan. Students from poorer backgrounds may also 6

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be eligible for a living cost grant up to £2,906 per annum.

In 2012/13 the maximum living-cost loan for a new undergraduate student at the School living away from home will be £7,675. Sixty-five percent of the loan (£4,988) is guaranteed regardless of parental income, the remaining 35% (up to £2,687) is means-tested against the student’s or their parents’ residual household income*. *Please note: the Living Cost Grant and income thresholds only apply to students from England. Different arrangements apply for students from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

How will new graduates manage when they leave with £27k+ of debt?

Under both old and new funding schemes, repayments are based on the level of graduate earnings.

Under the new scheme, graduates will pay 9% on each £1,000 above £21,000 that they earn, regardless of how much they have borrowed.

For example, if a graduate’s salary is £30,000, s/he will pay £67.50 a month (9% of £9,000). This is a more favourable monthly repayment scheme than the current scheme but the payment period is likely to be longer (up to 30 years).

What financial support is the School going to offer from 2012 to ensure that it still attracts a diverse range of students with different social and economic backgrounds?

The School will continue to raise funds to support student scholarships and

has a very good track record in this regard. All students can apply for a scholarship.

In addition, the School has been granted 7 National Scholarships for 2012/13 worth £3,000 each as a fee-waiver in the first year of undergraduate study. The School will match fund the National Scholarships (out of fee income) by offering a further 7 fee-waivers (School Access Scholarships) at £3,000 per student in the first year of study. It is anticipated that the National and School Access Scholarships will increase to 42 by 2014/15.

The National and School Access Scholarships will be open to Home/ EU fee students from disadvantaged backgrounds with exceptional talent.

Each National and School Access Scholarship award holder will receive a further £1,000 fee-waiver in each continuing year of undergraduate study, provided that they remain eligible, have an excellent participation record, and show progression in their studies.

I am a UK student, but not from England – how will the new funding changes affect me?

All new UK undergraduate students will be subject to the new fees but Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish students will receive their financial support from their “home” devolved administration.

For more information go to www.gsmd.ac.uk/funding

News

“If you can help young people, you should” David Hamilton talks to Duncan Barker about his support of the School’s Scholarships Fund David Hamilton first became aware of the Guildhall School through his connections with the City of London Livery Companies, in particular the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, where he served as Master during 2009/10. He would often hear Guildhall School musicians performing at various Livery Dinners. In the last few years, however, he has got to know the School more directly and he often now arranges for musicians to perform at various City functions, acting as “an impresario on the School’s behalf!”

David, an engineer by trade, has always had a passion for music and his tastes range from Queen to opera. Guildhall highlights for David this year have been Kiss me, Kate, the end of year musical, as well as the opera double-bill of Iolanta and Rita: “A great mixture of light and serious: watching Alberto Sousa [as Beppe] in Rita was a real joy.” Two years ago David and his wife, Wendy, took the decision to become more involved with Guildhall School by supporting a young musician, opera singer Koji Terada, through the Scholarships Fund.

David is impressed by the level of training the singers receive at the School. “They have the ability to act as well as perform: they’re well-rounded performers. It was great to see Koji Terada [beneficiary of David’s support in 2009/10 and 2010/11] develop over the two years of the Opera Course. That’s what stands out for me at the Guildhall School. I like watching the students develop and feeling part of that. It’s different to being a Circle member: I enjoy watching students grow and flower.”

David Hamilton

David is acutely aware of the challenges that face the School and the students. “Opera students have just two years at the School to absorb the broad spectrum of repertoire that they need to have to be professionals. I think it’s so important to give students the mentoring and experience through professional development opportunities and sharing professional experience.

It’s great to see that Guildhall is doing that.

“The dedication from the Principal, Barry Ife, and everyone else is great to see – the staff really want to give students the very best training and experience they can. It’s a fair and relaxed atmosphere and the enthusiasm of all involved is clear to see.

The location is great: the proximity to the Barbican and the facilities provided for students are fantastic. It’s good to know that the School has the firm backing of the City too.

“I believe that if you can help young people, you should.

People helped me when I was younger – advice mostly, not financially – but it’s important to give back. Koji Terada is a real credit to the School. He has a fantastic voice, presentation, and musical maturity. I feel that my wife, Wendy, and I get much more out of the School than we put into it. We are very pleased to support.”

For further information about how you can support students, please contact Duncan Barker on 020 7382 2313 or duncan.barker@gsmd.ac.uk v Duncan Barker Head of Development

Koji Terada with Charlie Mellor in Dialogues des Carmélites

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New York Showcase Guildhall Artists in Recital at Carnegie Hall On Tuesday 24 January 2012, senior musicians from the Guildhall School will visit Carnegie Hall in New York for the very first time. For friends of the School based in North America, this opportunity to see talented Guildhall School performers in the Weill Recital Hall is not to be missed.

Guildhall alumni will also be invited to attend an informal drinks reception following the performance in due course.

If you are a former student of the Guildhall School who is based in North America, please email your current contact details to alumni@gsmd.ac.uk to ensure that you receive an invitation.

Programme to include works by Brahms, Chopin and Adès.

Michael Petrov, cello Ashley Fripp, piano Singer to be confirmed.

Tickets: $20 ($10 concessions) available from 1 October 2011 carnegiehall.org CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800 Box Office at 57th and Seventh.

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Higher Education Academy Fellowship for Patsy Rodenburg

Patsy Rodenburg, Head of Voice (Drama) at the Guildhall School, is one of 55 lecturers and learning support staff to have been awarded 2011 National Teaching Fellowships, the most prestigious awards for excellence in higher education teaching and support for learning. Each will receive an award of £10,000 which may be used for Fellows’ professional development in teaching and learning or aspects of pedagogy.

Patsy Rodenburg is recognised as one of the world’s leading voice and acting coaches. She has worked with internationally-renowned actors (including Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Antony Sher, Joseph Fiennes, Ewan McGregor and Keira Knightley), and has collaborated with film directors Franco Zefferelli and Sam Mendes. She has worked with theatres across the globe including the National Theatre, where she was Head of Voice for 16 years, the Royal Shakespeare Company where she was resident for nine years, the Royal Court, Donmar and Almeida Theatres.

In her work at the Guildhall School, Patsy teaches voice, speech, text and poetry, with a particular focus on Shakespeare and Greek tragedy, as well as directing students in public productions. She also leads an apprentice-style Masters programme to train the next generation of voice coaches.

One student described Patsy as

“…relentless like the sea. She keeps coming at you and pushing you further. It is not aggressive; there is a natural softness and gentle rhythm to her teaching. But… she will erode whatever blockage you have that keeps you from being the best actor and person you can be.”

Patsy was awarded an OBE in 2005 for her significant contribution to the arts and in December 2010 she was named as number fifteen in the ‘Top 50 Most Influential People in Theatre’

by The Times newspaper. Her books are standard issue texts on any acting programme in the UK or USA and remain prominent on the bookshelves of all major booksellers. She also regularly publishes in newspapers, journals and magazines and has recently produced an 8-DVD collection of examples of her methodology at work distilled from 80 hours of recorded hands-on coaching with Patsy.

Our new website wins CASE Circle of Excellence Award The Guildhall School launched its new website in January 2011, with new and exciting features, photography and improved navigation. The new site was developed to show prospective students and audience members what they might experience at the School.

The School was awarded a Bronze Award in the 2011 international CASE Circle of Excellence Awards Program, in the ‘Complete Institutional Websites’ category. Overall website and microsite submissions were received from 124 institutions around the world and the winning entries came from USA (9), UK (2) and Canada (1). There were 35 nominees in this category and three winners.

Circle of Excellence Awards are judged by higher education colleagues who understand the challenges, opportunities and rewards inherent in the advancement profession; value creativity and innovation; appreciate the complex demands of campus environments; and recognise the role of advancement practitioners in enhancing the quality and reputations of educational institutions.

CASE say “these awards acknowledge superior accomplishments that have lasting impact, demostrate the highest level of professionalism and deliver exceptional results.”

website screenshot

www.gsmd.ac.uk GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS

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The Gold Medals and Lutine Prize

2011

The Gold Medals and the Lutine Prize are the most prestigious prizes that the Guildhall School awards to any of its students. A tradition that was started by the endowment of The Music Gold Medal by Sir Dixon Kimber in 1915, each faculty of the School now awards one Gold Medal each year in recognition of extraordinary talent and dedication to one’s subject.

The Music Gold Medal and the Lutine Prize winners are selected by a panel of judges after a public final. The Acting and Technical Theatre Gold Medal winners are chosen by the department professors.

Music Gold Medal: Natalya Romaniw Technical Theatre Gold Medal: Emma Livingstone Acting Gold Medal: Kurt Egyiawan* Lutine Prize: Christopher Dunn *see p25 for more news of Kurt

24-year old soprano Natalya Romaniw is the winner of this year’s Music Gold Medal, the School’s most prestigious prize for outstanding soloists.

Natalya’s winning performance included Liszt‘s Die Lorelei, Debussy‘s C’est l’extase, Britten’s Tell me the truth about love and Strauss’s Cäcilie accompanied by pianist Elizabeth Rossiter, as well as Britten’s How beautiful it is (The Turn of the Screw), Gounod’s Jewel Song (Faust) and Puccini’s Un bel dì (Madama Butterfly).

She said, ‘I am absolutely thrilled to have won the Gold Medal. I feel this is what I have been working towards for the last six years, and am especially grateful to my teacher John Evans who has brought me to where I am’.

Natalya’s future engagements include the cover of Armida in Rinaldo and First Nymph in Rusalka with Glyndebourne On Tour.

The final took place before a distinguished panel of judges including Jonathan Vaughan, Director of Music; the evening’s conductor of the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, Sian Edwards; Dame Janet Baker; ENO’s acclaimed Music Director Edward Gardner and Edward Seckerson, The Independent’s Chief Music Critic.

Donald Weekes Memorial Prize The School is delighted to have inaugurated a new prize this year for principal study violinists in memory of the late Donald Weekes (1931–2010).

The prize is for final-year undergraduate students and is awarded to the individual who attains the highest mark for their final recital as decided by the audition panel. The prize has been supported with donations from Donald’s family, friends and former colleagues at English National Ballet, where he led the orchestra until he retired. We are indebted to Anne Martin of the ENB orchestra and Donald’s widow Annie Manger for their work in making the prize happen. The first recipient of the prize is Kaija Lukas.

An Australian by birth, Donald moved to the UK in his mid-twenties, having worked with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra. In London he studied further under Manoug Parikian, played with the Philharmonia Orchestra and in 1970 was invited by Terence Keren to become leader of the London Festival Ballet orchestra (now known as English National Ballet), a position he held for over 30 years.

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News

A Bumper Year for Scholarships Over the past year, there have been a number of successful activities to raise funds in support of the Scholarships Fund for 2011/12. The Fund provides much needed financial support for one in three Guildhall students and without this many of our young actors, theatre technicians and musicians would not be able to take up their hard-won places or continue their studies at the School.

The year began with the Annual Fund telephone appeal in September during which a team of sixteen student callers made contact with over 700 former students (see report in the last issue of Guildhall School News). We were absolutely delighted with the generous response from former Guildhall students who collectively pledged £58,000 in support over the next four years.

In April this year, Sophie Junker and Kathryn McAdam gave the annual Silk Street Award recital, an evening of arias and duets given by two of the singers of the School’s prestigious Opera Programme. The Silk Street Award has a loyal group of supporters and this year we were delighted that the appeal raised £3,500 towards Kathryn’s fees next year. We were even more pleased by the generous donation from Maureen Amar and Richard Jenkins of the Amar-Franses & Foster-Jenkins Trust who made a gift of £5,200 to cover the remainder of Kathryn’s £8,700 fees.

Lastly, the summer term saw the School’s two fundraising events: the Gold Medal Dinner and the Summer Gala. The first of these was held in honour of Natalya Romaniw, winner of the 2011 Music Gold Medal, who gave a wonderful exclusive recital to 80 guests in the intimate Tallow Chandlers’ Hall. The ever-popular Summer Gala was sold out this year by the end of March and over 300 guests on tables hosted by the Principal, Governors, Trustees, City livery companies, ward clubs and businesses, and other regular attendees enjoyed a meal in the Garden Room and Conservatory in the Barbican Centre followed by a knockout performance of Kiss me, Kate in the Silk Street Theatre given by our graduating class of actors. Together the two events raised £30,000 for the Scholarships Fund.

Lastly, we must also say thank you to the many individuals, businesses, City livery companies, trusts and foundations who support scholarship awards directly each year. We look forward to welcoming everyone to the School for the 2011/12 season of performances. v Duncan Barker Head of Development

The An ting opp nua ortu nitie l Fun s for youn d g

crea

artis

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Annual fund student callers

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Acting in China In April, five actors from the School flew to China to take part in a musical theatre workshop with five students from ArtsEd School and 25 students from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Accompanying them were Director of Drama Christian Burgess, who directed the collaboration, and Head of Production Stuart Calder who managed the newly-formed company, along with ArtsEd staff member Dane Preece who acted as Musical Director.

Emily Berrington, Paapa Essiedu, Katherine Morley, Rose Reynolds and Jethro Smith, all second year actors, spent ten days in Beijing with their fellow students intensively workshopping and then performing a show, based on the themes of Romeo and Juliet. This was the first collaboration resulting from the Sino-British Forum on Musical Theatre which was hosted by the School and the Barbican Centre in 2009 – a conference focusing on British and Chinese approaches to training and preparation of students for musical theatre performance.

Their hosts were extremely welcoming and generous and, although the language barrier proved challenging at first, it seems that they found it liberating in some ways, as they discovered they were able to communicate without a common language.

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Emily: Right at the beginning we did an exercise where you spoke the lines of a song, in English, to a Chinese person – and you were forced to pick a Chinese person who confessed that they didn’t speak any English… [I learned] that you can communicate – you don’t need to rely on language as much as I perhaps thought you did. You can convey something quite clearly without [them] knowing what words you are saying. Also, if you are listening, you listen in a different way if you are not just relying on the fact that you know what somebody is saying… you are actually understanding someone’s meaning.

Pappa: I don’t at all pride myself on my ability in the singing arena, but I learned so much from them and from their Musical Director, Dane Preece…They’ve got this technical precision that really takes it to another level.

Rose: Dane would show us, through the ArtsEd students, what they do in their classes, [such as a technique called The Siren], and we’d use that to warm up.

Emily: The Chinese warm-up was really different again.

Working with the students from ArtsEd gave our students an opportunity to learn new musical theatre techniques.

Rose: It was fun though. It wasn’t, ‘Okay I’ve got to get

Pappa: When you’re at Guildhall, or any drama school,

this right!’ or anything like that. It was so informal. If you were doing things down the room, you’d often do it in pairs and you’d often be paired with a Chinese student and so you’d be doing it with them and they’d be helping you. It was really nice.

and you are working with the same people for two years, it can be easy to get into the mindset that this is how everyone does it, like this is a representation of the whole world of acting. To go there and work with people who have a completely foreign, completely detached perspective…

There’s something great about being able to adapt yourself and to take the things that you’ve learned from this and to put them together with things that they know to create a new kind of process.

The British students did not get a chance to see what the course was like at the Central Academy, because the Chinese students had taken the time out of their lessons to focus entirely on the workshop.

Pappa: I know that I would have loved to have seen more of what they were doing on a day-to-day basis in their course because it did really feel like we had brought a western approach to musical theatre to Beijing. That was what they wanted, but I was massively curious about what they do.

Kathryn: Text and language [at Guildhall] is quite important, but I think the biggest lesson is that you don’t need language to communicate. You don’t need to speak the same language to be able to make a friendship, which is so obvious because we all did.

Rose: You should be brave in the food that you try! Jethro

Rose: Apparently they might be coming here next year,

was king of try everything!

so perhaps they will bring their ‘package’ with them.

The original plan was to have one performance at the end of the workshop, however, audience demand was such that they had to perform the finished piece three times on the last day.

All of our students felt that they had learned a great deal from the experience, particularly about communicating without relying on a common language or a text and about trying new things, be they new techniques or new food.

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News

IN BRIEF Junior Fellow Francisco Coll signs with Faber

Music & Mindfulness

Francisco Coll became a Faber composer in June of this year. His most recent commission was a clarinet quintet Sguardo verso l’interno for this year’s Aldeburgh, Verbier and Aix-en-Provence festivals.

He has also been commissioned to write two works for the Jove Orquestra de la Generalitat Valenciana in 2012, with whom he has been appointed composer-inresidence.

First-year undergraduate wins Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year Congratulations to 19 year-old Ruaridh Pattison from Kinross, whose accomplished performances of Little Melonae and Tears Inside on the alto saxophone impressed the judges of this year’s competition. The prize included £1,000 for career development, a BBC Radio Scotland The Jazz House session, gigs at both the Glasgow and London Jazz Festival, professional biography and photographs plus a one-to-one masterclass with Peter Ind.

New Deputy Head of Strings – Evan Rothstein We are delighted to welcome violinist/ musicologist Evan Rothstein to this senior role in the Strings Department. Currently Chairman of the European Chamber Music Teachers’ Association, he has taught music history at the University of Paris 8 and chamber music at the Indiana University Summer String Academy in Bloomington.

The Mindfulness for Musicians project came about through my own interest in meditation, which has developed over the last five or six years. When I learned that the Guildhall receives funding from LCACE to develop innovative research projects that have an external outcome, the idea of a course to instruct students in mindfulness seemed a wonderful idea, one which to my knowledge had not previously been developed in a musical setting.

The term mindfulness refers to the cultivation of present-moment awareness that can be fostered by meditation, a practice which has been secularised from broadly Buddhist roots and is now quite vogueish as a performance and mental well-being tool in the West.

It has been effective in treating anxiety and depression; beneficiaries range from those troubled by mental health problems to elite sportsmen.

Our eight-week course, designed and led by Chris Cullen – an inspiring and experienced teacher whom I’m delighted to call a friend – was particularly formulated to address issues that affect musicians: performance anxiety, creativity, embodiment at the instrument (i.e. being in the physical feeling of playing) and the inner critic. Through longer sitting meditations, body scans, shorter practices, discussions, and with the support of CDs and reading material to develop a home practice, the students learned techniques that I’m thrilled to say some of them considered life-changing!

As a result of this, the very enlightened folk at the Guildhall are considering bringing mindfulness onto the curriculum as well as recommending certain reading material that was covered for all, students and staff alike. Thanks to Jonathan Vaughan for his vision!

There is lots more information at: www.musicandmindfulness.org as well as a fuller piece I wrote for the Guardian newspaper on the course and its outcome: www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/16/ mindfulness-meditation-music v Rolf Hind Professor of Piano

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News

THE REFLECTIVE CONSERVATOIRE 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2012 will see the 3rd Reflective Conservatoire Conference: Performing at the Heart of Knowledge programmed for 17-20 March at the Guildhall School. This widely-anticipated event will build on the success of the first two international research conferences under The Reflective Conservatoire banner and will, for the first time, include drama as well as music.

The conference is an opportunity to share research, best practice and innovative ideas through a variety of practical workshops, spoken word presentations, roundtables and performances. The events are attended by leading researchers and practitioners in music from Higher Education establishments, the creative and cultural industries and research centres all over the world. The 2012 event will extend to include drama in addition to music and will explore the themes of: • Repertoire for the 21st century • Researching performance: practice, discourse and methodologies • Creative collaborative learning (from one-to-one partnerships to ensembles/companies) • Artists in society: understanding audiences and life in the real world

Keynote speakers include: Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of Barbican Centre, previously Director of the BBC Proms, who will speak on ‘Performance Now’.

Patsy Rodenburg OBE: Author of best-selling books including ‘Presence’ and ‘The Right to Speak’, and Head of Voice (Drama) at the School, whose keynote will take the form of a practical workshop with students demonstrating her approach to developing presence on stage.

Professor Richard Sennett: Professor of Sociology at London School of Economics and New York University, author of ‘The Craftsman’ and a new book ‘The Performer’, who will talk about the particular skills and qualities of performers and their application in wider society.

The Reflective Conservatoire events are hosted by the Guildhall School, and take place across the School and the Barbican Centre. The events are all delivered in partnership with key organisations including the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC), the London Centre for Arts and Cultural Enterprise (LCACE) and the Society for Education, Music & Psychology Research (SEMPRE) with an additional partner the AHRC–funded Research Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice (CMPCP) joining forces for the 2012 event.

Building Connections, the Reflective Conservatoire event held in 2006 involved 133 presentations and was attended by delegates from over 26 countries. It is hoped that Performing at the Heart of Knowledge will continue to extend its reach, attracting world class international researchers and practitioners, and strengthening the School’s position as a leader in knowledge exchange and practicebased research in the sector.

For more information or to register go to www.gsmd.ac.uk/conference v Lucy Hunt Project Manager (Research)

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Interview

Sir George Martin Sir George Martin is arguably the world’s most celebrated record producer. His name is synonymous with that of The Beatles; however, he was successfully producing classical, jazz and pop records, and breaking new ground with his spoken-word and comedy recordings long before Brian Epstein brought the Fab Four to play for him at Abbey Road studios in 1962. Over the course of his remarkable career, George Martin produced a recordbreaking 30 UK number one singles.

Having flown with the Fleet Air Arm in the Second World War, George Martin was a more mature student than most of his contemporaries at the Guildhall School in the late 1940s: “there I was [at 21 years old], by the standards of the students, an old man”.

He had kept up a correspondence with Sydney Harrison, a piano professor at the School, whilst in the Fleet Air Arm, sending him scores that he had written “which I did rather laboriously, because I’d never been taught – I just had to work it out for myself”. After the war, Sydney, his ‘fairy godfather’, suggested that George audition for the Principal of the Guildhall School, Edric Cundell. He was immediately offered a place as a composition student at John Carpenter Street (“it was small, old-fashioned, cozy”), with free tuition and, as he was an ex-serviceman, a grant of £300 per year.

“What I liked about the Guildhall was that it wasn’t just a music school.

I found the drama content very 16

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attractive…In fact, I got to know quite a lot of the students in the drama side and we got on very well together… that combination of learning affected me. I’m sure it helped me eventually when I became a producer at Abbey Road… working with a lot of actors… I could approach them more confidently”.

George took up the oboe as a second instrument because “you can’t take up the violin when you’re 21!... And the oboe in those days was a fairly rare thing, so if you played the oboe – even badly – you were accepted. If you were a violinist, you’d have to be damn good!” Even though his strongest memory of his time at the School is failing his oboe exam due to extreme nerves (“sweat was pouring off my fingers and making them slick on the keys”), he played well enough to work as a jobbing musician when he left the School. Later he was second oboe to the first oboe of a ‘chap called Charlie’, “I went back to his flat. Manuscript papers were everywhere… I looked

at the music and said, ‘Hang on a moment. This is Gilbert and Sullivan.’

And he said, ‘Yes, I’m arranging it into a ballet and I’m going to call it Pineapple Poll.” The chap was Charles Mackerras, “a much better oboe player than I was”.

George left the Guildhall with dreams of being “a composer who would earn a lot of money” and decided his best chance was in the film music business. Unsure how to get into film music he found work playing the oboe and continued to write in his spare time, “and, again, my fairy godfather came into the scene”, recommending George for the job of assistant to Oscar Preuss at Parlophone Records.

He got the job and began working on classical recordings for the label, including the London Baroque Ensemble, directed by Karl Haas. “I became the kind of classical end of the Parlophone business”, but soon Oscar, who was getting older, put more and more of the business on his

shoulders. He took over the jazz side, working with Humphrey Lyttelton and the young John Dankworth, followed by the pop and light orchestra work.

Less than five years after George joined Parlophone, Oscar Preuss retired and the Chairman of EMI announced at Oscar’s farewell dinner that the new Head of Parlophone would be…

George Martin. “No-one had said anything to me!”

“I realised that Parlophone was a dying label. HMV and Columbia were the big boys… I knew I had to try and make something of it.” George offered to make a record with Peter Sellers and Sellers jumped at the chance. They recorded a single and then George suggested an album but, “When my bosses heard about it they said, ‘What are you doing? This isn’t going to sell.

You can’t make a 12-inch record of this stuff. You have to have a 10-inch LP. It’s cheaper.’” Angry at the interference, they released the 10-inch version, calling

The 2008 Guildhall School tribute to George Martin: Tomorrow Never Knows

What I liked about the Guildhall was that it wasn’t just a music school. I found the drama content very attractive… it The Best of Sellers and it became the best of sellers, eventually remade into a 12-inch. A small victory which led him to explore comedy and the spoken word further, working with people like Spike Milligan, the Beyond the Fringe team and Flanders and Swann.

By 1962, Brian Epstein had been to every record label in the UK with demos by the Beatles. Three of the four producers at EMI had already turned them down. Sid Coleman, who was the publisher for EMI, suggested that

he try George Martin at Parlophone: “they make comedy records”. Brian had hit rock bottom, but he gave it one last go. Unimpressed by their demo, but sympathetic to Epstein’s situation, George told him “If you want to have the expense of bringing them down to London, I’ll give them an hour in the studio to see what they’re made of.”

When he met them, he fell in love with them. “It wasn’t anything to do with music. It was falling in love with four men who had charisma. And they were cheeky, they were funny, they were

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Interview

I’m very fond of the old school, and the expansion that is happening now is amazing. It’s also audacious and, in these stringent times, rather ambitious.

of several Beatles’ tunes, including Eleanor Rigby, by Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra (brought into the evening by alumna Natalie Williams).

At the time of writing the Montserrat Foundation UK, of which George is a trustee, is in the process of recruiting a Guildhall music graduate for a placement on the Caribbean island of Montserrat (applications have closed). The placement was Lady Judy Martin’s idea, “What we want is to get

fun to be with.” Over the next 8 years, he produced every record The Beatles made until they disbanded in 1970.

George Martin’s producing career continued to go from strength to strength, racking up 30 UK number one singles. He also became a film composer, fulfilling his youthful dream.

His numerous film scores have included A Hard Day’s Night (for which he won an Academy Awards Nomination); Yellow Submarine; and the Bond movie Live and Let Die (for which he won a Grammy). Other compositions have included The David Frost Theme, By George for television and BBC Radio One’s signature tune Theme One.

Surveying the site of the School’s new Milton Court venue

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In 2006, George returned to the Guildhall School to give a talk about his remarkable career. Students, alumni and staff were inspired to create an unprecedented special event, Tomorrow Never Knows, which took place in both the Music Hall and the Silk Street Theatre; a double-A side performance, revisiting and reinterpreting some of the highlights of his career, both in music and the spoken word and comedy.

“It was amazing, absolutely amazing, because they had done things which were quite outrageous. But they were fantastic too.” When pressed for a particular highlight of the evening, George recalls the beatbox medley

someone who can inspire the children of the country to find out more about music outside of the island.” If the trial year is successful, it is hoped this will become an annual placement.

George Martin has generously agreed to be a Patron of the fundraising campaign for the School’s new facilities at Milton Court. “I’m very fond of the old school, and the expansion that is happening now is amazing. It’s also audacious and, in these stringent times, rather ambitious.” With the help of Sir George and the other alumni Patrons, this ambitious project is on track for us to move into the new building in 2013.

News

Milton Court Campaign Update As the construction passes the half-way mark and plans have begun for the grand opening in 2013, the fundraising momentum keeps building. We are delighted to announce three significant donations to the Campaign for Milton Court worth £1.325 million.

Mr Gerald Ronson and Dame Gail Ronson have pledged a donation of £1 million to the project over the next three years. Mr Ronson and Dame Gail are two of the most generous philanthropists in the UK today and Mr Ronson is Chief Executive of Heron International, the developer behind Milton Court and The Heron.

The Mercers’ Company has donated £250,000 to the project in recognition of the School’s reputation as a centre of excellence in the City, its longstanding connections to the Mercers’ Company and the Company’s traditional support for the arts.

Similarly, the Worshipful Company of Musicians has donated £75,000 to the project in recognition of its close links with the Guildhall School.

In addition, these donations have enabled the School to apply for significant additional money from the government and HEFCE’s Matched Funding Scheme for English higher education institutions. In total, the School will be able to put over £2 million of matched funding to the Milton Court Campaign.

The support of all of these donations will be recognised in the naming of spaces within Milton Court in due course. There have also been a number of gifts received from other grant-making trusts and livery companies.

There is still a major challenge ahead of us. We have now raised £5.25 million or just under 40% of the overall campaign target of £13.5 million. The Campaign is raising money to cover the costs of the vital specialist equipment needed throughout the new building which will transform basic spaces into worldclass performance venues and fully working, modern training School.

www.gsmd.ac.uk/miltoncourt

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News

Alumni Community News • Over to You • Reunions • Class Notes

Guildhall Musician appointed official harpist to Prince of Wales Hannah Stone (Harp 2010) has been appointed Royal Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales. Hannah, who will initially hold the position of official harpist to the Prince for two years, will play a harp given to the Prince in 2006 by the Victor Salvi Foundation in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of the instrument.

The post is designed to help celebrate and foster musical talent in Wales, and she takes over from Claire Jones, who was appointed in June 2007. Speaking about her appointment Hannah said ‘I am honoured to have been appointed Official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales. I am proud to be promoting the harp, a central part of our Welsh heritage, and to follow the fantastic example set by Claire. I am excited to get started and can’t wait for the coming months.”

She made her début on Monday 27 June for the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall at their Welsh home in Llwynywermod near Llandovery.

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News

Gwilym Lee in The Revengers Tragedy, Guildhall 2008

Classic performances Gwilym Lee (Acting 2008) is the winner of this year’s Sunday Times Ian Charleson Award, for his performance as Edgar in the Donmar Warehouse’s recent production of King Lear. The Award commemorates the life and work of the actor Ian Charleson who died in 1990 aged only 40, and is given for the best performance by an actor under 30 in a classical play (defined as written before 1918).

In total four Guildhall graduates appeared on this year’s shortlist of 15 young actors: Susannah Fielding (2007) was nominated for her performance as Petra in An Enemy of the People at Sheffield Crucible; Ferdinand Kingsley (2009) for Rosencrantz in Hamlet at the National Theatre; and Ashley Zhangazha (2010) for the King of France in the Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear. Congratulations to them all!

State of the nation theatre is thriving in East London Receiving Jack Petchey Leader Award

From teenage pregnancy to postcode wars, Islamophobia to knife crime, State of the Nation Crew’s powerful theatre doesn’t shy away from the big issues. Serena B Robins (Acting 1997), the award-winning talent behind the Stratford-based group, talks about how the arts help young people tackle tough issues.

“I lived in Tower Hamlets and my first real lightbulb moment was right here at the Theatre Royal Stratford East [where Serena is Project Manager, Young People’s Work].

I was on a course with [playwright] Tanika Gupta when I was 18.

Coming from a working class background, the course really opened my mind up to possibilities. Suddenly, the arts were an option and that led to drama school. But by the time I was in my final year I already had a sense that being an actor wasn’t going to be enough for me. I wanted to give to the community what the theatre had given me back then – a chance to broaden my horizons.

In my group, State of the Nation Crew, young people use art to voice things that wouldn’t normally be discussed – postcode wars, being a young parent, Islamophobia. We create something theatrical around an issue and present it to the community. The responses we get are so powerful.

We’ve just finished Mad Blud using a verbatim recorded delivery technique that looks at knife crime and is based on real people’s stories. It felt almost therapeutic during post-show discussions because the audience needed to reflect about how this issue is affecting them and their lives.

We build relationships with our young people. We may do a project with them which gives them a stepping stone to go on to drama school, university or into the industry – and a year later they come in here as an artist. It’s an absolute joy to see that.”

For more information about State of the Nation Crew, email srobins@stratfordeast.com

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News

Guildhall Alumni 2.0 Some of you will have noticed that the Alumni Common Room and Alumni Ezine have been put on hold since work began on the School’s new website last year. A great deal of work is still being done behind-the-scenes to improve the functionality of the site and we hope to be able to relaunch the Alumni Common Room and the Alumni Ezine later this Autumn.

The new Alumni Common Room will contain the Members Directory and full details of all Benefits & Services available

to Guildhall School alumni. Digital copies of Guildhall School News are now available on the website at www.gsmd.ac.uk/guildhallschoolnews.

To receive more frequent alumni and School news you can subscribe to the Alumni Ezine (email alumni@gsmd.ac.uk to add your name to the mailing list) or ‘Like’ the Guildhall School Alumni Facebook Page. You can also find us on LinkedIn (Guildhall School Alumni group) and Twitter (@guildhallschool).

Over To You

The face in the mirror The glass is not so seductive now, nor the reflection so engaging.

Decades past it was part of my discipline to gaze – and in the ancient basement we would take our place, one mirror to each seat, our vision briefly patched with dark and dazzle. Using our palms as palettes, we would mix the fattysmelling colours and transform the face in the mirror. One week we painted age upon our dewy countenances, but clear eyes shone through, despite the whitened lashes. This was not an exercise in drawing lines; we were to prophesy our geriatric visages with fingertip precision. I can recall the benign apple dumpling twinkling back at me, and the odd sensation that she had arrived, and was waiting, in the glass, to be me.

Life does a painting of its own, however, which no greasepaint, laid over a fine-boned youthful face, can foretell.

The face I live behind, of course, is the one that beckoned me to mirrors once, and not the one these new mirrors, with their faulty perceptions, thrust at me. That face is in a drawer, and there is as much behind it, I sometimes think, as there was in its flat mimic in the glass. Perhaps I’m being a little hard on myself here; maybe my problem was not shallowness so much as illusory depth. A mirrored face is less truthful than a good portrait, seeing ourselves as we do from the other side, and with no dimension, and, of course, posing for ourselves. An artist cuts through all that.

My old young face, the deep-eyed one with cheekbone hollows and an artful lip, was the face my husband swore he still saw, marking no change in me. Now that face is truly only in the bureau drawer, as past and gone as the old postcards of Vesta Tilley in her picture hat, and the moment of his enchantment – which was not, that day, mutual – is a myth, or nowhere, or in the atoms of a broken mirror in the banks of the Thames. v Gillian Shimwell née Foster (Speech & Drama, 1974)

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Class Notes

Music Stella Jean Compton née Dickinson (Music Therapy 1994) I am now research lead in music therapy in Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, implementing a major research trial, 15 years on since training at the Guildhall School.

I am an approved BAPAM psychotherapy provider, and I treat many professional musicians and performing artists for performance anxiety and other stress related disorders. www.stellacompton.co.uk

Olwen Davies (Singing 1950)

Manu Delago (Jazz Drums 2008)

Wynne Evans (Opera 1995)

Since studying at Guildhall I’ve toured around the world with my own ensembles, mainly playing the Swiss instrument Hang. I also performed in various London venues such as LSO St. Luke’s, Southbank Centre, The Roundhouse, Barbican, Jazz Cafe etc.

Since June I have been a featured musician in the new project of the Icelandic singer Björk. We have played seven shows at the Manchester International Festival and will be on world tour over the next two years.

With my own quintet, Living Room in London, I am doing a CD-launch concert at King’s Place in London on 23 January 2012. Another exciting performance will be the UK premiere of my composition for Hang and string orchestra. As a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra I’ll perform at LSO St Luke’s on 28 March 2012.

John Heley (Cello 1970)

Highlights of this year: 1 Singing in Anna Nicole, 2 Making more ads [Wynne plays ‘Gio Campario’ in the Go Compare TV commercials], 3 Classical number 1 [his debut album, A Song in My Heart, was released in April and went straight to the top of the Official Classical Album Charts], and 4 Getting the role of Piangi in the Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary production.

Keri Fuge (Soprano 2010)

Nicola Dixon-Brown (Junior Guildhall 2001)

Olwen Davies was supported by the Sam Heilbut Minor and Major scholarships while a student at the Guildhall School. On leaving Guildhall, Ms Davies went on to be a junior principal at Covent Garden, with Edgar Evans.

Eric Kleiber suggested they visit Rome during the summer break and Ms Davies went on to spend 20 years in Italy, getting to know Beniamino Gigli and Tullio Serafin along the way.

Later Ms Davies became involved in the international peace movement and is currently Vice Chair of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament for Mid Wales.

Gallery, St James’s Church Piccadilly, Wales Millennium Centre, National Museum of Wales, Ironmonger Hall, Winchester Festival and Llandeilo Festival.

I was a Junior Exhibitioner from 1960–66 and a full student from 1966–70 (John Carpenter Street vintage) studying cello with the great William Pleeth.

As a member of the Orsini String Quartet during our time at Guildhall we represented the School giving concerts in the City and around the UK. We broke up due to lack of funding for our residency at York University and all got jobs: Jeremy Painter and I joined the RPO and Robert Clark and David Hume joined the LSO. After 10 years with RPO, I left to freelance and four years later joined the Academy of St Martin in the Fields as co-principal cello along with Stephen Orton – also a Guildhall student at the same time as me. We have been the first desk of the ASMF and played in the Chamber Ensemble together all that time – 26 years.

Albert Horne (Repetiteur 2007)

Congratulations to Nicola Dixon-Brown and Dr Alister Charles French. They met when studying at Oxford University and married five years later on Saturday 4th December 2010 at St Luke’s Church, Sydney Street, London, followed by a reception and dinner dance at the Oxford and Cambridge Club, Pall Mall.

Keri recently won 2nd prize in the London Handel Festival Competition 2011 and will be performing at the 2012 festival. She was a finalist in The Thelma King Competition 2011, Winner of Dame Anne Evans Most Promising Singer award in 2009, she also won the 2008 Hampshire Singer of the Year. Concert engagements have included recitals in National Portrait

Albert is currently Chorus Master & Music Assistant at Cape Town Opera, Cape Town, South Africa. In recent years Albert has conducted L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica in Cape Town, Show Boat in Malmö, Sweden, and Theâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and Porgy & Bess in Tel Aviv.

2011 will see him conducting Alessandro Talevi’s new production of La traviata with Colin Lee in Cape Town, as well as Lost in the Stars with Emmy-nominated director Tazewell Thompson.

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Class Notes Leo Patsalides (Junior Guildhalll 1999)

Leo Patsalides has founded the Amati Orchestra, which is based in the City of London and aims to become one of the finest non-professional symphony orchestras in the country. Its members include professional musicians and soloists, music college students and advanced nonprofessional musicians. Future plans include masterclasses and orchestral workshops with internationally established soloists and conductors. www.amatiorchestra.co.uk

I lived in Vienna for fifteen years, where I studied German song with Walter Berry at the then Hochschule (now Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst) and conducting at the Vienna Conservatory. Subsequently, I was appointed Conductor and also Voice Trainer of the Vienna Boys Choir. I also worked as a tenor soloist in oratorio and opera intensively.

Since coming back to Dublin, I have been a voice student of Tony Roden’s in London over a period of a few years; a wonderful gentleman and vocal clinician!

GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS

A Change of Light is a music/ visual art collaborative performance project by cellist/ arranger Audrey Riley and international piano soloist Andrew Zolinsky, building on their work together in the contemporary music ensemble Icebreaker, together with guitarist James Woodrow, and Nick and Rob Allum.

Debbie Wiseman (Composition/Piano 1984)

On 19 September 2011, Debbie releases a CD featuring 22 of her film and TV themes, including her RTS Award-winng score for the film Warriors, arranged for piano solo and performed by Debbie herself.

Wonderful Winds

Now, ten years since its conception, the group are celebrating that birthday with the release of the first CD: A Change of Light – Bryars, Lang, Hillier.

For a chance to win a copy of A Change of Light – Bryars, Lang, Hillier, send your full name and address by 1 October to alumni@ gsmd.ac.uk, quoting ‘A Change of Light’ in the subject line.

Richard Watkin (Trombone 2006) Richard has been appointed Principal Trombone of Scottish Opera, following a successful trial with them.

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have amassed hundreds of arrangements between us over the years and felt there was a market out there for our ever-expanding collection of innovative music, which encompasses everything from Bach and Handel to Barry Manilow and Harold Arlen.”

One of the principal aims of the pair is to promote ensemble playing at all levels of expertise, producing mixed-ability pieces enabling grade 1 players to participate alongside more experienced musicians, as well as more challenging works for advanced groups, such as Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture for oboe trio and Bernstein’s Candide Overture for flute quintet.

“Next year we hope to branch out into selling colleagues’ arrangements for other instruments with Wonderful Strings and Wonderful Brass!” www.wonderfulwinds.com

Nikos Zarkos (Guitar 2003)

www.a-change-of-light.com

Roland Purcell (Voice 1983)

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Audrey Riley (Cello 1984)

Two Guildhall music graduates have combined forces to start a music publishing company. Mel Orriss (Flute 1988) and Anna Cooper (Oboe 1988) launched Wonderful Winds in August 2010, printing and selling their arrangements of popular repertoire for flute ensemble, oboe trio and double reed ensemble.

“We both still play with chamber groups formed while we were at Guildhall, and are involved in coaching chamber music groups as well as teaching and orchestral playing. We

Nikos has recently released his debut album, Greek Guitar Music of 21st Century (Subways Music, 2011, Greece).

The first piece of the CD is written by the Guildhall composition alumna Christina Athinodorou, with the title Wasted Window. www.nikoszarkos.com

Drama Sally Boardman née Roberts (SMTT 1997)

Kurt Egyiawan (Acting 2011) The Spotlight Prize 2011 has been awarded to actor Kurt Egyiawan. The Spotlight Prize is awarded each year to the best actor graduating from one of the Conference of Drama Schools. Previous winners have included Judi Dench, Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker.

Jennifer Kett (SMTT 2010)

Sally is photographed here with her baby boy, Scott, born 19 February 2011.

Alex Clatworthy (Acting 2011) Jenny has recently moved to New Zealand where she now works for Oceania Audio, the largest sound lighting stage and screen hire-company in the country, mixing shows as well as radio mic running at the Civic Theatre.

Darren Rosen (SMTT 1997) Alex won the 2011 Michael Bryant Award for VerseSpeaking. Each year, eight 3rd year actors are selected to appear in the final at the Olivier Theatre, in front of a jury made up of Sir Nicholas Hytner, the Casting Department of the National Theatre and a guest actor (this year, Christopher Ecclestone). The Award was established by Judith Coke (pictured above with Alex) in memory of her late husband, the renowned classical actor, Michael Bryant.

Daniel Craig (Acting 1991) Congratulations to Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz on their recent marriage!

I attended Guildhall in 1952–54. I came from Hobart, Tasmania, to take both the Drama course and Music course, and then never went back afterwards!

My drama professor was John Holgate, who was celebrated as the originator of Poetry in Pubs in London at that time.

My music professor was Dennis Dance, who also taught Sir Colin Davis at the time.

My first job was ASM at the Felixstowe Rep, then joined the Old Vic Co for an Australian tour headed

by Katharine Hepburn and Robert Helpmann. I went to Canada in 1960s and acted in CBC TV dramas then to New York when I worked with Yul Brynner as his P.A. during The King & I. I started writing in the 1980s returned to London and have written 10 books about the theatre.

Latest news is that I lectured at the Lincoln Center in New York last March about my new book, Behind the Doors of Notorious Covent Garden which is part of a series called Life Upon the Wicked Stage.

I’m about to start work on the production end of Fashion Week in NYC, working for IMCD Lighting covering over 50 of the shows during the 7 day event. Fashion Week happens twice yearly during September and February. Needless to say the September event is a lot... warmer than February’s!

www.sharland.com

Elizabeth Sharland (Drama/Piano 1954)

Dominic will return to our screens in September as Fred West in ITV drama Appropriate Adult [with Monica Dolan (Acting 1991) as Rosemary West] and travel to Sheffield to be reunited with his Guildhall contemporary Daniel Evans and at least five other recent graduates when he plays Iago in Othello.

Dominic West (Acting 1995) It’s a busy year for Dominic West! Starring in the West End production of Simon Gray’s Butley at the time of writing, he has also just hit our screens in the new BBC period drama, The Hour, hotly tipped to be the summer’s hit series.

Reunions Recent 26 June 2011 AGSM Singers of the ‘70s 5 July 2011 Annual Musical Reunion (Recent graduates of Acting and Technical Theatre) 10 July 2011 Acting Class of 1986, 25th anniversary

Coming up 17 Sept 2011 GGSM 1964, 50 yrs since start of course 23 Oct 2011 Students of Yona Ettlinger Nov 2011 China Reunion (Beijing) 24 Jan 2012 Annual New York Reunion (see page 8)

If you would like further information about any of the above, are planning or thinking about planning a reunion that is not listed, please contact the Alumni Office (alumni@gsmd.ac.uk, 020 7382 2325).

PLEASE NOTE: These listings are collated from information sent in to us.

They reflect only a tiny proportion of the exciting and varied things that our alumni do.

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Stay in touch

Obituaries Steven Alvey 1957 – 2011

Stay in touch

In 2006 the Guildhall School set up a dedicated Alumni Office to contact and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with former students, staff and fellows. We are gradually reconnecting with more of our alumni community and are now in contact with over 7,000 individuals in over 50 countries worldwide.

Given the sometimes nomadic nature of the industries that the majority of our former students work in, it is all too easy for us to lose touch with our alumni and friends. We rely on you to keep us informed of your address (either post or email) changes. Please do keep in touch.

We currently have over 10,000 ‘lost alumni’ on our database for whom we do not have current contact details and, wherever possible, we would like to find them. If you are in touch with or meet alumni of the Guildhall School, and you are not certain that they hear from us, please email their details to us (alumni@gsmd.ac.uk) or ask them to contact us directly.

See below for Alumni Office contact details.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DT Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 2571 Fax: +44 (0)20 7256 9438 www.gsmd.ac.uk

Development Office Email: development@gsmd.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 7179

Guildhall School News Email: editorial@gsmd.ac.uk

Photo Credits Clive Barda, Greg Funnell, Nina Large David Levenson, Joanna Newell Rosie Reed Gold, Clive Totman

Alumni Office Email: alumni@gsmd.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 2325

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GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS

• AUTUMN / WINTER 2011

Steven Alvey, who has died of cancer at the age of 53, enjoyed a successful acting career on stage and television for over thirty years. Steven was born and raised in Keighley, West Yorkshire where he attended Greenhead Grammar School. In the late 1970s, still a teenager, he travelled to London to begin a life in the theatre. He toiled happily backstage and front of house at several West End Theatres, before winning a place on the acting course at the Guildhall (1979-82).

Throughout the early years of his career, he appeared in Blood Brothers, in its first national tour, at the Cafe Theatre in Frankfurt, as Malcolm in Bedroom Farce and he made many appearances for Hull Truck Theatre, playing Tony in Up ‘n’ Under in the West End and on tour, and in The Office Party, Catwalk and, most significantly, in Alan Plater’s Sweet Sorrow (UK tour and Los Angeles) where Steven met the love of his life and wife, the actress, Amanda Orton.

His most extraordinary performance was in The Two Gentleman of Verona. This was the production which reopened Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Steven had been contracted to play small parts and understudy. An actor broke a leg 24 hours before the first night, and Steven went on as Sir Thurio, with no real rehearsal, the following day. The show was a triumph and the entire cast applauded him as he came on stage at the curtain call. He took the part for the subsequent run at the Globe and in New York. Astonishingly, he repeated this feat four years later when, at very short notice, he took on the part of Trinculo in The Tempest at the Globe in 2000. Most recently on stage he was in Nicholas Nickleby at Chichester as Young Wackford.

Steven has been a familiar face on television over the past twenty years appearing in many of the best situation comedies of the period, including two series of Loved by You, two series of Simon Nye’s veterinary surgery sit-com Beast, regularly in How do you Want Me?, Doctors and Nurses and Trevor’s World of Sport and in Nye’s Hardware. In drama he was a regular in The Brief and appeared in North Square and Rosemary and Thyme amongst others.

Steven’s warmth, charm and immeasurable wit meant that everyone who worked with or spent any time with him was proud to call him a friend.

We shall all miss him terribly. He is survived by Amanda. v Tom Fry (Acting 1982)

Rachel Brand 1966 – 2011 We have recently been informed that Rachel Brand (Jazz Voice 2006) died on 27 June 2011. We hope to publish an obituary for Rachel in the next edition of Guildhall School News.

Josephine Hart 1942 – 2011

In 1964 Josephine Hart left her home in Mullingar for London, where she worked in the telesales department of Thomson Newspapers while taking acting classes at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama at night. She moved to Haymarket Publishing, became the firm’s only woman director and launched several trade magazines; it was there that she met Maurice Saatchi, and was briefly his boss.

Described by The Guardian as ‘an evangelist for poetry’ who claimed that poets shaped her life, in 2004 she founded the Josephine Hart Poetry Hour at the British Library, in which actors including Dame Judi Dench and Simon Callow read works by major poets.

“The idea is simple,” she said, “an understanding of the life and philosophy of the poet illuminates the poetry and therefore makes the experience of reading or listening to each poem more intense.”

Josephine Hart produced a number of West End plays including the awardwinning The House of Bernarda Alba

by Lorca, Noel Coward’s The Vortex and The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch.

In the late 1980s, she presented the ITV series Books by My Bedside, in which she interviewed authors including Jackie Collins and Martin Amis.

She is survived by her husband and two sons.

James McGee 1973 – 2011

Josephine Hart, Lady Saatchi was an Irishborn British writer, theatrical producer and television presenter.

Born and educated in Ireland, she was the acclaimed author of 5 novels including the bestselling Damage, which was translated into 26 languages, sold more than a million copies worldwide, and was made into a film starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche.

James McGee (Violin 1995) was killed in a road traffic collision on Wednesday 8 June. Paying tribute, his family said James’ death was a “tragic loss” to both his family and the musical community in Hertfordshire and London where he was well known.

“As a family we would like to say we have had immense comfort from the many people who have conveyed their sympathy and love for James. Fiona, his sister, also a musician, has had messages from the many musical contacts they had.

“Arrangements are not yet known. It is hoped there will be a celebration of his life locally later this year. Thank you to everyone for their kind support.”

Blanche Munro 1917 – 2011 Blanche Munro, Professor of Guitar at the School from 1960 to 1984, died on 22 June 2011 aged 94.

A trustee of the North London care home where Blanche spent her final years commented, “Blanche was a wonderful, shrewd, humorous and feisty lady; physically frail but always intellectually engaged, spending much of her time on solving very advanced crossword puzzles.”

Blanche was successor to, and a protegée of, Adele Kramer (1900–1989), who founded the Guitar department at the School in 1958. Kramer herself was a pupil of the 19th-century Spanish guitarist Miguel Llobet, who in turn was a pupil of one of Spain’s most important figures in guitar history, Francisco Tarrega, the performer, composer and arranger. Thus, Blanche Munro could be said to have continued Tarrega’s legacy into the 1980s at the School through her teaching.

The Alumni Office would be pleased to receive messages from former students of Blanche Munro with recollections of her time at the School.

They said: “Born in Welwyn Garden City, James was a former pupil of Lockleys School, furthering his studies at the Guildhall School for his degree. He led the Welwyn Garden City Orchestra from the age of fourteen, and will be missed by its members and other musical groups he was associated with. James had developed a great skill in Jazz, which added to his passion for classical violin playing.

GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS

• AUTUMN / WINTER 2011

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