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RCM COMMUNITY UPDATES
ALUMNI UPDATES
Performances And Recordings
Success stories from across the RCM.
Violinist Esther Abrami continues to make waves in the international music world, including the recent release of her new album, Women, featuring music by women composers, and a special event showcasing this repertoire to be held at L’Olympia, Paris on 23 November. Esther also performed at the BAFTAs, and has been featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
Soprano Camilla Harris will be playing the role of Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème this autumn, and during the summer appears as a Flower Maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal, both at Glyndebourne.
SOHO by Jorge Ramos will be premiered by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 2 July.
Singer-songwriter Paul Vialard will be giving a series of jazz concerts in July alongside cellist Romain Malan. Paul won the Golden Pen for singer-songwriters and the Audience Award at the Georges Brassens 2025 Competition in the South of France. He also won Second Prize and the Radio Alpa Prize at Le Mans Pop Festival Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the ‘A nos chansons’ Competition.
Awards And Appointments
The Astatine Trio (main picture), comprising violinist Maja Horvat, cellist Riya Hamie and pianist Berniya Hamie, have been announced as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists 2025–27, and were recent Second Prize and Special Prize winners at the 2025 Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz – becoming the first UK-based ensemble to win a main prize in the competition’s history. Maja has also been announced as the new violinist of the Heath String Quartet.
Soprano Clara Barbier Serrano won Second Prize with her duo partner, pianist Joanna Kacperek, at the Palmares Competition.
Mezzo soprano Fleuranne Brockway won First Prize at the Concours Musical International de Montréal, with baritone Theo Platt winning Third Prize.
Gary Cole was awarded the Medal of the Royal College of Organists (their highest honorary award) at a conferment ceremony at Southwark Cathedral ‘in recognition of distinguished achievement in organ and choral recording.’ This is the first time the RCO Medal has been awarded to a record producer.
The Royal College of Music was victorious across the board in this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Awards, with accolades awarded to several alumni. Tenor Philippe Durrant won Second Prize, mezzo soprano Ellen Pearson won the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize for her rendition of alumna Rebecca Clarke’s The Seal Man, and the Help Musicians Accompanist’s Prize was awarded to pianist Francesca Lauri, RCM alumna and Piano Accompaniment Fellow (turn to page 4 for the full story). Ellen has also been named as a Jette Parker Artist (2025–27) at the Royal Ballet and Opera from September, and she recently gave a recital as part of the Opera Prelude concert series.
Baritone Peter Edge and soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez have been named as Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Rising Stars, alongside current student, tenor Hugo Brady.
Maria Filippova has been appointed to the position of second flute of the Academy of Ancient Music.
Lecturer in Community Music and Social Justice at the University of Southampton Dr Chiying Lam has recently been appointed as one of the 42 new members of the UK Young Academy. Chiying remarked, ‘I definitely would not be able to do what I do today without the support and guidance of the RCM family.’
Adam Lee has recently been appointed co-principal clarinet of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Conductor Alexander Mackinder won joint First Prize in the fifth Conducting Competition Città di Brescia.
Publications & Broadcasts
There is a new and exciting addition to the RCM Library in the form of a long-awaited translation of vocal training by Franziska Martienssen-Lohmann. As the grande dame of 20th-century vocal pedagogy she passed these exercises on to her students, one of whom was the great German soprano Elisabeth Grűmmer – who in turn taught both alumna Eleanor Forbes and Chair of Vocal Performance, Professor Janis Kelly. Eleanor has translated Lohmann’s teachings from German into English, saying: ‘This English translation makes Martienssen-Lohmann’s unique vocal pedagogy concept available to an international audience at last.’ Janis added: ‘This is a dream come true for me. I made a film via the RCM which discusses this particular technique and the lineage directly from Manuel García through Stockhausen, Meschert, Martienssen-Lohmann and Elisabeth Grűmmer to myself and Eleanor Forbes.’
Pianist Thomas Kelly was interviewed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune ahead of his Wigmore Hall recital, at which he played music by Robert Schumann, and Busoni arrangements of Liszt and Brahms.
Conducting alumnus Alastair Levy has published a peer-reviewed article on conducting and leadership, called ‘Making music without making a sound’. In the article, Alastair draws on his experience studying at the RCM with then conducting professor Chris Adey, his initial experience as a conductor, and his subsequent career as a leader, advisor and coach.
STAFF UPDATES
Six RCM staff members represented the College at a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace: Professor Robert Adlington, Jennifer Allison, Marie Lloyd, Nicola Peacock, Maxine Smith and Mark Traves.
Appointments & Awards
Cello professor Richard Harwood has been appointed Assistant Head of Strings, with a particular focus on lower strings and chamber music.
RCM trumpet professor Kate Moore was awarded the prestigious Pioneer Award by the International Women’s Brass Conference, the first British recipient of this honour.
Festen by Senior Research Fellow in Composition Dr Mark-Anthony Turnage, featuring alumnus Peter Brathwaite, won two Olivier Awards. Read more on page 8.
Matthew Ward, Professional Engagements Coordinator of the Creative Careers Centre, has been appointed Musical Director of the Hertfordshire Big Band, the county‘s award-winning jazz orchestra.
Performances & Recordings
Vocal Studies professor Graeme Broadbent will perform in the Royal Ballet and Opera’s autumn season, singing the role of Second Armed Man in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.
Historical Violin professor Adrian Butterfield‘s ensemble, the London Handel Players, has been celebrating its 25th anniversary with a sold-out Wigmore Hall performance, and forthcoming recordings of Leclair and Telemann.
RCM Junior Department Symphony Orchestra conductor Jacques Cohen‘s new piece Lancastria was premiered at the Barbican in March.
Academic Programmes professor Carola Darwin has recorded an album of music for voice and piano by Mathilde Kralik and Johanna Müller-Hermann, with pianist Marie-Noëlle Kendall, and has contributed a chapter to Elizabeth Maconchy in Context (CUP, 2026).
Visiting Professor of Horn Stefan Dohr recently gave the premiere of Steingrímur Rohloff’s Horn Concerto, as well as performing Hans Abrahamsen’s Horn Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Professor of piano and contemporary piano Danny Driver gave his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in March. Over the next two seasons, Danny embarks on a series of five solo recitals at Wigmore Hall. Accompanying this series will be recordings of Bach‘s Goldberg Variations and Schumann‘s Symphonic Studies.
Composer and RCM Junior Department composition teacher Bushra El-Turk has forthcoming performances including a world premiere at the Equinox Festival in August, a Helsinki Festival performance of her opera Woman at Point Zero and the UK premiere of Oum – A Son’s Quest for His Mother at the Barbican in October.
Composition professors Dr Deirdre Gribbin and Dr Dai Fujikura were both recently featured on BBC Radio 3’s New Music Show.
As part of their celebrations marking Ravel’s 150th anniversary, the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, recently performed Ravel’s Sites auriculaires orchestrated by composition professor Kenneth Hesketh. The performance was later broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Violin professor Madeleine Mitchell’s London Chamber Ensemble Quartet has received outstanding reviews for their recent album of RCM composers Herbert Howells and Charles Wood. Madeleine also celebrated the music of Sir George Dyson, former Director of the RCM, in a piano trio concert at Leighton House in June.
Academic and composition professor Jonathan Pitkin‘s new audiovisual piece Study no.2: Picket Fence and Chips was shown at the General Assembly of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music at the Opéra de Montpellier, and at the Fédération Belge de Musique Electroacoustique‘s Autumn Waves festival.
Director of Opera Michael Rosewell recently gave a talk as part of the TEDxBath Salon series at the Theatre Royal Bath.
Professor Ashley Solomon, Chair and Head of Historical Performance, and Florilegium, RCM Ensemble in Association, recently completed their latest CD recording for Outhere, Telemann ‘Old and New’ which featured RCM alumna Elizabeth Watts in Telemann’s last composition – his operatic cantata Ino. This disc also includes a rarely recorded concerto for flute and violin with Ashley being joined by baroque violin virtuoso Rachel Podger. The recording received support from The Continuo Foundation.
Tal Walker, Deputy Piano and Chamber Music Teacher at the RCM Junior Department, RCM Graduate Teaching Assistant and PhD candidate, has recently released an EP of Debussy’s Préludes – Book 1 with Antarctica Records. Tal recorded these Préludes live at the Royal College of Music.
STUDENT UPDATES
Awards & Prizes
In the Brooks Van der Pump English Song Competition Final, the following prize winners were announced: Daniel Barrett won First Prize, Second Prize went to Carys Davies, and Third Prize was awarded to Hugo Brady. In the category of Pianist Awards, First Prize was won by Jorn Quirijnen, Second Prize by Irena Radić and Third Prize by Ethan Heidel.
The following students were given vocal awards in the Lies Askonas Competition Final: soprano Charlotte Jane Kennedy won First Prize, soprano Ariana Ricci won Second Prize, with Third Prize going to countertenor Zheng Jiang.
In the Joan Chissell Schumann Prize for Piano, First Prize was awarded to Radu-Gabriel Stoica, with Joint Second Prize shared by Misha Kaploukhii and Tin-Lam Ng.
Mezzo soprano Lily Mo Browne won First Prize in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards 2025; see page 4. Lily will be joining the National Opera Studio for the 2025/26 season, alongside soprano Georgia Melville.
Pianist Nikita Burzanitsa won First Prize and the Audience Prize in the Sheepdrove Intercollegiate Piano Competition. The award included a recital at the Newbury Spring Festival. This is the third time that an RCM pianist has won this competition in the past four years.
Magdalene Ho was selected to take part in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Mezzo soprano Ustinya Malinina won the prize for the Young Singer of the Future in the Tokyo International Singing Competition.
Soprano Eve Pearson Maxwell won First Prize in the Ashburnham English Song Awards, performing alongside finalists, soprano Carys Davies and countertenor Zheng Jiang.
Pianist Jiaxin Min is now a Laureate of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2025, Brussels.
Paul Mnatsakanov won Third Prize in the Val Tidone Competition Silvio Bengalli Piano Prize.
Soprano Natalka Pasicznyk was a semi-finalist in the Aldeburgh New Voices Competition.
Mutong Shao‘s research has been awarded the Graduate Award of the International Symposium on Performance Science.
Mariamna Sherling won the semi-final prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition, and Third Prize in the Bach Competition 2025, Leipzig.
Soprano Adja Thomas-Mbaya won First Prize in the Young Hope Division of Les Grandes Voix Competition.
Zvjezdan Vojvodic was a semi-finalist in the Beethoven International Piano Competition.
Soprano Maryam Wocial won Second Prize in the London Handel Festival Competition.
Jacky Zhang has been selected to take part in the Chopin International Piano Competition in October.
Performances & Appointments
Double bassist Levi Andreassen performed at the Haslemere Festival with the London Mozart Players in May, the culmination of his Haslemere String Competition win earlier in the year. A Cratfield Young Artist, Levi also recently performed in the Concerts at Cratfield concert series in East Suffolk.
Tenor Simon Mascarenhas Carter has been made a Pegasus Opera Company Young Artist.
Doctoral pianist Laura Casas Cambra has released an album called Barefoot, recorded with alumna violinist Inês Delgado.
The new woodwind section of Southbank Sinfonia for the 2025/26 season has filled five out of the eight chairs with RCM students: Brioni Crowe (flute), Will Hartley (bassoon), Christian Hoddinott (clarinet), Latchen Kinghorn (clarinet) and Annabelle Pizzey (oboe).
Baritone Sam Hird has been made a Jette Parker Artist (2025–27) at the Royal Ballet and Opera from September 2025. Sam also went on as cover twice at the Royal Opera in Telemann’s Pimpione.
Violinist Betania Johnny has earned a place on the Master of Music course at the Manhattan School of Music, starting in August 2025. Betania has been awarded a full-tuition scholarship, and is currently crowdfunding on GoFundMe to support her living expenses.
Will Kidner has been given the bassoon position on the Philharmonia Orchestra Fellowship Scheme.
Soprano Henna Mun will be returning to Glyndebourne to originate the role of Phyllis in The Railway Children by Dr Mark-Anthony Turnage.
Gwydion Rhys’ orchestral work Mistico was given its world premiere in Cardiff by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Jac van Steen.
Flautist Samantha Rowe has been given the flute/piccolo position on the Glyndebourne Pitch Perfect Scheme.
Tenor Marcus Swietlicki went on as cover as Knappen in Parsifal at Glyndebourne.
Bass Gabriel Tufail Smith made his Glyndebourne debut as Un Ufficiale in Rossini‘s The Barber of Seville.
