Royal Philharmonic Society Magazine Summer 2024

SHOW TIME!

Tenor Nicky Spence shines in a night of powerful sentiment and great music at the RPS Awards

WELCOME

Welcome to the RPS Magazine, created especially for you, our Members, to thank you for your support.

We’re pleased to share our biggest issue yet, packed with stories from the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards which we presented in Manchester for the very first time this March. You can read about the big event and discover more about some of the inspirational winners and nominees. We also share stories that have inspired us from other music-makers around the country, and some of the musicians you are supporting – on our life-changing RPS Women Conductors course – tell you how the RPS is helping to sharpen their talents and raise their prospects.

As always, we love to hear from Members, so please do get in touch at members@philharmonicsociety.uk to let us know what within these pages resonates with you. If you aren’t yet an RPS Member but find this magazine in your hands, please do consider joining: as an RPS Member, you can help the Royal Philharmonic Society – a registered charity – to support, celebrate and protect classical music and musicians nationwide. Please visit royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk for more details.

With thanks and best wishes,

The RPS Team

You’ll have read the news of this year’s Royal Philharmonic Society Awards in Discover, our Members e-bulletin, and on our website, where you can still watch the film of the event for a limited time. Presenting them in Manchester for the first time, we were thrilled to make some noise about the good that classical music does nationally, and to celebrate musicians positively transforming the lives of others.

Staging what The Sunday Times calls ‘the biggest night in UK classical music’ is quite an endeavour for our small team of just four staff. While we journeyed to Manchester the day before (packing up our historic Beethoven bust in his special suitcase for the trip), the real journey to the RPS Awards began eight months earlier. Each July we welcome nominations from RPS Members and friends across the profession, inviting them to tell us about artists and endeavours that inspired them over the last year. Come September, an avalanche of inspirations has amassed for us to wade through. We set about checking they’re all eligible, then contact the artists and organisers directly to request submissions for panels to review.

Pictured: Presenters Elizabeth Alker and Linton Stephens start the show with a selfie; the audience gathers; outgoing RPS Chair John Gilhooly presents the Impact Award to Clare Johnston; the BBC Singers receive the Ensemble Award

All RPS Awards photos: Robin Clewley and Vessel Studios

‘Ensemble music-making is the most extraordinary joy. What we’ve learned this evening is that classical music brings endless opportunities for collaboration and working together. May this be the beginning of yet more fruitful adventures for the BBC Singers and all those with whom we work.’ Rebecca Lea, soprano, BBC Singers

INSIDE CLASSICAL MUSIC’S BIGGEST NIGHT

Meanwhile, we enlist 60 people from across the sector to form the 12 panels who’ll meet on Zoom through November and December to review submissions, and decide shortlists and winners. Their conversations are always so humbling to witness – they really care, and it’s torture having to choose between so many tremendous contenders.

After Christmas, the tempo accelerates, as we notify people who have been shortlisted and gather a multitude of assets and insights from them to tell their story. By then, we’re in full-on eventplanning mode, nudging a hundred different facets along in the hope they all come together as the weeks spiral by. Every day there are new matters needing

our care. How do we engineer things so one of our performers can leave the show early for an engagement in Paris? Will our nominees from Ukraine (composers Illia Razumeiko and Roman Grigoriv and producer Olga Diatel whose Chornobyldorf we secretly know will win the Opera and Music Theatre Award) get their visas and safe passage? How do we set about creating digital captions for disabled nominee Clare Johnston (whose Call of the Mountains created with Drake Music Scotland and Kazakhstan’s Eegeru Ensemble will go on to win the Impact Award)? We learnt so much from this, as did our colleagues at the Royal Northern College of Music who dived head-first and heartily into hosting the event with us.

‘I grew up in Leeds, born and bred. As an Indian classical musician trained in Indian classical music, I cannot believe I’ve been awarded an RPS Award. I don’t come from a musical family, so my first thanks have got to be to my musical mum and dad, my teachers who are here today: Gunwant Kaur and Ustad Dharambir Singh.’ Sitar player and Instrumentalist Award winner Jasdeep Singh Degun, pictured with fellow nominee, cellist and composer Ayanna WitterJohnson

Manchester’s percussionists opened the show; Derbyshire’s Derwent Brass received the Inspiration Award

Come the day itself, we’re at the venue shortly after dawn and it’s all hands on deck. Our RNCM colleagues are tirelessly cheerful as we power through a military schedule that extends to many pages. Excitement amps up as BBC Radio 3 presenters Elizabeth Alker and Linton Stephens arrive to rehearse and bring real verve to the script we’ve lovingly penned. Equally enlivening – and emotional! – are the fresh projections that creative wizard Matt Belcher has made for the presentation, showcasing all the nominees. Then it’s soundcheck time for the performers. Our brief disappointment that tenor Nicky Spence hasn’t brought his dog (a VIP we’d been expecting and had furnished the dressing room accordingly) subsides as he wows everyone with the song he’ll sing later.

Finally, it’s showtime and almost impossible to get over 600 attendees into their seats. They’re all so keen to see each other and to see what everyone else is wearing in response to our ‘celebratory’ dress code. Every step of our eight-month journey we feel tingles, catching glimpses

of the artistry, imagination and the love that fuels music-making UK-wide. Here, surrounded by music-makers and music-lovers, it hits us with full force: what a community we are, what conviction we share that classical music vitally matters. The rest of the night races by. Once everyone’s vacated around midnight, our core team tidies up, then – as some guests go on partying – we head to the hotel bar for a quiet nightcap. It’s our first moment connecting after hours fulfilling our duties, and a chance to ask each other, with relief and contentment, ‘what on earth just happened?’.

Aleksi Barrière received the Large-Scale Composition Award on behalf of his late mother and collaborator, the iconic composer Kaija Saariaho, for the opera Innocence. He said ‘The times we live in do not make it easy to create large-scale compositions like Innocence. It’s not just an opera about a school shooting: it’s about the layered social and psychological reality through which violence is coproduced by all of us. It is precisely its large scale that allows for it to unfold this reality for everyone to see. We need such works because we need, as a society, to think in terms of deep structural change with large-scale effects. If we want art to exist and keep challenging us, to keep training our ability to hear complexity and nuance, artists must be supported.’

Below: the RPS

‘I’d like to thank all the incredible women whose performance and scholarship made it possible for me to go to Faber with a book like this and for them to say yes, we want to buy it. Thanks to everyone who bought the book and tickets to the concerts based on it. It shows there is a readership and that when we tell women’s stories, people want to hear them, and want to listen to their music.’ Leah Broad receiving the Storytelling Award for her book Quartet about women composers overlooked by history.

Above: producer Olga Diatel and composers Roman Grigoriv and Illia Razumeiko travelled from Ukraine to receive the Opera and Music Theatre Award for their extraordinary opera Chornobyldorf

team with former colleagues Robin and Camilla who returned to help out behind the scenes

HOW TO BUILD A CHOIR

We’re proud to have recently introduced the RPS Inspiration Award, recognising the UK’s extraordinary constellation of amateur groups and the dedicated souls who work with them. Unlike the other RPS Awards, a panel chooses a shortlist, all of whom deserve to win, then we let the public decide who gets the trophy. With 5,434 votes cast this year, it’s clear just how much these groups matter to communities nationwide. Though this year’s ultimate winner is Derbyshire’s Derwent Brass, we want to celebrate all the shortlistees. We invited the founders of two shortlisted choirs to tell their story: Catriona Downie and Katy Lavinia Cooper from Glasgow Madrigirls, and Michael Betteridge from The Sunday Boys.

Tell us about your choir and how it came to exist.

Cat and Katy: Madrigirls was set up in 2000 when we were students at Glasgow University. We were both singing in the University’s Chapel Choir and decided

we wanted to set up a group to sing more part-songs and madrigals. We found we had more interest from upper than lower voices, and Madrigirls was born! We organised an Advent concert in 2001 at the University Chapel and we’ve sung one each year since, along with other concerts as we got more established. We’ve always co-directed the group. Katy conducts but we plan and organise all activities together.

Michael: It was sometime in 2015 when I thought there must be more to the LGBTQ+ community in Manchester than the nightlife experience. With support from friends, I made a call on social media to see if there was interest in a gay male voice choir, and in early 2016 around 20 people came to the basement of a cramped bar in Canal Street – the city’s gay district – to sing together for the first time. The energy was electric and within a few weeks The Sunday Boys became a new fixture in ‘the village’.

Eoin Carey

What are the rewards that come from being part of your choir?

Cat and Katy: We try to keep Madrigirls as informal, fun and accessible as possible, while still maintaining as high a standard as we can. We don’t tend to sing standard repertoire – we actively search out unusual music that other groups aren’t singing, or that has been lost or forgotten, and love to commission new work too. We’ve done

everything from ‘standard’ concerts to whisky tastings and a musical murder mystery! Most importantly, Madrigirls is an amazing community. There’s a big range of backgrounds, professions, and stages of life, but we’re all equal when we’re singing. We’ve seen each other through graduations, career moves, house moves, babies, bereavements... it’s a brilliantly supportive group.

Michael: We’ve evolved a lot from our early days. To reach the widest possible LGBTQ+ community, and our allies, we evolved from a ‘gay male’ to a ‘low voice LGBTQ+’ choir which invites anyone from our LGBTQ+ community in Greater Manchester (and beyond) who sings in a tenor to bass range. That’s one of the most rewarding things about this choir: creating a space that not only celebrates the diversity of low-voiced singers in the LGBTQ+ community, but does that through coming together to sing and make music, often newly-commissioned work, based on lived experiences of our membership.

Left and overleaf: Glasgow Madrigirls; above and below at the RPS Awards: The Sunday Boys

For anyone setting up a choir, what advice would you offer?

Cat and Katy: Sing what you love. It takes a lot of work to run a choir but if you’re singing music and organising events that you enjoy, that enthusiasm will rub off on your members – and your audience too. Also: involve your members. It might feel easier to plot everything yourself but others will always bring a fresh perspective, and it’s a good thing if they have some agency and ownership. Also, giving people opportunities to develop their own skills (be that conducting, arranging, writing music, managing events, marketing or running social media) benefits everyone.

Michael: Firstly, make sure you’re creating a new space for people to sing rather than replicating what already might be going on in your area: this could be the community you serve, or the repertoire you sing. Secondly, listen to your members and build the choir with them. The Sunday Boys has been built on many thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of hours of volunteer time in which our community has helped shape our organisation and the way we work. A choir is a family, after all!

Q&A with LOTTE BETTS-DEAN

Eoin Carey

Benjamin Ealovega

Scroll through the recipients of the RPS Young Artist Award over the years, and you’ll find a shower of comets who’ve proceeded to achieve many great things. Joining them is this year’s winner, mezzosoprano Lotte Betts-Dean. Lotte couldn’t be with us to collect her trophy in person as she was making her debut at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper. You can get to know her as she shares some of her passions here...

Who are your musical heroes?

There’s a collection of artists I admire, mainly for their versatility and fearlessness combining styles and genres: something I feel personally drawn to as well. Singers I love include Anne Sofie von Otter, Magdalena Kožená, Asmik Grigorian, Allan Clayton, Caroline Polachek, Charli XCX, Jeff Buckley, Nai Palm from Hiatus Kaiyote, Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins, and basically every member of EXAUDI Ensemble! Beyond singers, I must give a shout out to my duo partner, pianist Joseph Havlat, one of the most incredible musicians I have ever met, and the most patient and wonderful collaborator.

What was your first classical performance?

It was a children’s opera called Brundibár by Hans Krása, when I was about eight. It was written for the children of the Theresienstadt ghetto in World War Two and left a pretty indelible mark – we toured around Berlin and even performed for some survivors who had been part of the first performances. It was a huge and important learning curve, in all ways! My real first performance was when I was two – I’d decided that a large group of beachgoers (all strangers) needed to hear me sing I Can Sing A Rainbow. Very loudly.

Tell us about an inspirational teacher. When I first moved back to Australia from Berlin aged 10, I joined a national children’s choir called Gondwana Voices. It’s a serious group, collaborating with major orchestras, touring internationally and recording albums. I really cut my teeth during those years. It was (and still is) conducted by a formidable woman named Lyn Williams (pictured). I’m not exaggerating when I say that in part, I owe my career to her, as do so many of my fellow Gondwana pals who have gone on to become professional musicians. Lyn demanded utter professionalism and excellence from a group of teens, and we rose to the occasion. I’ll always be grateful to her.

What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done in music?

Well, it’s only music, so I’m not sure how truly terrifying anything could really get for us… we’re not necessarily putting ourselves in real danger, we’re not actively saving lives (though indirectly, perhaps we could be?) but continuing with music during the pandemic was pretty scary. I can’t really imagine a life in which I’m not a singer, so being faced with that potential reality was scary and oddly galvanising.

What’s your favourite piece to perform?

I really can’t narrow it down to one, but favourites include Berio’s Folk Songs, Messiaen’s enormous cycle Harawi, a cycle with string quartet that my father Brett Dean wrote for me called Madame ma bonne soeur, and anything by Bach. Recent additions to the list include Catherine Lamb’s meditative just-intonation piece parallaxis forma (pictured with Explore Ensemble), Schubert’s early and rarely-heard megalied Einsamkeit, and a relatively new programme I do with guitar that pairs songs by John Dowland and Nick Drake.

You can have two musical figures – living or dead – over for dinner. Whom do you invite, and why? Prokofiev and David Bowie. I feel like they’d get on well, and I would laugh a lot.

Tell us about a piece of classical music you’ve discovered lately that you’d recommend to readers. There’s a new recording by Chamber Choir Ireland featuring a piece by Cassandra Miller called The City Full Of People. It’s inspired by Tallis’ Lamentations and fuses a 16th Century sound-world into a sort of contemporary inner landscape in a very magical way. It’s also a fantastic performance from the choir: their focus and stamina is impressive.

What are some dream pieces of music that you haven’t yet performed?

I’d love to tackle Morton Feldman’s mammoth piece for pre-recorded and live voice Three Voices, as well as Debussy’s heroine Mélisande, Vivier’s Bouchara (this one I will hopefully get to do soon!) and Schubert’s Winterreise. There are many composers I would love to work with, I have quite a big list… but of course those pieces don’t exist yet!

If you could change one thing about classical music, what would it be? For the government to recognise how valuable classical music is to the health of our society, the development of brain pathways and intelligence in early childhood, and therefore to fund it properly, as is deserved, and as they do on the continent — from music education right through to the largest organisations and companies. There’s a lot more to say on this, and of course the UK is facing challenges postpandemic and post-Brexit, but stripping funding from the arts is absolutely not the answer.

Complete the sentence: classical music matters because… it connects us, in one way or another, to all people, cultures, language and time.

Dimitri Djuric

PRIDE OF GALLOWAY

So much of what we celebrate in classical music – star artists, headline festivals, definitive recordings – is only half the story. So much of what makes the UK truly musical is in the hands of amateur ensembles and volunteer music societies fuelling communities across the land with little fanfare. RPS Chief Executive James Murphy spoke to new RPS Member Maria Taylor who is the Chair of Gatehouse Music Society, a force for good in a corner of Scotland.

Two hours south of Glasgow, and one hour west of Gretna, you’ll find a musical treasure sure to lift your heart: the Gatehouse Music Society which celebrates its 75th birthday this year. Maria says ‘So many societies were established just after the Second World War, given music’s power to raise a

community’s spirit and bring them back together. We mustn’t forget that. Now again, after the isolation of the pandemic, amid the economic downturn and much world turmoil, we can be uplifted and renewed by the transformative power of music.’

Each year, the Society presents a range of concerts and musical encounters to connect inspirational guest artists with the locality. Recent guests include percussionist Colin Currie, violinist Fenella Humphreys, pianist Martin Roscoe, and the Brodsky Quartet. ‘We aim to welcome a range of artists, some on the up, some well established,’ Maria says ‘so the audience gets a sense of, and can participate in, that journey.’

Gatehouse of Fleet: home of the inspirational Gatehouse Music Society

The community really comes out to support the musicians, providing transport, accommodation and hospitality. ‘We’re all in it together: artists and audience. This does wonderful things for a community’s sense of ownership, identity and pride.’

Maria cares about what will inspire young audiences too. Instigating free tickets for under 25s wasn’t sufficient in itself. Recognising young people’s interests, she invited Niall Moody, a music technology professor from Abertay University. He presented a workshop for local youngsters to

record ambient sounds round the neighbourhood to underscore a video game. ‘It gave them the sense that music isn’t just dots on a page – it’s all around us,’ says Maria. ‘Our generation had so many creative opportunities offered to us: it feels important that we pay that forward for young people who don’t nowadays get the same.’

All this, the Society achieves on a shoestring, limited further by Chamber Music Scotland’s withdrawal of funding for outreach work, subsidised tours that help bring noted artists to the

region, and administrative support for the 300+ volunteer network. Maria says ‘To put some numbers on it: in 2023, 56 Scottish music societies like ours received a total CMS grant of £140,000. Complemented by our own devoted fundraising, we collectively staged 353 concerts for audiences of 24,313, paying out £330,000 to musicians. That’s a pretty good financial return as well as the priceless benefits for so many communities.’ Imagine if all that vanished. Maria and colleagues are keen to keep that small yet vital finance and support lifeline alive.

Clockwise: Maria and her fellow volunteers with the Steinway piano gifted to the Society by the National Trust for Scotland’s Pollok House; a masterclass for young local players from the visiting Brodsky Quartet; getting creative, making music for video games with Abertay professor Niall Moody; youngsters from Stranraer to Dumfries performing together as part of Gatehouse Music Society’s ‘Be Inspired Initiative’

Against the odds, impressive plans for the Society’s 75th birthday are taking shape. Gatehouse has secured a guest appearance by 2024 RPS Awardwinning tenor Nicky Spence who grew up in nearby Dumfries. 2023 RPS Award winner Martyn Brabbins is coming to conduct local amateur musicians in the works of Scotland’s Cecil Coles who died in the First World War, and the Society is commissioning a new piece from local composer Geoff Keating. They’re also planning a forum inviting therapists and doctors to give audiences a sense of how music brightens the mind and boosts wellbeing.

Doesn’t this sound amazing? Far from any cultural hubs, a tiny community is resiliently pulling out the stops to plant classical music at the heart of their life, given all the good it does. This example, this message, we should be shouting from the rooftops in the face of funding cuts and questions of relevance. Across the UK there are so many music societies like this, and so many amateur groups, each generating such joy, curiosity, creativity and goodwill. Here’s to them, and here’s to Maria and the volunteers of Gatehouse. In large part it’s these unsung champions who make our nation truly philharmonic.

A NEW INSTRUMENT

Among star soloists and local heroes, the RPS Awards recognise organisations changing lives through music. Open Up Music won the 2017 RPS Impact Award with the South-West Open Youth Orchestra – then the UK’s only disabledled youth orchestra. RPS General Manager Harriet Wybor spoke with Barry Farrimond-Chuong, Chief Executive of Open Up Music, and musician Alessandro Vazzana about the Clarion: an innovative, electronic, accessible instrument that can be played expressively with any part of the body, including head and eye movement.

Now developed into the National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO), the ensemble has just finished a tour of London’s Milton Court, Bristol Beacon, Lighthouse Poole and Birmingham Town Hall, including music from Vivaldi to Anna Meredith. The Open Up Music team also works with partners across the country to run Open Orchestras in 60 special schools. Developing the Clarion has been truly collaborative, involving expertise and insights from hundreds of disabled musicians, teachers and orchestra

leaders, Barry says. ‘Through co-design with a broad community, we spent a long time understanding what musicians wanted, and how they could access it in a way that was most musical and beneficial to them.’

The Clarion comes as an app with a range of different instrument sounds. Barry says ‘A unique feature is that players can change how it’s laid out on screen. You can remove notes you don’t need, which is important because having fewer notes means you can have more accuracy when you are playing with your eyes or your head.’ Each layout is called a ‘pattern’, which is a musical score represented by shapes. Starting from one note, players can build up to an elaborate arrangement of dozens of patterns, enabling them to move between different notes and chords. ‘Each musical shape is expressive and responds to how the player interacts with it. If you enter a shape quickly it will sound differently from entering it slowly, and you can overlay shapes to create chords. It’s

NOYO performing at Britstol Beacon; Barry with the Clarion; NOYO’s Clarion section with Alessandro (far right)

Guilia Spadafora

different to a conventional instrument because there is flexibility to change the layout, but it’s still an instrument designed to be played live. You can make mistakes and play wrong notes! Playing an intricate musical instrument like a keyboard with your eyes is unfeasible, so we’ve made something with a reasonable adjustment that musicians still have to work really hard at to become accomplished.’

Like any digital instrument, the Clarion has the ability to produce familiar sounds of the orchestra, but there’s potential to develop a unique sound, to appeal to composers and orchestras, and create employment opportunities for disabled musicians. Alessandro Vazzana is a leading Clarion player who, on tour with NOYO, gave the world premiere of Soaring through Sparks, a concerto written for the Clarion by composer Michael Betteridge. Alessandro says: ‘It’s fun to play and shows off what the Clarion can do. I enjoy the fast tempo – in the first part the notes are sparky, while the second part is slow and free like a bird soaring over the orchestra. It has allowed me to show my musical ability, and I want

others to have that opportunity too.’ Alessandro has played a key role in demonstrating the instrument and its possibilities to composers like Michael who are creating new repertoire for the instrument. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) has been working closely with Open Up Music as the Clarion becomes the first electronic musical instrument to be assessed by ABRSM through its Open Music Assessment. Clarion players have been taking part in pilot exam visits over the last year, and over the next 12 months the instrument will become more widely available in the UK.

Looking ahead, Alessandro says ‘Clarion has given me opportunities I would never have had to meet and play with so many different people in the music world. I took part in Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony from Scratch and a concert with the Winchester A Capella choir where I played a solo. When I leave NOYO this summer, I will be joining the Alton Concert Orchestra which is exciting. I would love to play at the Royal Albert Hall or at one of my favourite events: the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.’

Guilia Spadafora

AFTER THE AWARDS

What happens after you’ve won an RPS Award? We invited pianist Clare Hammond who was one of the winners eight years ago to reflect on that moment and where it’s led her.

Winning the RPS Young Artist Award in 2016 was a real watershed. It opened up so many opportunities and helped me develop the internal conviction that’s such a vital part of performance. I won the award a week before the birth of my first child, so it also marked a turning point in my personal life. Having children was, and continues to be, a joyful experience but there are challenges, and the seismic shift in demands that I experienced was occasionally difficult to handle. I found a new freedom in live performance that was liberating and loved seeing audiences rush to the foyer to meet the baby after a recital, rather

than queue to see me! The profound lack of sleep, however, was gruelling and took its toll. After our second child was born 18 months later, my psyche started to crumble.

I became absurdly sensitive to existential threats, waking every morning with anxiety about international conflicts or climate change. These issues require our attention, but my response was utterly out of proportion. Initially I failed to notice the gradual disintegration of my rational mind. It was only when the sight of my baby’s beautifully chubby cheeks triggered apocalyptic thoughts (‘how will we feed her if there is a famine?’) that I realised something was wrong. I was diagnosed with postnatal depression and spent a year on medication and in therapy, grappling my way back towards sanity.

The primary characteristic of my illness was a searing, overwhelming sense of guilt. Guilt that I had led such a privileged life, and had dedicated what talents I have to my own fulfilment rather than to helping others. As part of my recovery, and to escape the debilitating self-criticism within, I started to give concerts in prisons. I now perform at 10 prisons across the South West, playing short pieces with spoken introductions. These often highlight struggles the composers experienced, particularly if they relate to mental health.

The response has been enormously encouraging, and radically altered how I view my own music-making. Witnessing how music can inspire people in extremely challenging circumstances has

enabled me to fully appreciate the joy and life-affirming connection afforded by more ‘conventional’ concerts. I am grateful for a career that encompasses such breadth of repertoire, where I can perform Guillaume Connesson with the Philharmonia, Grieg with the CBSO, and Grace Williams with BBC National Orchestra of Wales. I collaborate with superb composers to develop new music: playing Kenneth Hesketh’s Uncoiling the River with the Royal Liverpool Philharmomnic or Piers Hellawell’s Rapprochement with the Ulster Orchestra – and I’m eagerly anticipating a concerto from Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade.

Recordings reach much wider audiences, particularly through streaming. My recent album of études by Hélène de Montgeroult (who’s receiving a much-deserved revival) is heard by thousands of people in Japan every month, a fact that would have

Left: Clare recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Maida Vale Studios; right: winning an RPS Award in 2016

astonished the composer herself. A collaboration with animators the Quay Brothers, and composer John Woolrich, resulted in Ghosts and Whispers, a haunting programme for piano and film that has taken me to the Barbican, Madrid and Lisbon.

The RPS offered me a crucial springboard and, thanks to the support of colleagues and audiences, my career has evolved in directions I could never have foreseen. This season, I make debuts at the BBC Proms, Salle Bourgie in Montréal, and Berlin Konzerthaus, release a disc of concertos by Tippett, Walton and Britten with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor George Vass, and return to the Cheltenham Festival this July for a recital including an RPS commission from rising star Sun Keting. Above all, I’m continually reminded by audiences, wherever they are, of the power that music has for our mental health, the sense of community it can foster, and its enduring inspiration.

As RPS Members, you help us do so much to transform musicians’ prospects. One of our key charitable ventures is the RPS Women Conductors (‘WoCo’) programme. 10 years since professional conductor, and WoCo founder, Alice Farnham set about to empower women on the podium with her first workshop, we asked some of the newest participants joining our highestlevel course – enjoying several intensive encounters with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Alice in Gateshead – what they’ve cherished about their first bite of the WoCo experience earlier this year. Michal Oren is pursuing her Masters in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music, Peggy Wu is likewise at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Josephine Korda (pictured) is just completing her Masters at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Sun Keting - one of this year’s RPS Composers whose new work Clare will premiere at Cheltenham this July

What have you enjoyed, working with the Royal Northern Sinfonia so far?

Peggy: It’s an amazing experience. From the first moment on the podium, I felt the players really wanted to reflect the ideas within our gestures. To stand in front of musicians of their calibre is very inspiring and makes me want to push myself further to respect the quality of musicmaking they bring. At the same time, it’s such a supportive and welcoming environment and the orchestra has made me feel like I can tap into a more creative way of thinking about music, which is a joy.

Michal: I came to the UK for my Masters studies, and it’s quite rare to get professional experiences as a student. So this is my first time conducting UK professionals. The Sinfonia has been

MEET THE WOCO COHORT

wonderful and honestly I still feel the buzz weeks later. Everyone was warm, patient and engaging, and really followed our ideas and experiments.

Josephine: It was wonderful to conduct a group known for their incredible sense of musicianship. Since they often perform without a conductor, it was an interesting experience to guide them through my own vision of the music, and see what they bring to different works. They created a wonderful deep sound in Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No.3, whilst the soloistic virtuosity of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite lends itself very well to a chamber orchestra of their scale, keeping things light-textured in a way that really suits such ‘neoclassical’ repertoire.

Alice Farnham, founder and Artistic Director of RPS Women Conductors (centre) with our newest recruits

What’s been useful about the experience beyond the rehearsal time?

Michal: The feedback sessions are an opportunity to truly understand what the orchestra needs. The RNS musicians are so supportive, their comments and their critical points are so enlightening.

Peggy: Most of the time working with a professional orchestra, it’s very difficult to assess how you did since you never hear from players themselves directly. The feedback sessions with the Sinfonia musicians are so illuminating. Their thoughts are constructive and insightful, especially on rehearsal technique, making me aware of many things I hadn’t considered. Because rehearsing is such a big part of a conductor’s work, having the players be so generous with their insights feels so worthwhile.

What are you looking forward to as the course continues?

Josephine: I’m looking forward to exploring new repertoire with the Sinfonia. Since the sessions are spaced out across the year, I can explore and test rehearsal techniques and gestures I learn at each one, to apply with other orchestras in my freelance career.

Michal: At the first sessions, I learned that less is more, and I can express myself more effectively when I do less. As a short person, I always felt that I need to conduct very big and to show every little detail, even just to be seen. It’s been a valuable discovery, seeing how so many people can in fact follow small and gentle gestures. I look forward to getting deeper into this and trying more things on the next course.

Peggy, Michal and the Royal Northern Sinfonia in action

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