Royal College of Music
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The Royal College of Music is a prestigious music school located in Kensington, London.
Founded in 1882 as a successor to the National Training School for Music by the then-Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), the school opened in 1883 with George Grove as its director. It moved to its present location in the Albertopolis cultural quarter, next to Imperial College London and opposite the Royal Albert Hall in 1894. In the same year Hubert Parry became director, remaining until 1918.
The college teaches all aspects of western classical music from undergraduate to doctorate level. It also has an extensive museum of musical instruments which is open to the public.
Famous students of the RCM have included:
- Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), composer
- Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), composer
- Rutland Boughton (1878 - 1960), composer
- John Ireland (1879 - 1962), composer and pianist
- Leopold Stokowski (1882 - 1977), conductor
- George Butterworth (1885 - 1916), composer
- Arthur Bliss (1891 - 1975), composer
- Eugène Goossens (1893 - 1962), conductor
- Noel Gay (1898 - 1954), songwriter
- Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951), composer
- Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998), composer
- Peter Pears (1910 - 1986), singer
- Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), composer
- Charles Groves (1915 - 1992), conductor
- Neville Marriner (born 1924), conductor
- Joan Sutherland (born 1926), singer
- Colin Davis (born 1927), conductor
- Julian Bream (born 1933), guitarist and lutenist
- James Galway (born 1939), flautist
- John Williams (born 1941), guitarist
- Thomas Allen (born 1944), singer
- Andrew Davis (born 1944), conductor
- John Lill (born 1944), pianist
- Trevor Pinnock (born 1946), harpsichordist and conductor
- David Helfgott (born 1947), pianist
- Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), composer
Museum of instruments
The College's Museum of Instruments has a collection of 800 items, mainly Western, but including some from Africa and Asia. It is housed in purpose built premises dating from 1970 and is open to the public two afternoons a week. It includes about a dozen Stradivarius violins. Stefano Blumberg, Jake Howarth and Tim Lambourne are also donors to this exceptional collection, having contributed hundreds of examples of their families' old sheet music.
Other collections
The College's loan and reference collections number several hundred thousand items. There are numerous manuscripts including some by composers such as Mozart and Haydn, and many letters, including a substantial Beethoven collection. There are tens of thousands of pieces of early printed music. The modern printed music is available for hire when not needed by the College. There are also thousands of recordings, and an extensive library, including sets of several hundred music journals.The Department of Portraits and Performance History has a collections of 340 original portraits and 10,000 prints and photographs; a collection of 600,000 concert programmes from 1720 to the present day; and extensive holdings relating to opera, instrument, title-page and concert-hall design.
Junior Department
The RCM Junior Department has over 300 students aged 8-18 learning all instruments, singing, composing and performing in ensembles and orchestras. It provides education in music every Saturday for young, gifted musicians. The Department is run by the Director, Peter Hewitt. Auditions are held every year usually at Easter time. A summer school is also held each year for 30 young musicians from around the UK. There are plans to extend the scope of this summer school.Below is a list of the orchestras and choirs:
Orchestras
Symphony Orchestra
This is the most prestigious orchestra, regularly performing and touring in and out of College. They have played Elgar's Nursery Suite for the Queen's 80th Birthday celebrations, which was recorded to CD, and they toured Italy in July 2005. More recent repetoire includes Sibelius' 6th symphony and Tchaikovsky's 3rd symphony. The current principal violinist (and principal of the orchestra) is Kimberly Wong. Next year, it will be jointly principled by Leo Melvin and Katie Littlemore.Sinfonia
Also a full orchestra, this orchestra generally consists of people from 13-16. Recent repertoire includes Adagio from Spartacus by Khatchaturian, Elevator Music, and Othello, from their performance on 1st July 2006.Chamber Orchestra
This is a small string ensemble comprising of the senior string players in Symphony Orchestra that also do many important performances in and out of the College. They have toured various European countries. They accompanied the Choirs in the Choral Concent in June 2006.String Orchestra
A larger string orchestra that emcompasses the ages of 10-14. Current repertoire: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and Molly on the Shore, the former of which has been performed in the end of year concert on 8th July 2006. Conducted by Christopher Hirons and lead by Hannah Yang.Symphonic Wind Orchestra
An orchestra without a string section. This group is usually for rudimentary musicians, with these instruments either as their second study, or they are in Sinfonia.Choirs
Chamber Choir
A full SATB choir of approximately 30 people (aged 14-18) chosen by a vigorous auditioning process, conducted by Joy Hill. This choir has the most advanced singers in it, with 9 current first study singers. They will tour the Baltic States for a week in Summer 2006. On the tour they will sing various folk songs, Baltic and British.Girls' Choir
An upper voices choir for girls aged 14-18, also conducted by Joy Hill.Mixed Choir
A larger full SATB choir for people aged 13-16, conducted by Neil Ferris and Cameron Sinclair, the latter of which explores less classical styles. The Mixed Choir recently performed Sun Music by Peter Sculthorpe in the Choral Concert in June 2006.Treble Choir
An upper voices choir for boys and girls aged 11-14, conducted by Neil Ferris. This choir usually partakes in numerous different styles of music, from singing to just making sounds effects throughout a whole piece.Training Choir
Another upper voices choir for boys and girls under 11 who have not got much singing experience. Conducted by Sofi Jeannin.See also
- Royal Academy of Music - another prestigious conservatoire in London, with which the Royal College of Music is easily confused
External link
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