UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 04 OCTOBER
In my last message ahead of the start of term, our buildings felt eerily quiet – now they are abuzz with activity of all kinds as we reach the end of our second week of teaching.
It has been lovely to welcome back our returning students, and to say hello to so many new ones, who have joined us from all around the world. As they settle into life in Birmingham, I know they will be made to feel welcome not just by our students and staff, but also by the audiences and people of this friendliest of cities.
This term’s rehearsals and performances have already begun, with several concerts in our Recital Hall and Eastside Jazz Club; and I’m looking forward to the first appearance this year of the RBC Symphony Orchestra at the end of the month. A new piece by student composer Nicholas Olsen and Berlioz’s monumental symphony for winds and brass will be preludes to Beethoven’s ever-revolutionary Symphony No.5.
Tickets are also now on sale for our Organ Festival and our Fauré celebration, both in early November, and for our Acting productions – including two of Shakespeare’s mightiest tragedies.
If I had the stamina to be out at every performance, I would barely have a night off between now and Christmas! As it is, I will do my best to get to as much as I can – I really enjoy seeing our students giving their best at all times.
Later this month, we are hosting the biennial conference of Conservatoires UK, a useful group that brings together the UK’s 11 conservatoires for music, drama and dance. Our institutions – and the university sector more generally – are facing significant challenges at present, both financial and in terms of the reductions in musical opportunities for young people in the UK. But there are also plenty of opportunities, and my colleagues are very creative and innovative, so I feel confident that we will be able to steer a route through these choppy waters.
I look forward to seeing you here this month – thanks in advance for coming to join us at an event or two or three…
Stephen Maddock
Principal