Expert comment Last updated 13 December
Friends,
We may be about to reach the shortest day, but at this point we are all – students and staff – very aware that this is always our longest term.
Everyone at RBC has been busy non-stop since at least mid-September, and I am sure that we are all looking forward to a seasonal break and the opportunity to spend time with our friends and families. But we can also look back with pride over a hugely successful and enjoyable term.
The last month has contained a great many memorable events, including last week’s Julius Caesar at the Crescent Theatre, Opera Scenes here in The Lab and, of course, our huge Faurė and his World festival, which has one final event in the Recital Hall this evening (Friday 13 December).
And far from the theatre or concert stage, our students have also been engaged in their studies, finding their artistic voice through their own creative practice. Your time at Conservatoire is such an important opportunity to experiment, work with other musicians and actors in ways that won’t have been possible earlier in your studies, make mistakes and learn from them, be curious, and build your confidence. I believe that our community at RBC is especially good at doing this, and we have had lots of positive comments from prospective students coming here for our recent Open Day and auditions to this effect – they feel that this is an especially warm and welcoming environment.
Our research team has also been busy recently, and we were delighted to announce a couple of weeks ago that a West Midlands consortium led by BCU, specifically by RBC’s Professor of Music and Technology Lamberto Coccioli, has been successful in our bid to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for £6.75m.
This is for Createch Frontiers – a five-year collaborative research project with other creative industries partners including the Universities of Birmingham, Warwick and Coventry, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Birmingham Opera and others to look at ways in which new digital technologies such as AI, Virtual Reality, etc., can be integrated into live performance. It’s a very exciting project, and we look forward to sharing news of our work over the coming years.
In the meantime, our graduates continue to make waves in the creative sector. If you have been lucky enough to see the new Wicked movie, you heard no fewer than eight staff and alumni on the soundtrack. If you go to see Sigourney Weaver’s Prospero in the new production of The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, you will see alumna Mara Huf as Miranda. And if you watch the next season of ITV’s Grantchester, you’ll see Kate Humbles – who graduated only a few months ago from BA Acting – on screen alongside Robson Green et al!
So, as we look forward to new achievements in 2025, and many more events and performances for us all to enjoy, it gives me great pleasure to wish a very Happy Christmas and New Year to all of students, staff, alumni and friends.
See you next year!