University News Last updated 14 March
Welcome to RBC This Week, a week after we welcomed 500 movers and shakers from across the classical music world to RBC for the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards.
This event – which has been held annually since 1989 by the RPS (which is over 200 years old) – was being held outside London for only the second time, and there were many guests making their first visit to our beautiful building.
They were treated to memorable performances from a dozen students: Ten of our Ex Cathedra scholars, who opened the evening with a gorgeous choral miniature by composer Alec Roth, plus pianists Maria Linares Molero and Joachim Lim.
The loudest cheer of the night went to the announcement of the Conductor Award, given to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) Music Director Kazuki Yamada, a regular visitor to RBC. The whole event is available to listen to on BBC Sounds.
As is to be expected at this time of year, there was plenty more going on at the same time! As well as a jazz concert downstairs in the Eastside Jazz Club, our Symphony Orchestra was playing at Symphony Hall, and at Gas Street Central Head of Vocal Studies Paul Wingfield was conducting the first night of a superb production of Britten’s Albert Herring.
I managed to get to two later performances of this delightful comic opera, and both casts were simply outstanding, as was the orchestra. I’m now looking forward to our summer opera – a double-bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante – which has just gone on sale.
In the meantime, our third-year Acting students have been busy with no fewer than four plays currently in production. This week it’s The Thrill of Love by Amanda Whittington and Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. Next week we have Piaf by Pam Gems, and Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel. How’s that for a varied offering!
We have also been blessed this year with some outstandingly interesting final projects from our fourth-year BMus students, and there are still some public performances of these to come in the next few weeks: Do check the website for more details, as new events are added on a regular basis.
One last event to draw to your attention for now: On Friday 28 March at 1pm, we are lucky to have a visit from the great baritone Roderick (Roddy) Williams, who will give a recital of British, French and German songs with the pianist Andrew West.
As many of you will know, whether you have heard him in a recital venue, at Symphony Hall or on TV at the King’s Coronation, Roddy is one of the great artists of our time, and I am delighted to be welcoming him back to RBC.
I hope to see many of you there!
Stephen