BBC Features RCM Technology
Monday 13 April 2015
The Royal College of Music’s innovative use of digital technology has been highlighted on BBC Radio 4.
RCM Senior Recording Engineer Matt Parkin and Research Fellow in Performance Science Tania Lisboa appeared on the channel's Arts Technologica programme to talk about how the use of Jisc’s high-speed JANET network is changing the way music is taught, rehearsed and performed at the RCM.
Digital technology is a growing part of the artistic, teaching and research programmes at the Royal College of Music. In recent years the RCM has established itself as one of the UK’s leading innovators in the use of high-speed global networks, connecting student musicians with professors, researchers and collaborators around the world in real time.
This area of activity is being highlighted through a series of special upcoming events:
From 4–6 May, the RCM is hosting a three-day international conference on the use of streaming technologies in the arts. The Network Performing Arts Production Workshop, organised by the European research and education network organization GEANT, brings together experts from across the world to explore the latest in specialist streaming technologies. The workshop includes live link-ups between the RCM and institutions as diverse as Falmouth, Liverpool, Copenhagen, Prague and Florida, as well as demonstrations of live 4K video streaming and multi-site performances.
On Tuesday 5 May, and coinciding with the workshop, is a truly experimental event that forms part of the RCM’s Great Exhibitionists series. The Infinite Bridge uses music, theatre, dance and computer-generated graphics to tell the story of a girl trapped in a mundane existence who escapes into an alternate cyber-world in her dreams. In addition to the musicians on stage, the performance features three live link-ups with dancers at the MACBA contemporary arts museum in Barcelona, traditional Nordic instrumentalists at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and brass players at Napier University in Edinburgh. For further details and to buy tickets online, visit our event pages.
Arts Technologica is available to listen to now on the BBC iPlayer (RCM features from 11 minutes).
