Staff updates
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Alongside their College commitments, Royal College of Music professors and staff members bring their expertise to a range of musical endeavours.
Awards, accolades and appointments
The Royal College of Music’s Patron, His Majesty King Charles III, has appointed composition professor Errollyn Wallen as Master of the King’s Music, the first appointment to this role of his reign. Errollyn Wallen CBE said: ’I am thrilled to accept this royal appointment. It will be a privilege and a great honour to serve His Majesty The King, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. I look forward to championing music and music-making for all.’ Errollyn Wallen also appeared on the flagship BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, and has been announced as the 28th Fellow of The Ivors Academy.
Heartfelt congratulations to RCM composition professor @ErrollynWallen on her historic appointment as Master of the King’s Music. A well-deserved recognition of her exceptional talent and contribution to the arts.
— Royal College of Music (@RCMLondon) August 27, 2024
Read her interview in @thetimes: https://t.co/m2OeloJar6 https://t.co/ONWnMgCxZ1
The Royal College of Music has appointed Dr Jonathan Cole, Head of Composition, and William Mival, Composition professor, to Personal Chairs in Composition.
Professor Gabriele Rossi Rognoni has been elected Chair of The Galpin Society, which promotes the study of musical instruments internationally.
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New staff
The Royal College of Music is delighted to welcome a number of acclaimed musical figures to its staff this year.
Soprano and alumna Sophie Bevan has returned to her alma mater as a vocal professor.
Dr Kirsty Devaney has joined the RCM as a Lecturer in Music Education. As a composer and music education researcher, her practice centres on breaking down myths and barriers to composing.
The RCM’s new violin professors are Alexander Gilman, Peter Manning, Mathilde Milwidsky and Jennifer Pike, all renowned for their exceptional artistry. Eivind Ringstad of the London Symphony Orchestra has been made a viola professor, and Richard Harwood, previously principal cellist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, has been appointed cello professor.
Esteemed pianist Diana Ketler joins the College as piano professor and alumnus Martin Bartlett takes on the role of assistant piano professor.
Andrew Moore, who was Head of Music at the Edinburgh International Festival for over a decade, will join the Royal College of Music as Artistic Director from spring 2025.
John Roberts, principal oboe of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Melanie Rothman, oboist of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, bring their expertise to the Woodwind Faculty, while the Brass Faculty has been enriched by trumpeter Christian Barraclough, horn player Zoë Tweed and trombonist Rupert Whitehead.
Performances and recordings
Bass trombone professor James Buckle has recorded Kenneth Fuch’s Bass Trombone Concerto with alumnus John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London. The recording has received five-star reviews and made it to the top end of classical music charts in the UK and the US. As Gramophone magazine put it: ‘No one who heard James Buckle play Nelson Riddle’s arrangement of Gershwin’s Second Piano Prelude at the BBC Proms last season will be surprised to hear him bring the same touch of insouciance to Fuchs’s Bass Trombone Concerto. My, how he identifies with that blue opening phrase, seamlessly gliding through the lyrical lines with impeccable intonation, his agility awe-inspiring.’
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Composition professor Kenneth Hesketh has had recent successes with performances at the Cheltenham Festival and the Gulbenkian Auditorium, Lisbon (broadcast on Antena 2 – RTP, Portugal), and with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 of his orchestration of Ravel’s piano Sonatine by the BBC Philharmonic with Paul Daniel. His work PatterSongs for orchestra has been performed as part of the Sinfonia of London’s national tour conducted by alumnus John Wilson, with critically acclaimed performances in Bristol, Gateshead, Nottingham and at the Barbican. Hesketh: Hände – Music for Piano, a new disc covering 20 years of piano works, was released in September on the Paladino Music label, performed by pianist Clare Hammond.
Saxophone professor Kyle Horch has recently released two new recordings: Inflorescence, a recital disc of premiere recordings of five original works for saxophone, four of them commissioned by Kyle; and Hooray for Hollywood with his Pinewood Saxophone Quartet, including his own arrangements of film music.
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Collaborative piano professor Simon Lepper gave his debut performance in Korea in Schubert’s Winterreise with German baritone Benjamin Appl, to a full hall of 2,000 people at the Lotte Hall in Korea.
Violin professor Natalia Lomeiko and piano professor Dinara Klinton’s recent Orchid Classics album has been selected as Chamber CD of the month by BBC Music Magazine and was given a five-star review. Natalia also performed in a recent Sony Classical recording of the Vierne Piano Quintet. Violin professor Madeleine Mitchell has released a chamber album of rarities by Howells and Wood on SOMM Recordings, featuring premiere recordings of quartets by Herbert Howells and his RCM teacher Charles Wood. Madeleine was interviewed about the release in Gramophone magazine.
Vocal repertoire coach Gary Matthewman performed in a concert tribute to Visiting Professor Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for her 80th birthday celebrations. Other artists featured included RCM student Madeline Boreham and alumnus Julien Van Mellaerts.
The ‘Torre de Canyamel’ International Piano Festival and Academy presented their 10th edition in September. Founded by RCM piano professor Dina Parakhina and Spanish pianist and pedagogue Oscar Caravaca with the encouragement, support and participation of RCM Head of Keyboard Professor Vanessa Latarche, this festival provided a wonderful concert platform for RCM international students and alumni in the Torre de Canyamel. This experience would not have been possible without the help and support of sponsors Luis and Vickie Morel.
Vocal professor Peter Selwyn has recently assisted Vladimir Jurowski on Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and at Longborough Festival Opera on the full Ring Cycle. He is Music Director of the London Opera Company, for whom he conducted Tristan und Isolde, Die Walküre and Siegfried at St John’s Smith Square; in 2025 he will conduct the first production of a Wagner opera, The Flying Dutchman, at Opera Holland Park.
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Publications and press
BMus Programme Coordinator Dr Ann van Allen-Russell’s recent publication ‘Not like Pyrates’: Borrowing, Copyright and Creativity in the Eighteenth Century’ is featured in Music Borrowing and Copyright Law: A Genre-by-Genre Analysis (Hart/Bloomsbury).
Dr Christina Guillaumier, Reader & Research Fellow in Music and Cultural Practice, has published her new biography of Prokofiev with Reaktion press, in which she breathes life into the people and landscapes that shaped Prokofiev’s life in a volume hailed as ‘brilliantly insightful’ by the composer’s grandson, Gabriel Prokofiev.
The new book Music and Parental Mental Wellbeing edited by Professor Rosie Perkins, Professor of Music, Health, and Social Science at the Royal College of Music, has been published.
It’s here! Join us for an online celebration and launch, 1st July 1600 BST. More info: https://t.co/QGE29bwcQ1 pic.twitter.com/0U0n1HLaFr
— Prof Rosie Perkins (@rosielperkins) June 10, 2024
Chair and Head of Historical Performance, Professor Ashley Solomon, was recently interviewed on the subject of ‘Connecting Past and Present Through Musical Exploration’. The interview with Simon Mundy was published on the Continuo Connect website.
The XR Piano Project, led by Wiltshire Music Connect and on which RCM Performance Research and Innovation Fellow Dr George Waddell was research consultant, has been featured as the August cover story in Music Teacher Magazine. George was also featured on the Music Teachers’ Association podcast discussing the RCM’s leading research in performance evaluation and technology.
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Send your updates for the Spring 2025 digital edition of Upbeat to news@rcm.ac.uk by Friday 17 January 2025.
