Upbeat Spring 2013 - Royal College of Music

The Magazine for the Royal College of Music I Spring 2013 

Now… relax! 

How the RCM is tackling performance anxiety

What’s inside... 

Welcome to upbeat... 

When you’re under the spotlight, it’s not always easy to ‘relax’ on stage. But developing 

a stage presence and ability to communicate with an audience is a vital part of 

training as a musician at the RCM. To help students along, Head of Performance 

Science Professor Aaron Williamon has led a team of researchers to develop the first 

performance simulator for musicians. Turn to page 12 to find out how he’s using this 

new technology to help students improve their performance skills. 

This issue we also say a fond farewell to Peter Hewitt who is leaving us after 22 years as 

Director of the RCM’s Junior Department. Turn to page 10 to read his about his time at 

the JD, including taking part in the rain-soaked Thames Pageant for the Queen’s Jubilee 

Celebrations. 

We would also like to take this opportunity to invite you all to witness a thrilling 

concert. On Tuesday 23 May, the RCM Symphony Orchestra will be performing one of 

the truly great orchestral works of the 20th century – Messiaen’s Turangalîla – at the 

Royal Festival Hall. Turn to page 9 for further details. 

We’re always keen to hear from students past and present, so if you have anything you 

would like us to feature in the next issue of Upbeat, send your news and pictures to 

news@rcm.ac.uk by Monday 29 April 2013. 

NB: Please note that we cannot guarantee to include everything we receive and that we 

reserve the right to edit submissions. 

Upbeat online 

Did you know that Upbeat is available to read online at www.rcm.ac.uk/upbeat 

If you’d prefer to read it in this way, do contact us at news@rcm.ac.uk and we’ll 

stop sending you a paper copy. If you’d like us to send you an email notification 

when Upbeat is published, let us know your email address too. 

PERC’M performing at St Mary’s Church in Beverly 

Front cover – Peter Kirk in the RCM International Opera School’s production of Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle 

Inside front cover – Variable Geometry ensemble 

Inside back cover – A performance of works by Jonathan Dove and featuring artwork by Anita Klein 

All photography © Chris Christodoulou 

Contents 

4 In the news 

Updating you on recent RCM 

activities... 

10 Farewell to Peter 

Peter Hewitt reminisces over his 

time as Director of the RCM’s 

Junior Department 

12 Simulating and stimulating 

performance 

Professor Aaron William tells 

Upbeat about his latest research 

into performance anxiety 

14 Meeting the supporters 

Upbeat meets RCM Friend and 

Patron, Chelsea Pensioner 

David Poultney 

16 Student notes… 

Current student success stories 

18 Staff notes… 

News from professorial, academic 

and administrative staff 

20 Alumni notes… 

Updates from RCM graduates 

22 Obituaries 

3

4 

In the news... 

Soirée d’Or 2012 

The RCM’s annual fundraising event, 

Soirée d’Or, took place at the V&A 

Museum on 5 December last year. More 

than £185,000 was raised, which will be 

used to provide substantial scholarships 

to talented RCM students. 

The evening began with a Taittinger 

champagne reception in the Medieval 

and Renaissance Galleries with music 

provided by alumna Charlotte 

Harding’s jazz quartet and a trio of 

RCM trumpeters, who performed a 

new work by current student Brandan 

Musk. A five-course dinner followed in 

the impressive Raphael Gallery during 

which guests were entertained by 

alumnus Sir James Galway and RCM 

violinist Ksenia Berezina, accompanied 

by Peter Limnov. 

With the focus on raising funds for 

the RCM scholarship appeal Sir Roger 

Carr delivered an inspiring speech, in 

which he likened the hard work and 

dedication of classical musicians to that 

of Olympic athletes. He also referred to 

the professionalism and sheer pluck of 

the RCM Chamber Choir who hit the 

headlines last year following their stoical 

performance in torrential rain during 

the Royal Jubilee River Pageant. 

A lively auction followed with bidders 

competing for items that included 

a performance by Ksenia Berezina 

at a private event, a luxury break 

in Morocco, a private dinner at the 

Dorchester Hotel, and the use of a 

private box at the Royal Albert Hall 

to attend one of Alfie Boe’s 2013 

performances. The evening finally 

closed with a rousing performance of 

Jerusalem by the RCM Chamber Choir 

and audience participation in four 

popular carols. 

The RCM is very fortunate to have the 

support of a hard-working committee 

led by Lady Carr (chairman), with 

Lady Middleton, Emma Rose, Fiona 

Flint, Tanya Rose, Lady Walters, Judy 

Mowschenson and Anastasia Christou, 

all of whom work tirelessly throughout 

the year to secure table sales, 

sponsorship and exceptional prizes 

to auction on the evening. The next 

Soirée d’Or will be held on Wednesday 

4 December 2013, please contact Mary 

Cosgrave (mcosgrave@rcm.ac.uk) if 

you would like to attend. 

The RCM thanks the following 

companies and individuals for their 

generous sponsorship and donations: 

RLM Finsbury, Boutinot, British Gas, 

Burberry, Richard and Anastasia 

Christou, The Dorchester Collection, 

Green & Black’s, Inn or Out, Intern 

Partnership, Hatch Mansfield, Ketel One 

Vodka, London Russian Ballet School, 

Mason Rose, Mihaela Christou Bespoke 

Jewellery, Hambleton Hall, Nevill Holt, 

O.P.I, Paul Wayne Gregory, Percy & Reed, 

QMS Medi Cosmetics, Roja Parfums, 

Royal Mansour Marrakech, Royal Opera 

House, Sally Clarke Ltd, St James’s Hotel 

and Club, Steinway & Sons, Steven 

Morris and Wilberforce Chambers.

Double win at 

Soundtrack_ 

Cologne 9.0 

RCM alumni have scooped two awards 

at Soundtrack_Cologne 9.0, one of 

Europe’s leading festivals of sound and 

media. 

RCM Composition for Screen graduate 

and now RCM professor Enrica 

Sciandrone won the Peer Raben Award 

for the best music for a short film. Her 

entry, ‘Suckablood’, was chosen from an 

unprecedented 320 nominations. The 

European Talent Award was awarded to 

RCM Composition for Screen graduate 

John Chua from Singapore. This is the 

second time a graduate of the RCM 

has won this award, following on from 

Martin Batchelar’s success in 2010. 

Organised by the Cologne Congress for 

Music and Sound in Film and Media, 

SoundTrack_Cologne is a German 

festival of music and sound in film and 

media, which has developed into one of 

Europe’s most important screen music 

events. Eighteen students on the RCM 

Composition for Screen programme 

attended the festival as part of a group 

study visit to Germany, sponsored by the 

German Academic Exchange Service. 

A big thank you 

In December the Royal College of 

Music participated in the 2012 Big 

Give Christmas Challenge to raise 

funds for our scholarship programme. 

We’re delighted to report that thanks 

to the great generosity of our donors 

we have surpassed last year’s total, 

raising a staggering £136,930. Thank 

you to all those who contributed to 

The Big Give, which will go towards 

transforming the lives of talented 

young musicians. 

Honens 

International 

Piano Competition 

Lang Lang’s story 

The RCM has appeared in a featurelength 

documentary about star pianist 

Lang Lang. 

Do or Die: Lang Lang’s Story, part of the 

BBC’s ‘imagine...’ series, aired on BBC One 

in November. The programme explored 

the personal story behind the Chinese 

classical music superstar, and included 

interviews with various influential figures 

in the musical world. These included 

RCM Head of Keyboard Professor 

Piano masterclass with Lang Lang 

RCM pianist Pavel Kolesnikov has 

won the highly prestigious First Prize 

Laureate Award of $100,000 (Can) at 

the finals of the Honens International 

Piano Competition in Canada. 

Although a relatively recent 

competition, it is known as one of the 

most prestigious and one of the most 

searching in terms of the requirements. 

Pavel was required to produce several 

recitals and recordings in order to 

reach the competition final, in which 

he performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano 

Concerto no 1. 

In addition to his lucrative money prize, 

Pavel, who studies with Norma Fisher 

and is supported by the Russell Gander 

Award, has also been awarded a threeyear 

artistic and career development 

programme. Valued at half a million 

Canadian dollars, this programme 

includes worldwide representation 

for three years and a recording on the 

Hyperion label. 

Vanessa Latarche, who commented on 

Lang Lang’s “real gift” in being able to 

bring music to the masses, and praised 

his ability to engage children with 

classical music. 

Several scenes in the documentary – 

including the central interview with 

presenter Alan Yentob – were filmed 

at the RCM, where Lang Lang has 

been a regular visitor in recent years: 

he has given two immensely popular 

masterclasses, received an Honorary 

Doctorate, and met participants in the 

RCM’s International Piano Course. 

5

6 


Welcoming 

Professor 

Alexander Sokolov 

Kevin Porter, Professor Vanessa Latarche, Professor 

Colin Lawson, Professor Alexander Sokolov 

Concert Hall 

becomes Scoring 

Stage for a day 

On 1 November the Amaryllis Fleming 

Concert Hall was transformed into a 

fully functional scoring stage for the 

largest film-scoring session undertaken 

at the RCM to date. 

Composition for Screen student Pierre 

O’Reilly organised the session, pulling 

together 70 RCM musicians to record 

We were delighted to welcome 

Professor Alexander Sokolov, Rector 

of Moscow Conservatory, to the RCM in 

October last year. 

Professor Sokolov gave a talk, visited 

the RCM Museum and discussed future 

artistic collaborations with RCM Artistic 

Director Stephen Johns. He then met 

with Professor Colin Lawson, Director 

of the RCM, to sign and re-affirm the 

memorandum of agreement between 

the two institutions, which allows for 

a number of educational and artistic 

collaborations. 

Central to this historic partnership is 

the longstanding close relationship 

between the keyboard faculties: each 

year, RCM Head of Keyboard Professor 

Vanessa Latarche visits Moscow for 

a series of auditions, discussions and 

masterclasses. The new memorandum of 

understanding promises even closer links 

in the future. 

music for two short films. The session 

was a great success and enjoyed by the 

students, providing excellent training 

for something they are very likely 

to encounter in their future careers. 

The recording was overseen by RCM 

Studios’ engineer Steve Harrington, and 

utilised the RCM Studios’ live room 

beneath the concert hall to house the 

percussion section. 

Building on the success of this 

recording, the RCM Studios team hope 

to be able to run more sessions of this 

scale in the future. 

In defence of 

the recorder! 

Head of Historical Performance 

Ashley Solomon has featured on 

Simon Mayo’s popular Radio 2 

Drivetime show. 

Following a phone-in confession from 

a listener, who disliked the recorder 

so much that he hid his sister’s and 

children’s, Ashley gallantly went on air 

to defend his instrument. He gave a 

brief account of the recorder’s history, 

before performing a delightful set of 

variations on the well-known tune 

Greensleeves. 

Student 

collaborations 

The RCM 

Students’ 

Association 

presented 

the launch 

concert of 

the newly 

formed RCM 

Students’ 

Film 

Orchestra 

on 22 

January. The concert featured two 

UK premieres: John Williams’ original 

score for Steven Spielberg’s War 

Horse, and Downey Overture by Oscar 

Navarro, as well as an original score by 

a Composition for Screen student.

Open Orchestra 

The RCM, BBC Symphony Orchestra and 

Drake Music (pioneers of assistive music 

technology) have teamed up with three 

London boroughs to develop the Open 

Orchestra project, a new schools music 

programme bringing together children 

from special and mainstream schools. 

This seven-month initiative is in 

collaboration with the Tri-Borough 

music hub of Hammersmith & Fulham, 

Worldwide 

Connections 

In September the RCM Studios hosted 

a unique one-day event that brought 

together experts from Europe and the 

USA to demonstrate some of the latest 

technical developments in remote 

learning and participation. 

The highlight of the day was a live 

link-up that allowed for an astonishing 

performance of Mozart’s Clarinet 

Concerto by duo partners more than 

300 miles apart: pianist Dominic 

John at the RCM, and clarinettist 

Ryan Penman at Napier University 

in Edinburgh. This amazing feat was 

only made possible by using a system 

developed at the Trieste Conservatoire, 

Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. 

Children from two primary schools in 

each borough (one mainstream and one 

special school) will be offered an exciting 

introduction to the orchestral world, 

and given the opportunity to create new 

musical material. 

Working on the theme of “flight”, 

the children will use creative music 

technology to assist the composition 

process in workshops led by Drake Music 

associate musicians, BBC Symphony 

Orchestra musicians and RCM 

students. The project culminates in a 

performance of the new work as well as 

other orchestral repertoire given by the 

BBC Symphony Orchestra at a schools 

concert on 22 May. 

The Open Orchestra project is just one 

of many initiatives in 2013 being led by 

RCM Sparks, the RCM’s ground-breaking 

learning and participation programme. 

which allows musicians to play 

together over the internet without any 

appreciable delay. 

Further contributions came from 

representatives of the LSO and the BBC, 

who shared their experience of using 

web technologies to deliver everything 

from school music workshops to the 

Olympics. 

The Arts and Humanities Streaming 

Conference was hosted in conjunction 

with JANET, the organisation which 

runs the computer networks for 

universities and colleges. Following the 

conference the RCM has updated its 

existing videoconferencing technology 

to provide enhanced opportunities for 

students and researchers to collaborate 

with specialists around the world, 

without ever leaving the building. 

RCM paintings 

available online 

John Wall Callcott 

Thanks to a project undertaken in 

partnership with the Public Catalogue 

Foundation and the BBC, the paintings 

from the RCM’s Special Collections can 

now be viewed online for the first time. 

The collection features more than 120 

works, mainly portraits of musicians, 

dating from the 16th century to the 

present day. Some are on public display 

in the RCM Museum, but many are 

relatively unfamiliar, even to scholars. 

They include the portraits of Joseph 

Haydn and Ralph Vaughan Williams; 

sketches of paintings later destroyed (a 

1905 portrait of Elgar) or never finished 

(an 1890 portrait of Paderewski); 

and striking portraits of less familiar 

musicians such as that of the composer 

John Wall Callcott (pictured). 

Head of RCM Special Collections 

Professor Paul Banks commented: “The 

inclusion of the RCM Special Collections 

in this wonderful and unique national 

project is an exciting landmark in our 

efforts to make the rich collections of the 

RCM more accessible to scholars, students 

and the general public.” 

All these paintings can be viewed on 

the Your Paintings website at 

www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings 

7

8 


Kids take over the 

RCM Museum 

On 23 November, the RCM Museum 

welcomed a group of children, aged 

8–10, to participate in the National 

Museum Takeover Day. 

Following a tour of the Museum, the 

children were given the creative task 

of designing a Visitors’ Trail pack, full 

Lark Insurance 

Scholarship 

A new scholarship for RCM students 

has been established thanks to the 

generosity of Lark Insurance, specialists 

in made-to-measure musical instrument 

insurance. 

The inaugural Lark Insurance Scholar is 

violinist Joseph Devalle and members 

of the Lark Group have visited the RCM 

several times to hear him play, including 

a performance in the Amaryllis Fleming 

Concert Hall and a masterclass with 

Nicola Benedetti. 

David Foster, Director of Lark Insurance, 

said: “We are delighted to be playing our 

own role in securing the future of the very 

best emerging musicians. We look forward 

very much to supporting Joseph’s progress 

and watching him reach his full potential, 

as well as helping the wider student body 

of fun facts and activities, for future 

young people to enjoy. One participant 

summed up the day by saying how 

much she enjoyed: “making posters, 

taking lots of photos and learning about 

the instruments!” 

You can see the result of their hard 

work, Music Quest, at the entrance 

to the RCM Museum. Visitors are 

welcome to explore the RCM Museum 

Tuesdays to Fridays, 11.30am – 4.30pm. 

Admission is free. 

Joseph Devalle in a masterclass with Nicola Benedetti 

in other ways through exclusive offers and 

specialist advice.” 

Lark Insurance’s generous support is 

greatly valued and is a leading example 

of the way businesses can become 

integral to the success of tomorrow’s 

international artists. 

Save the date! 

Alumni Reunion 

On Saturday 7 September 2013 

there will be a special reunion event 

for those who attended the RCM 

between 1965 and 1975. 

The lunchtime event is being 

organised by RCM Assistant Librarian 

Angela Escott (née Whelan) and 

Colin Dowdeswell, and offers an 

opportunity to reconnect and 

reminisce with fellow alumni. If you 

know any former classmates who 

might be interested, please encourage 

them to email friends@rcm.ac.uk 

with current contact details. 

Without scholarships, many of our most 

talented students would not be able to 

seize the opportunity of studying at the 

RCM. To find out how your organisation 

can support a scholarship at the RCM 

please contact Nicholas Selman at 

nicholas.selman@rcm.ac.uk 

or 020 7591 4320.

An invitation 

Upbeat Turangalila advert:Layout 1 21/02/2013 13:51 Page 1 

Calling all Alumni - 

join us FREE OF 

CHARGE for our biggest 

concert of the year! 

On Thursday 23 May, the RCM Symphony Orchestra is heading to 

the Royal Festival Hall to perform Messiaen’s epic Turangalîla- 

Symphonie, one of the great orchestral masterworks of the 

twentieth century. This very special concert forms part of the 

Southbank Centre’s year-long festival The Rest is Noise. 

We would love the entire RCM family - 

past and present - to join us on our big day 

out, and so we’re offering two free tickets 

to all RCM alumni. 

To reserve your tickets, call the RCM 

Box Office on 020 7591 4314 and quote 

“ALUMNI”. IMPORTANT: The closing date for 

this offer is Thursday 16 May. Your tickets 

will be available to collect from the 

Southbank Centre Box Office on the 

evening of the concert. 

We look forward to seeing you at 

what promises to be a magnificent event. 

7.30pm | Thursday 23 May | Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre 

Messiaen - Turangalîla-Symphonie 

RCM Symphony Orchestra | Thierry Fischer conductor | Stefan Stroissnig piano 

Cynthia Millar ondes martenot • www.rcm.ac.uk/messiaen 

9

10 

Farewell to Peter 

After 22 years as Director of the RCM’s 

Junior Department, Peter Hewitt is leaving 

for new adventures abroad. He tells 

Upbeat his most poignant memories… 

How did you come to be Director of 

the RCM Junior Department? 

I’d been teaching music in schools for 

a number of years, latterly as a head of 

department in Hertfordshire. Then this 

opportunity arose at the College, and for 

some reason I got it. 

I’d always known of the Junior 

Department. Edmond Fivet was the 

Director then, before that it was Barbara 

Boissard and Michael Gough Matthews 

(later Director of the RCM), also Marjorie 

Humby and Angela Bull – an illustrious 

set of forbears! I like to think it was 

serendipity that landed me here. 

I came into the Junior Department on 

several Saturdays before I officially took 

up the position, just so I could see how it 

worked, and I remember being absolutely 

amazed by the quality of the teaching 

and the focus teachers gave to individual 

students. I like to think that is still a 

hallmark of what we do now. 

How has the Junior Department 

changed during your time as Director? 

The number of teaching staff has 

increased and the quality of teaching 

is at least as good as it’s ever been. The 

number of students is also buoyant and 

the overall level of applicant at audition 

is rising inexorably. We’ve introduced 

new instruments such as Jazz piano and 

Jazz saxophone and the curriculum has 

evolved too – there is now chamber 

music for all and a wider range of such 

ensembles, and choral singing is offered 

to everyone, something close to my 

heart. I’d say Musicianship – classes 

such as Improvisation, Composition and 

Practical Musicianship – has also really 

developed over recent years. 

We give increasingly careful guidance 

towards career pathways for students 

now too. I’m very proud that our 

students go off in many different 

directions. It’s our job to make sure their 

decision is as informed as possible and 

of course we’re delighted if they want to 

study at a conservatoire, particularly the 

RCM, but sometimes it’s appropriate for 

them to follow a different pathway. 

In my time, about 2,000 students have 

come through the Junior Department. 

And they’ve gone onto all sorts of careers 

and branches of music. Some of them 

have even returned to the JD as teachers. 

There is an incredible loyalty to the 

department and the College itself. 

What is it that makes the Junior 

Department so special? 

It’s that coming together of like-minded 

people, all wanting to make music 

together at a very high level, which on 

the whole they’re not able to do locally. 

There is a very warm family atmosphere 

here: the team and I know all the 

students very well, as we also know their 

teachers and their families, which makes 

for a wonderfully personal approach. 

I work very carefully to match new 

students with teachers. You try to 

address individual student needs and 

then find somebody who can best 

develop them. And people seem to 

sense that we focus on the person, not 

just the music making. I like to think of 

it as nurturing rounded and grounded 

people who just happen to be skilled 

creative musicians. I have to mention my 

fantastic admin team too – we have such 

short terms and they do a brilliant job 

packing everything in, making Saturdays 

as efficient as they can be. 

“Peter Hewitt was extremely kind 

to me during my time at RCMJD, 

as he was to a great many of my 

contemporaries. From a young 

age he encouraged me to develop 

as a composer, and the success of 

Saturday mornings owed much to 

his incredible energy and ability to 

enthuse and organise a myriad of 

teachers and students every week. 

Peter is a superlative musician himself, 

and would even occasionally step in 

and take rehearsals when tutors were 

indisposed.” – Tommy Hewitt Jones 

(no relation!), composer and RCMJD 

alumni 1996-2003 

How well is Sparks Juniors, the JD’s 

outreach programme, working? 

I was closely involved, with Hayley 

Clements and Sue Sturrock, in setting up 

Sparks Juniors, since a key feature was 

how to integrate the students with the 

rest of the JD. And I think it’s worked very 

well – particularly through the choirs – 

and it’s been great to welcome them and 

their families into the community. 

It’s been going for four years now and 

they’ve really become part of the fabric. 

It’s great to see them all benefitting 

from belonging to such a marvellous 

institution. In the future, I’d like to see 

the graduates really coming through 

as skilled and full members of the JD. 

This hasn’t happened yet and it is a very 

ambitious wish, but that would be the 

ideal. It would be wonderful to be able 

to provide that quality of experience 

to much larger numbers, but we are 

constrained by the size of the building. 

How does the JD collaborate with 

other institutions? 

We’ve set up a number of collaborations 

over the years which have greatly 

benefited our students. Two I’m 

particularly proud of are Sound Moves 

and Living Song. 

Sound Moves is a project with young 

dancers from The Place, and is led by JD 

teachers David Sutton-Anderson and 

Avril Anderson. Composers from JD 

collaborate with young choreographers 

to create a piece which is then performed 

by fellow students both here at the RCM 

and at The Place. It’s been going for 

about 14 years and is just terrific.

Similarly Living Song, a collaboration with 

the English Folk Dance and Song Society, 

has been an eye-opener for everyone 

involved. The students go back to original 

source material, learning folksongs by ear, 

and then our composers produce their 

own versions, very much in the spirit 

of Vaughan Williams. I think a highlight 

of my time at RCM was a performance 

on stage by Sam Lee (nominated for 

the Mercury Prize last year) singing a 

folksong, barefooted, and holding the 

audience in the palm of his hands. The 

RCMJD chamber choir then performed 

the (very fine) newly composed versions 

of the songs. It was very special. 

I think that this cross fertilisation – 

whether it’s dance, folksong, jazz, early 

or world music – is part of what makes 

this place so exceptional. It’s opening up 

possibilities and freeing up the creative 

musical mind. 

What about your favourite 

JD moments? 

Well, recently JD students got to 

participate in the Thames Pageant – 

part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 

celebrations. I was on the boat with The 

Mayor’s Jubilee Band which was made 

up of players from all four London based 

Junior Departments, their associated 

boroughs and senior colleges. It was 

such fun, although we were soaked and 

freezing, and desperately disappointed 

not to be featured on the TV coverage! 

Also, opportunities like performing every 

piece from Bartók’s Mikrokosmos at the 

Southbank were special. It made such 

“I remember the first time I met Peter 

– he was walking down the steps 

of the Concert Hall and I guessed 

he was the new Director as he was 

the only adult not surrounded by 

children. I said to him he should get 

to work straight away and pointed 

him towards some parents to speak 

to. I remember he hesitated for a 

moment, but then got straight to it. 

He’s always been a very fair person 

to work with and a good listener. I 

particularly admire him for keeping 

up the tradition of singing – it’s such 

a fundamental skill and important 

part of developing as a rounded 

musician – and many young people 

simply don’t get the opportunity 

these days.”– Joan Hale, former 

RCMJD flute teacher 

The Mayor’s Jubilee Brass Band 

an impact on our students and it was 

also a great opportunity for them to 

collaborate with Senior College. 

I can’t help not mention the recent 

BBC Young Musician successes… but 

the JD has always been prominent in 

this competition, from Michael Collins 

onwards. There are too many prominent 

participants to mention! 

Peter with Lara Melda (BBC Young Musician 2010) 

Do you keep in touch with many 

JD alumni? 

Yes, and it’s fabulous to see names of 

former Juniors on orchestra lists, on 

stage, and in chamber groups. But not 

only in musical contexts – some are 

now sitting at board level at major 

institutions. The training we offer is 

fantastic and it sets them up for the rest 

of their life, but it doesn’t necessarily 

have to be in music. Let me mention 

two sisters who were at the JD before 

my time: one is now an extremely senior 

partner at a financial institution and the 

other a member of a leading orchestra. 

So it goes both ways, even within 

families. 

How will you remember the Junior 

Department? 

On one level it’s all a wonderful golden 

blur. On another level, one mentions 

a name and it sets up a chain of 

memories. But actually every Saturday is 

memorable. You see these kids bounding 

up the steps in the morning and dragging 

themselves out at the end of a very long 

day still with their eyes blazing. Anybody 

who works in education can’t fail to be 

inspired by that. 

If you are a Junior Department 

alumnus, or know of any former 

students who would be interested in 

staying in touch with the RCM, please 

email jd@rcm.ac.uk with current 

contact details. 

11

12 

Simulating and stimulating performance 

Performing at one’s best in public can 

be difficult for any musician. Head of 

Performance Science Professor Aaron 

Williamon tells Upbeat about the RCM’s 

new performance simulator, which aims 

to help students hone their performance 

skills… 

How did the idea of the performance 

simulator come about? 

Compared with other conservatoires and 

universities, RCM students have perhaps 

the highest number of opportunities 

to perform in front of a live audience – 

but you can never have enough! So, we 

wanted to develop a facility that could 

give students the chance to develop and 

refine their public performance skills, 

allowing them to review and reflect 

on their performances and to make 

successful transitions from the practice 

room to the stage. In parallel with this, 

our research indicates that performance 

anxiety is a persistent problem for many 

musicians worldwide. With this in mind, 

we were aiming to provide a learning 

environment in which the risks of reallife 

performance could be recreated, 

although controlled, and thereby help 

musicians address and manage anxiety 

problems. 

How does the performance 

simulator work? 

Students are booked to perform at a 

specified time. When they arrive, they 

are shown into a warm-up room where 

they can unpack and start their preperformance 

routine, whatever that 

may be. Our backstage manager gives 

them warnings before they’re due to go 

on stage: “You’re on in 15 minutes… 5 

minutes… Please come with me.” 

Then, they walk to the ‘backstage area’, 

which looks much like the backstage of 

any concert venue: it’s small and a little 

shabby. There, we have CCTV footage 

showing the audience finding their seats, 

and they can hear the usual low murmur 

of the audience talking. The backstage 

manager confirms that the front of house 

is ready to start the performance: the 

audience is seated and the spotlights are 

on. The stage door opens, the applause 

starts and the student walks out onto 

the stage. Under the spotlights and with 

the audience clapping, the performer 

takes a bow, gets ready to begin and then 

starts the performance. 

The RCM performance simulator 

Our audience is made up of individual 

footage of real people, compiled into 

one large image and projected into the 

space. The musician sees them through 

the glare of the spotlights and can hear 

their applause, their coughs and sneezes, 

and even their mobile phones loudly and 

clearly. We control the audience from 

backstage, such as how often they cough 

and how enthusiastically they applaud 

(or boo). The purpose of the simulation 

session – be it to enhance presentational 

skills, work on anxiety problems or 

address specific research questions – 

determines how the audience interacts 

with the performer. Video cameras 

capture the performance as it happens 

from several angles, and these videos can 

be taken away by the student for study 

and review. 

We also have the option of simulating 

an audition situation, in which case 

we project a panel of three ‘expert’ 

judges. They too can be controlled from 

backstage to respond to the performance 

with, for instance, enthusiasm, 

indifference or hostility. We’ve posted 

a short video of how the performance 

simulator works at 

www.rcm.ac.uk/simulator 

How do these sorts of experiences help 

students improve their performance? 

Exposure to performance situations 

and reviewing one’s skills is one way 

we can help musicians enhance their 

performance and feel more confident 

on stage. Some musicians have anxiety 

problems even after many years of 

performing, and what we can do in this 

context is expose them systematically 

to situations with varying degrees of 

risk and challenge. The video footage 

is essential too, as it allows them to 

judge for themselves whether they are 

communicating and projecting the 

image they would wish to. 

How do you measure musicians’ 

responses to performance situations? 

We measure physiological responses in 

performance with a new wireless device 

called a BioHarness. It captures heart 

rate, breathing rate, skin temperature 

and movement data. We also have 

standardised questionnaires for 

measuring factors such as performance 

anxiety, self-confidence and performance 

quality. 

We’ve observed that musicians’ 

physiological and psychological 

responses to performance situations 

don’t always correlate. Some people 

experience elevated heart rate yet 

interpret this a positive sign that they 

are ready to perform (as distinct from 

being ready to practise). Other people 

may have the same heart rate response 

and experience debilitating anxiety 

symptoms. This is why it’s important to 

understand both general and individualspecific 

responses to performance 

situations and then apply learning and 

performance enhancement interventions 

that are best suited to the individual 

musician. We see the performance 

simulator as central to our ongoing work 

in this area.

Surigical simulator at Imperial College 

Has simulation been used in 

other fields? 

Yes, the most widely known example is 

flight simulation, but in fact, simulators 

are currently used to train surgeons and 

athletes. We developed our simulator 

in collaboration with London-based 

design consultancy Studiohead, who 

worked with Imperial College to create 

several surgical simulators, and with the 

Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in 

Lugano. To our knowledge, this is the 

only facility of its kind worldwide. 

How does your research link with the 

current surgical simulation work at 

Imperial College? 

Well surprisingly, there are a number 

of similarities between musical and 

surgical performance. One example is 

to look at how teams of people come 

together: with a surgical team, it’s often 

only the smallest of gestures or glances 

that indicate to a colleague to pass a 

scalpel or to help execute a procedure. 

Likewise in ensemble performance, 

musicians too make subtle movements 

to communicate visually with each other 

and with their audience. 

Also, both groups can learn a lot from 

simulation, and unfortunately, neither 

gets to be ‘in the spotlight’ as often as 

they and their instructors might like. A 

trainee surgeon won’t be let loose on 

real patients often until very advanced 

stages of training. Sewing up a wound on 

a prosthetic sitting on a table is relatively 

straightforward, but if you place that 

same prosthetic on the arm of an actor, 

dress it well with fake blood and tell 

the actor to squirm (or to complain or 

swear) while the trainee is sewing up the 

wound, you’ll see performance levels 

drop dramatically. They have to learn to 

deal with real world situations and to 

develop good interpersonal skills. 

Similarly, as I mentioned before, it can 

be difficult for student musicians to 

have regular access to famous venues 

and real audiences. Musicians too need 

to respond to performance problems as 

they arise and to hone their interpersonal 

skills. By simulating performance 

conditions, we can give surgeons and 

musicians valuable, real-world training. 

How do you hope the simulator will 

develop in the future? 

We’re currently considering several 

additional environments and types of 

audiences to simulate. Educationally, 

we’re now developing curriculum-based 

opportunities for students to improve 

audition techniques, and soon we hope 

to make the simulator available for oneto-one 

lessons and chamber coaching. 

The simulator is already being used on 

our MSc in Performance Science, and 

we have plans to offer it more widely as 

part of the RCM’s undergraduate and 

postgraduate curricula. If any students 

are interested in using the simulator now, 

it’s best for them to contact me directly, 

and I’ll see how we can help. 

In January Professor Aaron 

Williamon was featured on the 

popular BBC Radio 3 series Between 

the Ears to talk about his research. 

Three RCM students also took part, 

relaying their experiences of using 

the performance simulator. Here are 

a few extracts from what they had to 

say. To listen to their interviews visit 

www.rcm.ac.uk/scalpelandbow 

“The simulation is such a good tool – 

to go in there and put yourself in the 

position of running through the piece, 

really perform it and see what all the 

hours of rehearsal and practice have 

come to” – Postgraduate cellist Jane 

Lindsay 

“During the simulation it felt much 

like a real performance. I felt I got into 

the zone quickly and that I was really 

performing on stage, not just playing 

in a practice room” – Undergraduate 

cellist George Ross 

“I felt nervous and uncomfortable 

going into the simulation… as I went 

in I was worried I’d mess up the 

performance. It was good to practice 

in the simulation environment as a 

preparation for a performance in 

front of real people. In general I tried 

to ignore the audience, but there 

was a lot of coughing which was a 

bit distracting”– Junior Department 

cellist Linden Ralph 

Any other projects in the pipeline? 

Much of our research at present focuses 

on musicians’ health and wellbeing, 

examining ways of improving and 

promoting health and preventing 

performance-related injuries. This an 

area in which we’ve worked for several 

years, and it is now producing some very 

tangible outcomes. More generally, we 

have a large (and growing) cohort of PhD 

and MSc students who are working on 

fascinating projects that span the field of 

performance science. 

Find out more about the Performance 

Simulator and the work of the RCM 

Centre for Performance Science at 

www.rcm.ac.uk/cps 

13

14 

Meeting the supporters... 


An RCM Friend and Patron, Chelsea 

Pensioner David Poultney has a great love 

for music, a bullish energy for life and a 

strong belief in supporting causes close 

to his heart. In 2010, he and six other 

Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Hospital 

released an album in order to raise money 

for the Chelsea Pensioners’ Appeal: “Men 

in Scarlet” sold more than 100,000 copies 

and helped fund the building of new 

accommodation for the retired soldiers. 

The members of the all-male choir were 

brought together by their love of singing, 

and David agrees that singing is in his 

blood, as he tells Upbeat… 

When did your love of music begin? 

I’ve always been interested in music and 

first started singing when I was just four 

years old. I’m Welsh, you see, singing is 

what we do! If you say to a Welshman: 

“Sing!”, he’ll sing. An Englishman would 

be too timid! You know, music is the 

most important thing in a Welshman’s 

life. There’s a saying: “To be born Welsh 

is to be born privileged. Not with a silver 

spoon in your mouth, but music in your 

heart and poetry in your soul.” 

Can you tell me about recording the 

album Men in Scarlet? 

It was a very hectic time. We’re old men 

and had to be out of here at half past 

seven in the morning, tearing off to some 

recording studio. But we got to sing with 

some great people – Dame Vera Lynn, 

Katherine Jenkins – they were both 

super. I’ve got some lovely photos of us 

all with them too. 

It was Warner Music who were behind 

the CD – they’d previously produced The 

Soldiers and most recently did Military 

Wives. Our CD got to number 14 in the 

charts and we even got a Gold Disc – my 

daughters were so excited about that. In 

fact my daughter Rosemary took it back 

with her to America where she lives. 

Do you have a favourite song on 

the disc? 

No, I’d sing anything! But I did get to 

sing “Danny Boy” as a solo. We were just 

waiting around in the studio and I saw a 

book open with the music. I just started 

singing and the producers said they’d like 

to put it on the record. 

You do a lot of work raising money for 

charities, why is that? 

I enjoy collecting for charities – last year 

I raised more than £5,000 for the Royal 

British Legion selling poppies at Charing 

Cross railway station. I also collect for the 

Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the 

Army Benevolent Fund and the Institute 

of Cancer Research. I like keeping busy, 

and I enjoy going out and talking to 

people. 

And because I’m Welsh, I also enjoy 

supporting musical causes: I support the 

RCM’s Restore a Score – it has to be done 

– and I support the Welsh Singer of the 

Year competition. 

What do you enjoy about visiting 

the RCM? 

It’s part of my ritual. My friend John is 

92, a real old boy, but he’s fit and has 

medals in all directions. We enjoy coming 

to the College together when we can. I 

enjoy hearing the Symphony Orchestra, 

Ian Adam 

Brendon Bernard 

Charles E Bradley 

Peter Cargin 

Lord Clanmorris 

Daphne Clarke 

Geoff Cox 

Emma Davis 

Mark Deli 

Michael Earrey 

Elizabeth Hale 

Martin Holloway 

Johanna Holmes 

Michael and Rita Laven 

Patricia Litke 

Peter Lobban 

Zarina Membery 

Alison Midwinter 

Sir Jeremy Morse KCMG 

Heather Murphy 

and that wonderful feeling as they come 

out on stage. I remember one concert 

where they had six harps, my favourite 

instrument. I also like brass instruments 

and seeing how much the students 

enjoy playing. I like looking at them and 

thinking: “they’re going to be famous 

one day!”. And I also like that they come 

from all over the world – from Japan to 

America. 

And you have an unusual connection 

with the RCM’s Britten Theatre? 

Yes, I left the army when I was 30 and 

went to work on ‘Civvy Street’. One of my 

jobs was working as the Office Manager 

for a firm of architects, one of whom was 

Sir Hugh Casson, who later designed the 

Britten Theatre. 

What’s life like as a pensioner at the 

Royal Hospital? 

I used to live in a very small room, 9ft by 

9ft, with no windows. But now I’m in a 

newly built room with an en suite, there’s 

so much more space. 

Not that I’m always in my room – I stay 

busy! There are always lots of activities 

going on here and I’m also often out in 

my scarlet coat representing the hospital 

– particularly collecting for charities and 

meeting people – I’ve met Prince Charles, 

Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron… 

I think it’s so important to be busy. My 

advice is: start something you’re never 

going to finish – then you’ll always have 

something to do! 

RCM Friends and Patrons provide vital 

support to the RCM and its talented young 

musicians. Restore a Score is a fund set up 

to conserve the manuscripts, printed music 

and recordings held in the RCM Library. To 

find out about any of these schemes and 

other ways to support the RCM please visit 

www.rcm.ac.uk/supportus 

Welcome to new Friends and Supporters 

We are delighted to welcome the following people who have recently made 

their first donation to RCM 

Mr and Mrs HWB Page 

Alan Sainer 

Irene Sarsby 

Robert Sarsby 

Michael Shipley 

Jenny Tindale 

David White 

Pauline Williams

Supporting the future of music... 

Music has the power to transform 

lives. Thanks to the generosity of our 

supporters, generations of gifted 

students from around the world have 

been guided and inspired at the Royal 

College of Music. We would like to thank 

in particular those who have made 

donations of £1,000 or more in the 

last twelve months – gifts are listed in 

descending order. 

Supporters of named scholarships, 

prizes and Junior Fellowships 

Estate of Dr Neville Wathen 

ABRSM 

Leverhulme Trust 

Soirée d’Or Scholarships 

Estate of Ian Evans Lombe 

Estate of Roselyn Ann Clifton Parker 

The Richard Carne Charitable Trust 

Laurie Barry and the John Barrry Scholarship 

for Film Composition 

Estate of Dr John Birch FRCM 

H R Taylor Trust 

HF Awards 

John Lewis Partnership Scholarships 

The Tsukanov Family 

Richard and Rosemary Millar 

The Worshipful Company of Musicians 

Hester Laverne Award 

Charles Napper Award 

Lydia Napper Award 

The Michael Bishop Foundation 

The Reed Foundation 

Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Trust 

The Hon Ros Kelly 

Opperby Stokowski Collection Trust 

The Lee Abbey Award 

Celia and Andrew Curran Scholarship 

Stephen Catto Memorial Scholarship 

The Worshipful Company of Drapers 

The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers 

The Estate of Mr Charles Knoll 

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust 

Ian Stoutzker OBE CBE FRCM 

Ian and Meriel Tegner * 

The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation UK 

Gilbert and Eileen Edgar Junior Fellowship 

Phoebe Benham Junior Fellowship 

The Mills Williams Foundation 

The Derek Butler Trust 

Andrew and Karen Sunnucks 

Monica and Guy Black Scholarship 

The Charles Peel Charitable Trust 

The Ackroyd Trust 

The Richard Toeman/Weinberger Opera 

Scholarship 

The Wyseliot Charitable Trust 

The Wall Trust 

The Stanley Picker Scholarship 

Professor Lord Winston 

Lark Insurance Scholarship 

Steinway & Sons 

The Rayne Trust 

The Boltini Trust Scholarships 

Jonathon Bond 

Richard and Debbie Ward 

David Laing Foundation Scholarship 

Independent Opera Artist Scholarship 

South Square Trust 

Sir Peter and Lady Walters 

Edward Brooks FRCM 

Sir Gordon Palmer Scholarship 

Douglas Downie 

Mark Loveday Scholarship 

Noswad Charity 

Else and Leonard Cross Charitable Trust 

Midori Nishiura 

Kirby Laing Foundation 

The Sylvia Paterson Award 

The Bliss Trust 

Supporters of RCM Sparks 

J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust 

John Lyon’s Charity 

David Ross Foundation 

The Ernest Cook Trust 

EMI Music Sound Foundation 

John Lewis Partnership 

The Stanley Foundation 

Dr Susan Sinclair and Rodolphe Olard 

Anonymous 

The Oldhurst Trust 

HPS Trust 

Members of the RCM Chairman’s Circle 

Philip Carne HonRCM and Christine Carne * 

Michael and Ruth West * 

Dr Leonard Polonsky and Dr Georgette 

Bennett * 

Sir Vernon Ellis FRCM and Lady Ellis 

Jane Barker * 

Sir Roger and Lady Carr HonRCM * 

Guy Dawson and Sam Horscroft 

Emma Rose and Quentin Williams * 

Linda and Tony Hill 

James and Clare Kirkman * 

John and Catherine Armitage * 

Gisela Gledhill * 

Dr Mark Levesley and Christina Hoeseason * 

Alethea Siow and Jeremy Furniss * 

Members of the RCM Director’s Circle 

Richard and Sue Price 

Victoria Sharp 

Charles and Kaaren Hale 

Peter and Dimity Spiller 

Sir Peter and Lady Middleton FRCM 

Judy and Terence Mowschenson 

Terry Hitchcock 

Sir Sydney and Lady Lipworth 

Vivien McLean 

Metherell family 

John Nickson and Simon Rew* 

Louisa Treger 

Patrons’ Circle 

Russell Race* 

Rhoddy Voremberg 

John Cheng 

Costas Kaplanis 

John Ward 

Ellen Moloney 

Betty Sutherland 

Mrs Victoria Moore-Gillon FRCS 

Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM and Lady Cleaver 

Dimity and Kerry Rubie 

Tania Chislett 

Halina and John Bennett 


David and Sue Lewis 

Monica Moezinia 

Mr and Mrs Charles Robinson 

Ruth Rothbarth 

Other generous donors 

Jane Kessler 

The Farthings Trust 

The Henry Wood Trust 

Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary 

Settlement 

The Robert Fleming Hannay Memorial 

Charity 

John Topham 

Karen Cook 

Miss Kathleen Beryl Sleigh Charitable Trust 

RLM Finsbury 

The Seary Charitable Trust 

St Marylebone Educational Foundation 

Roland Rudd 

Interros 

The Sharp Foundation 

Centrica plc 

The Rothermere Foundation 

Geoffrey Richards HonRCM 

Ann Driver Trust 

Serena Fenwick 

Mark Wood 

Paul Wayne Gregory 

Dorchester Collection 

Bill Bolsover 

Fiona Wilson 

Webster and Davidson Mortification 

for the Blind 

Nevill Holt Opera 

Sir David Cooksey 

The Derek Hill Foundation 

Professor Colin Lawson FRCM 

Philip Jackson 

Janis Susskind HonRCM 

Peter Granger 

Blair Wilson Award 

Clifford and Maggie Abrahams 

Bell Percussion 

Kathleen Trust 

Michael Steen OBE HonRCM 

Mrs Terry Collins-Tveter 

Miel de Botton 

Helena Morrissey 

Nicola Jones 

Knights of the Round Table 

Nonna Materkova 

Sir David Lees 

Kilfinan Trust 

Inn or Out 

Richard Davey 

Friends of the National Libraries 

Roja Dove Limited 

* also support a named award 

For more information about supporting 

the RCM, please visit 

www.rcm.ac.uk/supportus 

Alternatively, contact Irisa Frankle, 

Development Assistant on 020 7591 4861 

or irisa.frankle@rcm.ac.uk 

15

16 

Student notes 

Composition 

congratulations 

Arne Gieshoff’s work Stanza was 

performed by the BBC Scottish 

Symphony Orchestra and Martyn 

Brabbins in Glasgow. The concert was 

recorded by BBC Radio 3 for their 

contemporary music programme Hear 

and Now… Adam Kornas has won the 

Lord Mayor’s Composition Award. His 

prize includes £2,000 and a performance 

of his work Paradise Regained at Mansion 

House… Catherine Cheung has won the 

Herne Hill Music Festival Composition 

Competition with her saxophone quartet 

Suspend/Coruscate… 

Keyboard 

accomplishments 

Pianist Yoshio Hamano has won First 

Prize at the Nordic International Piano 

Competition in Malmö, Sweden, with the 

splendid prize of a Blüthner Grand Piano 

and concerts in Sweden and Japan… 

Pianist Laura Dickson has given an 

evening recital at Park Place in Wickham 

in aid of Dorothy’s Dream, The Rowans 

Hospice at Home Appeal… Pianist So 

Yeong Kim has been selected for this 

year’s Foyle Future Firsts Programme 

with the London Philharmonic 

Orchestra… Pianist Samson Tsoy has 

won Second Prize at the 23rd Haverhill 

Sinfonia Soloist Competition… Pianist 

Anna Fedorova performed at a special 

concert in memory of Arthur Rubinstein 

at Carnegie Hall, New York. She also 

spent two weeks at the Verbier Festival 

in Switzerland where she was awarded 

the prestigious ‘Prix - Foundation 

Neva’… Pianist Konstantin Lapshin has 

performed in the Rachmaninov Hall 

in Moscow, the Pump Room in Bath, 

Pushkin House in London, and the 

Assembly Room in Lincoln as part of his 

Doctoral Project ‘Rachmaninov 

Rediscovered’… Valentin Barray has 

won Third Prize and a Special Prize for 

the best accompaniment of a French 

mélodie at the Claude Bonneton 

International Piano Competition in Sète, 

France. 

String successes 

Winner of BBC Young Musician 2012, 

Laura van der Heijden has performed 

Walton’s Cello Concerto with the Royal 

Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan 

Hall… Violinists Suijin Park and 

Mari Poll reached the semi-final of 

the Michael Hill International Violin 

Competition in New Zealand, while 

Benjamin Baker won the Development 

Prize. Benjamin also won Second Prize 

in the inaugural Orpheus Musician of 

the Year with First Prize going to alumna 

and bassoonist Tamsin Thorn. Both 

musicians performed at a celebratory 

concert at St George’s Church, Hanover 

Square with the Orpheus Sinfonia… 

Violinist Laure Chan has performed a 

programme of Fauré, Chausson, Ysaÿe 

and Ravel at the Sevenoaks Music 

Festival prize winners’ concert… 

Konstantin Lapshin Laure Chan 

Anna Fedorova 

Laura van der Heijden

Woodwind 

triumphs 

Flautist Diego Aceña Moreno, oboist 

Alasdair Hill and clarinettist Adrian 

Somogyi, members of the Cataleya 

Quintet, have performed at The 

Leverhulme Trust annual reception in 

Unilever House in London. All three 

students are supported by the trust, 

one of the most generous supporters of 

young musicians in the UK. 

Cataleya Ensemble 

Vocal achievements 

Sopranos Joanna Songi and Anna 

Anandarajah have won Second Prize 

and the Audience Prize respectively 

in the Maureen Lehane Singing 

Competition at the Wigmore Hall… 

Baritone Morgan Pearse was one 

of three soloists in a performance of 

Haydn’s Creation with the Hastings 

Philharmonic Choir, conducted by 

Marcio da Silva… Soprano Laura 

Wright has been chosen by the Rugby 

Football Union as England’s first official 

Laura Wright with English Rugby players 

Joanna Songi 

National Anthem singer. She will sing 

ahead of the international matches 

against South Africa and New Zealand, as 

well as all of the home games in the Six 

Nations tournament in 2013… Soprano 

Louise Alder has featured on BBC Radio 

4’s Today programme with Royal Opera 

House Director of Opera Kasper Holten, 

talking about the state of opera and 

life as a young singer today… Two RCM 

Junior Department students won prizes 

in the final of the Association of English 

Singers and Speakers Catherine Lambert 

Junior Recital Prize: Julius Haswell won 

First Prize with his themed programme 

of English song, poetry and prose entitled 

‘Love lost through war’, while Rhys 

Jupiter Brown took Third Prize and the 

Speech Prize. 

Spotlight on… 

RCM cellist Yuki Ito has been named 

as a Second Prize winner at the highly 

prestigious Young Concert Artists 

International Auditions in New York. 

Yuki was given the opportunity to 

take part in the semi-final auditions 

in New York after he was awarded 

First Prize at the European Young 

Concert Artists Auditions in Leipzig. 

As a result of his success Yuki will 

be awarded future engagements 

worldwide, the first taking place in 

Tokyo. 

More than 300 musicians from 41 

countries took part in this year’s 

Young Concert Artists Auditions, for 

which the criteria are exceptional 

musicianship, virtuosity, individuality, 

projection as a performer, and 

promise. The organisation has 

discovered and launched the careers 

of many internationally celebrated 

musicians including pianists Jean- 

Yves Thibaudet, Emanuel Ax, Murray 

Perahia, Jeremy Denk and Richard 

Goode; soprano Dawn Upshaw, and 

violinist Pinchas Zukerman. 

Yuki has also recently released his 

debut album. Accompanied by RCM 

alumna Sofya Gulyak, the recording 

features popular cello works by 

Rachmaninov and was chosen as 

‘disc of the month’ by The Strad 

magazine. Rachmaninov: Cello Works 

(Champs Hill Records) is available 

to buy through iTunes, Amazon, 

NaxosDirect, and Europadsic. 

17

18 

Staff notes 

Guitar professor Carlos Bonell 

Guitar professor Carlos Bonell has 

re-released his classic album The Private 

Collection with new artwork and liner 

notes. The album features a number of 

Spanish works by Granados, Albéniz and 

Villa-Lobos and is available to purchase 

from www.carlosbonell.com. 

Assistant to the Deputy Director, 

Director of Programmes & Research 

and Artistic Director Rebecca Mair has 

performed with the Rolling Stones as 

part of their 50th anniversary tour at the 

O2. Singing with the choir Voce!, they 

accompanied the band in the classic hit 

You Can’t Always Get What You Want. 

Tom Fox 

RCM Maintenance Officer Tom Fox 

created a moustache-shaped guitar in 

aid of Movember, a charity that raises 

money and awareness for prostate cancer 

research. Made from 100% reclaimed 

materials, it included a piano stool leg for 

the neck, a picture frame for the body 

and a resonating body made from a shoe 

polish tin. The guitar was auctioned for 

charity on eBay at the end of November. 

Junior Department piano teacher Clara 

Rodriguez has given a candlelit recital at 

St Martin-in-the-Fields. The programme 

centred on the theme of spirituality and 

the special qualities of moonlight that 

have inspired great composers such as 

Beethoven and Debussy. She has also 

recently released Cuba España – her fifth 

CD on Nimbus Records. 

Piano professor Leon McCawley has 

given a solo recital at Wigmore Hall. His 

programme spanned two centuries of 

keyboard music from J S Bach’s Italian 

Concerto in F to Liszt’s Les cloches de 

Genève from Années de pèlerinage. 

Flute professor Gareth Davies has written 

a memoir of the London Symphony 

Orchestra on tour, focusing on their 

historical first visit to America in 1912 

and their most recent 2012 US tour. 

Principal Flautist in the LSO, Gareth tells 

the remarkable story through recently 

discovered diaries and archive material 

from London and New York newspaper 

reports. The Show Must Go On will be 

published by Elliott & Thompson Limited 

in May. 

Viol consort coach Claire Bracher has 

recorded a CD of solo works by Telemann. 

Released on the Early Music label SFZ, 

it is the first recording of the complete 

surviving works for viola da gamba. 

Professor Colin Lawson has released 

his latest CD on Clarinet Classics. The 

recording features Mozart’s Clarinet 

Quintet, performed on a specially recreated 

basset clarinet in A, as well as the world 

premiere recording of the A major Rondo, 

originally intended for the Quintet but 

instead recycled as an aria for Così fan tutte. 

He is joined by the Revolutionary Drawing 

Room ensemble featuring violinist Adrian 

Butterfield. 

Composition professor Kenneth Hesketh 

has completed a new work for dance 

– Forms entangled, shapes collided – 

commissioned by ensemble Psappha and 

Phoenix Dance Theatre in Leeds, and 

supported by The Royal Philharmonic 

Society Drummond Fund. The work tours 

nationally from February 2013 passing 

through Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester 

and London’s ROH2 Lindbury Theatre 

amongst others. The work is one of 16 

new commissions to mark the Royal 

Philharmonic Society’s bicentenary in 2013.

On 21 April Head of Strings Mark 

Messenger is running the London 

Marathon once again to raise money to 

support extraordinary young musicians. 

This year it coincides with the RCM’s 

Super String Sunday: throughout the 

day you will be able to track his progress 

round the course while enjoying a 

feast of music making. Hopefully he’ll 

make it back to the RCM in time for 

the final performance! You can support 

Mark at uk.virginmoneygiving. 

com/madviolinist or find out more 

about the event at www.rcm.ac.uk/ 

superstringsunday 

Head of Historical Performance Ashley 

Solomon performed with the RCM 

Ensemble in Association Florilegium 

at the launch of Kings Place’s 2013 Bach 

Unwrapped series. The programme 

featured two seasonal cantatas, in which 

the group was joined by four solo singers 

including alumni Elin Manahan Thomas, 

Sally Bruce-Payne and Jimmy Holliday. 

Florilegium 

Head of Opera Michael Rosewell has 

conducted performances of Britten’s 

Albert Herring at the Royal Opera House 

together with the award-winning Aurora 

Orchestra. The cast featured alumni Mark 

Wilde (in the title role), Martha Jones 

and Rosie Aldridge. Rupert Christiansen 

from the Telegraph said “Michael 

Rosewell’s conducting of an excellent band 

sustains the dramatic impetus admirably 

as well as honouring its crystalline 

instrumental detail”. 

The Tippett Quartet, featuring Junior 

Department violin teacher Jeremy 

Isaac and alumnus John Mills, has been 

appointed Artists in Residence at Sidney 

Sussex College, Cambridge. Working 

closely with students and musical director 

David Skinner, they will give a series of 

concerts, workshops and masterclasses, 

and expand their impressive discography. 

Area Leader in Composition for Screen 

Vasco Hexel has composed music for the 

Discovery Channel’s feature documentary 

Terror in the Sky – the 9/11 Tapes. His 

music was also featured on BBC One’s 

Panorama and in the Christmas campaign 

of Channel 4 subsidiary S4/C, Wales. 

Language coach Norbert Meyn has been 

appointed Fellow of the Higher Education 

Academy (FHEA) after completing 

a course on teaching and learning in 

higher and professional education at the 

Institute of Education. 

Our goal is to provide world class 

education to students who want to 

learn from internationally acclaimed 

musicians and pedagogues. Our 

distinguished professors are experts 

in developing to the full the talent of 

modern-day, award-winning 

performers. 

The Masterclasses take 

place in Jersey, away from the 

pressures of the outside world, 

students are able to learn and 

work in a relaxed, stimulating 

and contemplative environment. 

Jersey International Masterclasses 

- Piano and Strings - 

26th July 2013 to 5th August 2013 

Patron: Vladimir Spivakov 

Jersey International Masterclasses work closely and in cooperation with: 

Jersey Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, The Tsukanov Family 

Foundation and Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. 

www.jerseymasterclasses.com 

Email: info@jerseymasterclasses.com Tel: +44 (0) 1534 720030 

© 2012 Jersey International Master Classes. All Rights Reserved. 

Dmitri Bashkirov 

Piano (Russia/Spain) 

Vanessa Latarche 

Piano (UK) 

Yekaterina Lebedeva 

Piano (UK) 

Leonid Margarius 

Piano (Italy) 

Zakhar Bron 

Violin (Russia/Germany) 

Viktoria Grigoreva 

Violin (UK) 

Mark Messenger 

Violin (UK) 

Leonid Gorokhov 

Cello (Germany/UK) 

Junior 

Department 

violin teacher 

Viktoria 

Grigoreva 

has founded 

a new 

summer 

course in 

Jersey. The 

course aims 

to provide 

world class 

education to 

students from internationally acclaimed 

musicians. This year it will be held from 

26 July to 5 August, and invited professors 

include Zakhar Bron, Leonid Gorokhov, 

Leonid Margarius, Dmitry Bashkirov, 

Mark Messenger, Vanessa Latarche and 

Katya Lebedeva. 

www.jerseymasterclasses.com 

Assistant librarian Monika Pietras has 

graduated from City University with 

an MSc in Information Management in 

the Cultural Sector, accredited by CILIP. 

She also had an abridged version of her 

dissertation published jointly with Dr 

Lyn Robinson in the Library Review vol. 

61 (8) – Three views of the musical work 

– bibliographical control in the music 

domain. 

Junior Department recorder teacher 

Rebecca Austen-Brown has performed 

on the soundtrack of two current box 

office hits: Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and 

Tom Hooper’s recent interpretation of 

Victor Hugo’s epic tale Les Misérables. 

Deputy librarian Peter Horton has had 

two book chapters published: a study 

of the way anthem texts changed in the 

19th century (in Martin Clarke (ed.), 

Music and Theology in Nineteenth-Century 

Britain) and a study of English song in 

the 1840s (in Bennett Zon (ed.), Music 

and Performance Culture in Nineteenth- 

Century Britain). The latter volume 

is a Festschrift in honour of the 80th 

birthday of the distinguished musicologist 

Nicholas Temperley. 

Spotlight on… 

Prince Consort Professor Sarah 

Walker CBE celebrates her 70th 

birthday at Wigmore Hall on 13 

March. Following similar events for 

her 50th and 60th birthdays, she is 

yet to decide whether to wait ten 

years for the next, or to go for a 

75th…? 

Sarah, who retired from performing 

a few years ago, now spends most 

of her energy imparting wisdom 

to RCM students, but she will be 

taking an active part in this concert 

supported by what she calls ‘a cast 

of thousands’! The distinguished 

actress Eleanor Bron leads a line-up 

that includes two former members of 

the RCM International Opera School 

Laura Mitchell and 2012 Kathleen 

Ferrier winner Kitty Whately, 

alongside baritone Stephan Loges, 

pianist Graham Johnson, a girls’ choir 

and two violinists. 

The music and texts for this 

programme have been adapted 

by Graham from one of his most 

popular Songmakers Almanac 

concerts: Let us Garlands Bring – a 

Shakespearian extravaganza which 

includes repertoire ranging from John 

Dankworth’s The Complete Works to 

Joseph Horowitz’s dramatic scena 

Lady Macbeth. 

19

20 

Alumni notes 

Anna Rice 

Composer Anna Rice has scored a 52part 

animated series called Wild Grinders 

for Nickelodeon USA. Prior to this she 

was commissioned to write the score 

for Sean O’Casey’s play Juno And The 

Paycock, the inaugural co-production 

between the Royal National Theatre and 

Abbey Theatre of Ireland, directed by Sir 

Howard Davies and starring Ciaran Hinds 

and Sinead Cusack. 

Alto flute specialist Carla Rees has 

given two concerts with her ensemble 

rarescale at Shoreditch Church in 

London. The concerts featured new 

music for chamber ensemble, including 

works by RCM professor Michael Oliva, 

and provided the opportunity to hear 

Carla’s newly replaced quarter-tone bass 

flute. 

Violinist Ben Lee has broken his own 

Guinness world record after playing The 

Flight of the Bumblebee in 58.05 seconds. 

Performing on Superhuman Showdown, 

broadcast on the Discovery Channel, Ben 

was also named the fastest ‘superhuman’ 

on the planet as he beat off tough 

competition from a speed shooter and a 

base jumper. 

Conductor Sir Colin Davis has been 

awarded a medal from the Berlioz 

Society in recognition of his work in 

promoting the music of the 19th-century 

French composer. Colin was particularly 

recognised for his work as the first 

conductor of the Chelsea Opera Group 

and its leading role in the post-war 

Berlioz revival. 

Ben Lee 

Pianist Peter Bradley-Fulgoni has 

released PianOLYPHONY, a new CD 

featuring music by Liszt, Busoni, 

Schoenberg, Berg and Gerhard. It also 

features the Hindemith Sonata, which 

Peter has long wanted to record, having 

first heard it in the 1970s when acting 

as page-turner for his teacher and 

RCM professor for many years Kendall 

Taylor. The CD was launched at a recital 

at the Circolo Filologico in Milan last 

November. 

Soprano Abigail Mitchell has been 

awarded a place on the prestigious Santa 

Fe Opera Festival Apprentice Programme 

for 2013. She will be covering the role of 

the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, a role 

she previously performed at the RCM 

International Opera School. 

Double bassist Damian Rubido 

Gonzalez has taken up the position of 

Associate Principal Double Bass with the 

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the oldest 

surviving professional orchestra in the 

UK. 

Composer Chris Green recently worked 

on the audio for the computer game 

Need For Speed Most Wanted with 

Electronic Arts. He also featured on the 

November cover of worldwide magazine 

Computer Music. 

Violinist Wonhee Bae has won the 

Ocean Classical Awards 2012 in Germany. 

Following her winning performance of 

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the 

Philharmonie der Nationen, Wonhee 

was awarded €15,000 and the chance to 

perform with various orchestras in major 

halls in Frankfurt am Main and Munich. 

Pianist Christopher Guild has 

performed at the Kelly College Concert 

Series in Devon. The evening recital 

included music by CPE Bach, Janáček 

and Schubert, ending with Mussorgsky’s 

Pictures at an Exhibition. 

Christopher Guild 

Composer Oliver Rudland’s new work 

for trombone and piano has been 

premiered at the Royal Academy of 

Music. The Conquests was performed 

by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s 

Principal Trombone Matthew Gee as 

part of the 2012 London Trombone 

Festival.

Conductor Andrew Mogrelia has been 

appointed Music Director and Principal 

Conductor of the Queensland Ballet 

in Brisbane, Australia. He took up the 

appointment on 1 January 2013 and 

will conduct Cinderella in April and The 

Nutcracker in December. 

Andrew Mogrelia 

Organist and composer Robert Coates 

has edited and published the first edition 

of John Ireland’s Magnificat and Nunc 

Dimittis in A. Written in 1905, it was 

never published and is now available 

from Cantando Musikkforlag in Norway 

at bit.ly/UmFjee 

The Jacquin Trio, featuring clarinettist 

Jessie Grimes, violist Zoë Matthews and 

pianist Charis Cheung has been awarded 

a Tunnell Trust Award which will see 

them performing at Scottish music 

clubs in 2014. They are also ‘Ensemble 

in Residence’ at The Forge in Camden 

for 2013 where their three-part series 

includes premieres and contemporary 

works by Huw Watkins, Simon Rowland- 

Jones and Paul Patterson. 

The Jacquin Trio 

Margaret Fingerhut 

Pianist Margaret Fingerhut has joined 

the roster of professors at Trinity Laban 

Conservatoire in London. She has also 

recently undertaken a series of lecturerecitals 

and masterclasses in California 

and Canada. 

Composer David Braid’s new work, a 

setting of the 11th-century Latin text 

Alma Redemptoris Mater, has been 

performed by the Chapelle du Roi at St 

John’s Smith Square. The evening concert 

also featured settings by Renaissance 

composers Tallis, Palestrina and Victoria. 

Composer Mark Bowden has composed 

a new percussion concerto heartland for 

Evelyn Glennie. The work will be 

premiered at the Vale of Glamorgan 

Festival in May 2013 and is a 

collaboration with the choreographer 

Eleesha Drennan and the National Dance 

Company of Wales. 

A CD dedicated to the late Hubert 

Dawkes has been released by Bryan 

and Diana Beggs. Featuring local singers 

and recorded at St Michael’s Church in 

Andover, the disc features Dawkes’ final 

work They That Wait Upon The Lord. The 

CD is available from the producers on 

01264 365 190, and all proceeds will be 

shared between St Michael’s Church and 

Naomi House Children’s Hospice. 

Irmina Trynkos 

Violinist Irmina Trynkos has released her 

debut CD with the Royal Philharmonic 

Orchestra. It features works by the 

forgotten Romantic composer Ignatz 

Waghalter including his 1911 Violin 

Concerto and earlier Violin Sonata, 

which won the coveted Mendelssohn 

Prize in 1902. The disc forms part of the 

project by Irmina to publicise the works 

of this little known composer and is 

available on Naxos. 

www.waghalterproject.com 

Alexandra Wood 

Violinist Alexandra Wood has been 

appointed Leader of the City of London 

Sinfonia. Alexandra took up the position 

in January 2013 and is particularly 

looking forward to the CLoSer concert 

series – intimate and informal music 

experiences – at the Village Underground 

in Shoreditch. 

21

22 

Obituaries 

Sir Philip Ledger FRCM, professor at 

the RCM for many years, died on 18 

November 2012 at the age of 74. He 

was one of the most notable church 

musicians of recent years. He read music 

at King’s College, Cambridge, where he 

later succeeded Sir David Willcocks as 

Director of Music from 1974 to 1982. 

His recordings with the Choir of King’s 

are much loved, in particular the Festival 

of Nine Lessons and Carols. He will be 

remembered for many of his choral 

arrangements and other compositions, 

in particular his Easter cantata The Risen 

Christ and new settings of popular texts 

such as Adam lay y bounden and A 

Spotless Rose. At 23 he was appointed 

Master of Music at Chelmsford 

Cathedral, making him the youngest 

cathedral organist in Britain. He joined 

the professorial staff of the RCM in 1962. 

He later went on to become joint Artistic 

Director of the Aldeburgh Festival, and 

enjoyed working closely with Benjamin 

Britten and Peter Pears. In 1965 he 

became Music Director and Dean of Fine 

Arts at the University of East Anglia and 

in 1982 became Principal of the Royal 

Scottish Academy of Music and Drama 

(now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) 

until his retirement in 2001. 

The distinguished pianist and RCM 

alumna Julia Cload has died at the 

age of 65. She was born into a family 

of musicians: her father John Cload 

was a founding member of the London 

Philharmonic Orchestra while her 

mother was a highly regarded violin 

teacher who also studied at the RCM. 

Julia studied at the RCM with Cyril 

Smith before continuing her studies at 

the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. 

Following her debut, playing Beethoven’s 

Third Piano Concerto with the LPO 

under Sir Adrian Boult, she was much in 

demand as a concerto soloist, appearing 

again with the LPO, the RPO, the Hallé, 

the RLP, various BBC orchestras and the 

London Mozart Players. As a recitalist 

she frequently recorded for the BBC 

and appeared at major venues in the 

UK, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary 

and Switzerland. Her recordings of 

Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Das 

Wohltemperierte Clavier as well as 

Haydn’s 20 Sonatas were singled out for 

special praise. 

George Hurst 

Former conducting professor George 

Hurst has died. Born in 1926 in Scotland, 

George was closely associated with 

several British orchestras during his long 

career. He was also a profound influence 

on many performers and conductors. 

He studied piano and cello in London, 

but was evacuated to Canada during 

the Second World War. He later became 

Professor of Composition at the Peabody 

Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Encouraged by the pianist Dame Myra 

Hess, George moved back to Britain, 

and in 1953 conducted the London 

Philharmonic Orchestra with Eileen Joyce 

as soloist. In 1958 he was appointed 

Principal Conductor of the BBC 

Northern Symphony Orchestra. He also 

often worked with the Scottish National 

Orchestra, and in 1968 helped to launch 

the Bournemouth Sinfonietta as an 

offshoot of the Symphony Orchestra. 

George first conducted the BBC Scottish 

Symphony Orchestra in 1982, later 

becoming its Chief Guest Conductor. 

As a conducting professor at the RCM, 

George was a significant influence on the 

development of many British conductors. 

Perhaps his greatest influence was on Sir 

Simon Rattle who recollected that, aged 

11, he had attended a performance of 

Mahler’s Second Symphony conducted 

by Hurst, and found it a “Damascene 

experience”. Rattle later said: “It’s because 

of that evening that I’m a conductor.” 

James Brown, oboe professor at the 

RCM from 1964 to 1995, has died at the 

age of 83. Jimmy, as he was universally 

known, was an extremely busy orchestral 

player. Described by a colleague as 

“everyone’s favourite second oboe” – a 

huge compliment – Jimmy rejoiced in his 

role at the very heart of the woodwind 

section. Alongside his very active 

performing career Jimmy unearthed, 

edited and published numerous works 

for oboe which added substantially to 

the solo repertoire. Bassoonist and RCM 

professor Martin Gatt commented: 

“Having sat behind Jimmy in the ECO for 

so many years, I can honestly say he was 

the epitome of the perfect second oboe; 

not only was there never a note out of 

place, but he was a fantastic support to 

the principals, usually Peter Graeme (also 

an RCM professor) and Neil Black.” 

Raenelda MacKie 

RCM Doctoral student Raenelda 

MacKie died on 23 December 2012. She 

was diagnosed with cancer less than two 

years ago and had bravely undergone 

both chemo- and radio-therapy. 

Raenelda was working on a thesis on the 

Catalan composer Federico Mompou – 

supervised by Richard Langham Smith, 

Ingrid Pearson and Julian Jacobson – and 

had made some crucial discoveries. 

She will be sorely missed not only by 

those who worked closely with her, but 

also by many of the RCM postgraduate 

community, who encountered her as 

a lively contributor to the Doctoral 

seminars during 2010 and 2011. RCM 

Research Professor Richard Langham 

Smith commented: “As her principal 

supervisor, I can testify without a shadow 

of doubt that Raenelda was one of my 

best ever supervisees and also one of the 

most rewarding and fun to be with. She 

had all the right skills for her subject: first 

and foremost unlimited enthusiasm for 

researching the composer for whom she 

had unbridled passion. There is no doubt 

that her enthusiastic work on her thesis 

— well on the way to completion — kept 

her going through what turned out to be 

her terminal illness.” To read Richard’s full 

tribute, please visit 

www.rcm.ac.uk/news

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Upbeat Spring 2013 - Royal College of Music

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