Royal Academy of Music
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The Royal Academy of Music (sometimes abbreviated to RAM) is a music school in London, England and one of the leading music institutions in the world. It was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 and in 1830 was granted a Royal Charter by King George IV 'to promote the cultivation of the science of music and to afford facilities for attaining perfection in it by assisting with general instruction all persons desirous of acquiring knowledge thereof'. 'One of the most revered musical education establishments in the world', many important musicians have studied at the Academy since then.
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[edit] The Academy
The Academy is situated on Marylebone Road in central London, adjacent to Regent's Park. Facilities, which include the 450-seat Duke's Hall, the Sir Jack Lyons Theatre donated by philanthropist Sir Jack Lyons and two smaller concert spaces, were expanded in 2001 with the opening of the new 150-seat David Josefowitz recital hall and the York Gate Collections, a public museum of musical instruments and artifacts from the Academy's collections. The reputable Junior Academy, for under-18s, takes place every Saturday.
The library has over 160,000 items, with a large stock of books and sheet music including significant collections of early printed and manuscript materials and audio facilities. It also houses archives dedicated to Sir Arthur Sullivan and a Sir Henry Wood. Among the Library's most valuable possessions are the manuscripts of Purcell's The Fairy Queen (lost for many years), Sullivan's The Mikado, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and Serenade to Music and the newly-discovered Handel Gloria. A grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund has assisted in the purchase of the Robert Spencer Collection — a set of Early English Song and Lute music, as well as a fine collection of lutes and guitars. The York Gate Collections now display many of these items. The Orchestral Library has about 4,500 sets of orchestral parts. Other collections include the libraries of Sir Henry Wood and Otto Klemperer.
The Academy has students from over 50 countries, follow diverse programmes including instrumental performance, conducting, composition, jazz, musical theatre and Opera. The Academy enjoys an established relationship with King's College London, particularly the Department of Music, whose students receive instrumental tuition at the Academy. In return, many students at the Academy take advantage of the range of Humanities choices at King's, and its extended academic musicological curriculum.
The Academy also plays host to the Asian Music Circuit's annual "Asian Music Summer School", which runs from the last Saturday in July for around a week. In this summer school, the public are taught Indian, Chinese and Japanese music from musicians and/or singers from India, China, Japan and the UK. There are also concerts and seminars conducted in the Academy to support the summer school's programme.
The current Principal is the American scholar Curtis Price.
[edit] Student Performances and Festivals
Academy students perform regularly in the Academy's concert venues, and also nationally and internationally under such conductors as Sir Colin Davis, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Charles Mackerras, James MacMillan and Trevor Pinnock. In September 2005, Sir Colin Davis conducted an orchestra which combined students from the Academy and New York's Juilliard School at the BBC Proms.
The Academy collaborates with other conservatoires world-wide, including participating in the SOCRATES student and staff exchange programme. In 1991 the Academy introduced a fully-accredited degree in Performance Studies, and in September 1999, it became a full constituent college of the University of London, in both cases becoming the first UK conservatoire to do so.
The Academy regularly celebrates the work of a living composer with a festival in the presence of the composer. Previous composer festivals at the Academy have been devoted to the work of Witold Lutosławski, Michael Tippett, Krzysztof Penderecki, Olivier Messiaen, Hans Werner Henze, Luciano Berio, American composers including Elliott Carter, Academy graduates, Alfred Schnittke, György Ligeti, British and American film composers, Franco Donatoni, Russian composers including Galina Ustvolskaya, Arvo Pärt, György Kurtág and Mauricio Kagel.
In February-March 2006, an Academy festival celebrated the violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who first visited London 175 years earlier in 1831. The festival included a recital by Academy professor Maxim Vengerov, who performed on Paganini's own Cannone Guarnerius violin.
[edit] Courses
The Royal Academy of Music offers training from pre-college level (Junior Academy) to PhD.
[edit] People
[edit] Notable alumni
- William Alwyn (composer)
- John Barbirolli (conductor)
- Arnold Bax (composer)
- Richard Rodney Bennett (composer)
- Harrison Birtwistle (composer)
- Virginia Black (harpsichord)
- Christopher Bowers-Broadbent (organ)
- Dennis Brain (French hornist)
- Dudley Bright (trombonist)
- Christine Croshaw (solo and chamber pianist)
- William Crotch (first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music)
- Ralph John Cupper (Organist and composer)
- Clifford Curzon (pianist)
- John Dankworth (jazz composer)
- Christopher Elton
- Galliard Wind Ensemble
- Rumon Gamba (Conductor)
- Lesley Garrett (soprano)
- David Gimenez (Conductor)
- Evelyn Glennie (percussionist)
- Otto Goldschmidt (Piano)
- Henrik Jul Hansen (conductor)
- Alan Harverson (organ)
- Michael Head (composer, pianist, organist and singer)
- Myra Hess (pianist)
- Richard Hickox
- Joe Jackson
- Elton John (rock musician) Junior Academy
- Graham Johnson (song accompanist)
- Izzy Johnston (star of Wild and FHM)
- William Ifor Jones (Conductor and Organist)
- Freddy Kempf (pianist)
- Myleene Klass (former Hear'Say member, broadcaster and pianist) Junior Academy
- Philip Langridge
- Annie Lennox
- Karel Mark Chichon (Conductor)
- Felicity Lott (soprano)
- Nicola Loud (violinist)
- Moura Lympany (pianist)
- David Martin
- Joanna MacGregor (pianist)
- Gabriela Montero (pianist)
- Philip Mortimer (violinist)
- Michael Nyman (composer)
- Miguel-Angel Munoz (pianist)
- Denise Orme
- Paul Patterson (composer)
- Peter Pettinger (pianist and teacher)
- Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)
- Augusta Read Thomas (composer)
- David Sanger (organist)
- Arthur Sullivan
- Martino Tirimo (pianist)
- Anne-Sophie Bertrand (harp)
- Eva Turner (soprano)
- Maxim Vengerov (Violinist) Junior Academy
- Christopher Warren-Green (conductor)
- Ian Watkins
- Henry Wood
[edit] Notable past and present teachers
- Kenneth Amis (International Brass Chair)
- Professor Simon Bainbridge (Head of Composition)
- Sir John Barbirolli
- Joshua Bell (Violin — Visiting Professor)
- William Bennett (Flute)
- Sir Harrison Birtwistle (Composition)
- Barbara Bonney (Opera — Visiting Professor)
- Ian Bousfield (Trombone — Visiting Professor)
- Keith Bragg (Piccolo, Head of Woodwind)
- Zakhar Bron (Professor of Violin)
- Daniel Bruggen (Recorder)
- Jack Brymer (Clarinet)
- Colin Carr (Cello)
- Simon Carrington (Timpani)
- Laurence Cummings (Head of Historical Performance)
- Sir Colin Davis (International Chair of Orchestral Studies)
- Professor Christopher Elton (Head of Keyboard)
- Ian Fountain (Piano)
- Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood (Vice-Principal and Director of Studies)
- John Gardner (composer) CBE (Composition)
- Nicolai Gedda (Opera — Visiting Professor)
- Dr Amanda Glauert (Head of Research)
- Clio Gould (Violin and ensembles)
- Michael Head (Professor of Pianoforte)
- Mary Hammond (Head of Musical Theatre)
- Maurice Hasson (Violin)
- Christopher Hogwood (Consultant Visiting Professor)
- Peter Holtslag (Recorder)
- Stephen Hough (Visiting Professor of Piano)
- Audrey Hyland (Vocal Coach)
- Yuko Inoue (Professor of Viola)
- Skaila Kanga (Head of Harp)
- Lutz Kohler (Principal guest conductor)
- Jerzy Kosmala (Visiting Professor of Viola)
- Anthony Legge (Director of Opera)
- Michael Lewin (Head of Guitar)
- Joanna MacGregor (Piano)
- Duncan McTier (Head of Double bass)
- Andrew Marriner (Visiting Professor of Clarinet)
- Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (Composition)
- Colin Metters (Head of Conducting)
- Anne-Sophie Mutter (Head of International Violin Studies)
- Owen Murray (Head of Classical Accordion)
- Dennis O'Neill (Visiting Professor of Opera)
- Jonathan Papp (Vocal Coach)
- Paul Patterson (Manson Chair of Composition)
- György Pauk (Ede Zathureczsky Professor of Violin) Naxos Website
- Neil Percy (Percussion)
- Gerard Presencer (Head of Jazz)
- David Pyatt (French Horn — Visiting Professor)
- John Ramster (Drama Lecturer)
- Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (Composition — Visiting Professor)
- Martin Roscoe (Piano)
- Patrick Russill (Head of Choral Conducting)
- Tanya Sarkissova (Piano)
- Alexander Satz (Visiting Professor of Piano)
- Robert Saxton (Head of Composition)
- Paul Silverthorne (Viola)
- Martin Speake (Saxophone)
- David Strange (Cello, Head of Strings)
- Jeremy Summerly (Head of Academic Studies)
- Robert Tear (Opera — Visiting Professor)
- David Titterington (Head of Organ)
- Patsy Toh (Piano)
- Mark van de Wiel (Clarinet)
- Maxim Vengerov (Violin)
- Richard Watkins (French Horn)
- James Watson (Trumpet, Head of Brass)
- Mark Wildman (Head of Vocal Studies)
- John Williams (Guitar — Visiting Professor)
- Sir Henry Wood (Head of Conducting)
- Brian May (Guitar)
In 1999, the Academy became a full member of the largest British university, the University of London.
[edit] York Gate Collections
York Gate was designed in 1822 as part of the main entrance to Regent’s Park, and was an important feature in John Nash’s architectural designs for Regency London. The interior of York Gate was largely destroyed by bomb damage in the 1940s, but the Nash exterior has Grade 1 listed building status. The Royal Academy of Music moved to Marylebone Road in 1911, and held a lease on part of York Gate during the 1920s and 1930s. A major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Academy to acquire and refurbish the building to house studios and practice rooms and the Academy's museum, The York Gate Collections.
The Royal Academy of Music has a collection of more than 200 stringed instruments from the violin family. These have been acquired for the benefit of students and recent leavers and they are maintained in playing order by the Academy's resident luthier and include several Stradivari, Amatis and Guarneris The galleries display materials from the Academy’s collections of instruments, archives, manuscripts and images. The York Gate galleries are also considered a 'living museum', acting as a showcase for the work of performers, composers, instrument makers and scholars from a wide range of musical and other relevant disciplines.
Other Collections: Foyle Menuhin archive, Jenny Lind (1820-1887) Collection, David Munrow (1942-1976)Collection, the Priaulx Rainier (1903-1986) Collection and The McCann Collection.
In the summer of 2006, the "Academy Chimes Music" shop was opened to the public. The shop sells mostly music scores, but also strings, tuners, postcards and bits and bobs.
[edit] External links
| Recognized bodies of the University of London | |
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Birkbeck | Courtauld Institute of Art | Central School of Speech and Drama | Goldsmiths | Heythrop | Imperial | Institute of Cancer Research | Institute of Education | King's | London Business School | LSE | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine | Queen Mary | Royal Academy of Music | Royal Holloway | Royal Veterinary College | St George's | SOAS | School of Pharmacy | UCL |
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| Listed bodies | |
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University of London Institute in Paris | School of Advanced Study | University Marine Biological Station, Millport |
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