Back to RWCMD main site

#RWCMDCreative: May Highlights

26 May 2022

As our Summer term really gets underway, we’ve put together just a few of the many amazing things that have been happening in the RWCMD community over the last month.

Don’t forget to follow #RWCMDCreative on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and now TikTok, to keep up to date with all the brilliant stuff out there.

Atmospheres ’22

Atmospheres, our annual new music festival, featured an eclectic mix of world premieres from RWCMD composers, and showcased the College’s spirit of enterprise, collaboration and creativity.

There were so many amazing performances, but here’s a taster:

And look out for a blog coming up covering Atmospheres behind the scenes.

Head of Composition John Hardy talked to Music Teacher magazine about the festival, but also gave his advice on how to inspire young people to discover composing:

Atmospheres was also featured on BBC Radio Wales Arts Show, with composition student Ella Roberts and John Hardy talking about the composition course, and the joy of collaborating as composers.

Listen to the interview here:

Collaboration: The Matsena Brothers working with RWCMD

The Matsena Brothers joined Ella and John on the Arts Show, talking about their new performance Shades of Blue, which they performed at the College after its critically-acclaimed premiere at Sadlers Wells in London.

The BBC doc, Brothers in Dance, followed Anthony and Kel as they created this incredible, ground-breaking performance, bringing dancers together to shout about the injustices of the world.

It also talked about their collaborations with the College, where they put ‘the Matsena spin’ on our production of Dream, co-directed and adapted by RWCMD Director of Drama Performance Jonathan Munby.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by RWCMD (@rwcmd)

They talk to some of the acting students about working with Anthony and Kel, as well as to RWCMD Head of Movement, Struan Leslie (from 44.01 in the video).

Working Together to Strengthen Music in Society

Principal Helena Gaunt’s recent ground-breaking work, leading research on how to best train our musicians for the future, enriching the diversity and complexity of societies and making a difference, provided the focus for discussions at the Strengthening Music in Society conference in London in December. Helena shared her thoughts on this work, writing with Profesor John Sloboda of Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and published in Arts Professional:

Design news

Design for Performance grad Elin Steele has designed the set for Sherman Theatre’s A Hero of the People, featuring RWCMD grad Suzanne Packer, which opened this month.

She’s also received a rave review in The Guardian for her set for Scottish Ballet’s new production of The Scandal at Mayerling, currently touring Scotland: ‘All the action is held by a stunning set design from Elin Steele’

And huge congrats to another Design grad – and Olivier Award nominee – Gabriella Slade, who’s is for a prestigious Tony Award for her sensational designs for the smash-hit musical, Six:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by RWCMD (@rwcmd)

Music news

Prizes and Awards

Llongyfarchiadau to Stoutzker Prize and Janet Price Opera Prize 2021 winner, MA Opera graduate Elena Zamudio who was selected to sing in the finals of the Ferrier competition at the Wigmore Hall.

This year’s Janet Price Prize was, as always, a wonderful celebration of voice, and congratulations to winner Erin Spence.

And of course, congratulations to Cory Band, our Brass Band in Residence on another huge win!

Well done to the Ivy Clarinet Quartet (Eleanor Kershaw, Catrin Davies, Emma Keskeys, Hannah Findlater), winners of the 2022 RWCMD Wind Plus Chamber Music Prize with a wonderful performance of Alfred Uhl’s Divertimento.

Huge thanks go to the sponsors, Jonathan Myall of Just Flutes and Ian Crowther of Crowther’s of Canterbury. We’re so very grateful for their support and look forward to welcoming them to College in person in 2023.

Don’t forget to check Hannah’s blog on all the great things that are going on with the Woodwind’s new Clarinet Club:

#RWCMDWoodwind: learning from the best

More woodwind news – grad Cameron Cullen made his Carnegie Hall debut with a standing ovation: 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by RWCMD (@rwcmd)

We’ve been chatting to Cam about this and will share his thoughts in a blog post soon.

In Jazz news, starting as he means to go on, first year jazz pianist Nils Kavanagh has won the Inaugural Young Irish Jazz Musician Award. We look forward to seeing what he does next!

Support for Student’s Mental Health

The focus for this year’s Mental Health Awareness month is Loneliness. Working with our Student Services Manager, Kate Williams we put together a blog post with some top tip on looking after your well-being, featuring our Director of Music Tim Rhys-Evans:

and Composition student Ella Roberts’ Field Recording Project:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by RWCMD (@rwcmd)

Find out more in the Mental Health Awareness Week blog:

Mental Health Awareness Week: Looking after your wellbeing

And lastly, we were saddened to hear that Eileen Price, our former Head of Vocal Studies, passed away this month, aged 94.

Eileen with MA Opera students Erin Spence and Rhydian Jenkins.

Last year we named the Stiwdio Eileen Price / The Eileen Price Studio in her honour, and thanks to her generosity, the Eileen Price McWilliam Fund will continue her passion for supporting young singers for many years to come by providing opera scholarships, her annual Lieder prize, and masterclasses with visiting artists.

MA Opera student, and winner of this year’s Janet Price Opera Prize, Erin Spence, received Eileen’s scholarship this academic year. She sang at Eileen’s funeral.

‘Eileen has been my biggest support, funding wise. I just remember, when we first met, she knew immediately that I was a soprano. She said I just looked like one. It was just so warm and welcoming, she was so lovely.

I wouldn’t be able to be here without her. Over the summer I worked flat out, more than full-time hours in a bar, and I’ve got a couple of external funding bodies to help me with fees, but because she’s contributed such a large amount, financially I wouldn’t be able to be here without here, so I owe her my place here.’

Diolch for all your kindness and generosity, Eileen.

And don’t forget to follow us on all our socials to find out more about #RWCMDCreative.

Related stories:

Meet Roy Williams: RWCMD’s Writer in Residence

Janet Price Opera Prize 2022