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#RWCMDCreative: Autumnal highlights

24 November 2022

The nights may be drawing in but at RWCMD the creativity remains undimmed.

Grab yourself a cup of cocoa and settle down to some autumnal cheer with our roundup of some of the many creative highlights from our students and graduates over the last few months: 

It was World Mental Health Day this month, and Ben Cowley, our Assistant Mental Health Advisor , who was awarded an MBE in this year’s Queen’s honours, was invited by the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Royal Foundation to share his experience of working with young people on BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat. He then went on BBC Radio Wales to talk about his work with mental health that earned him his honour. 

We’re so proud of Ben for having such an impact on mental health, and that RWCMD is a part of that.

We’re also delighted to be one of Music Teacher magazines ‘wellbeing partners,’ with our very own Director of MusicTim Rhys-Evans launching the series for this year. Tim’s personal and insightful reflections highlight the importance of music and its positive impact on our mental health.

Look out for our upcoming articles, coming next year in Music Teacher and online, featuring the amazing work that both the student services and the SU do to support our wellbeing at the College.

Working with the legends: Ian Mckellen & Shakespeare 

Our second year actors worked with the living legend that is Sir Ian McKellen last month, when he came to judge our new Shakespeare prize. He put them through their bardic paces, helping them to connect creatively with the Shakespearian language and bring it to a 21st century audience.

Our five finalists share their thoughts on geeking out on Shakespeare with the multi-award winning actor in our latest blog post.

The play’s the thing: Shakespeare prize & working with Ian McKellen

Pob lwc to all of them for the final in London next year, to be judged again by Sir Ian.

Some of our acting grads were back in the heart of New York’s theatreland in September, performing their showcase off-Broadway for our friends and RWCMD Fellows Kate Burton, Matthew Rhys, and other industry guests.

 

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And we welcomed acting student Johnathan Georgiou to his first term training at College with the wonderful news that he was the first student training at a Welsh college to be awarded ITV’s prestigious Tony Warren bursary award. 

https://twitter.com/RWCMD/status/1575062629831573504

We look forward to seeing Johnathan in our College productions over the next few years. 

 Another busy year for stage managers

It’s been a particularly busy few months for stage management grad Charlotte Dukes. She started the year working as Assistant Stage Manager(ASM)/ Book Cover (covering the Deputy Stage Manager) on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe UK and Ireland tour before heading to Regent’s Park to work on 101 Dalmations.

She’s just finished as ASM on the Peaky Blinders The Redemption of Thomas Shelby tour at Birmingham and Wembley with Rambert Dance. And has moved straight on to working as ASM and 2nd Book Cover (covering the Book Cover) on the musical Newsies at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. From January she’s working at the new theatre on Medea at Soho Place.

Charlotte in the wings of 101 Dalmations about to set some props in a scene change. Credit Mark Senior

We’re just glad she had time to stop and tell us about it all.

Our friends at Black Rat have visited College again, this time with a production of Invisible Man. As ever the cast and creatives include a plethora of RWCMD grads, including stage manager Charly Brookman, lighting designer Robin Bainbridge, actor Sam Jones, and also our Director of Drama Sean Crowley.

The arts of making theatre

International Chair in Drama and one of the pre-eminent designers both in the UK and internationally, Pamela Howard OBE has kindly donated the collection of her life’s work to the College. The Art of Making Theatre exhibition showcase this amazing work at the College earlier this month.

Diolch yn fawr, Pamela for your generous gift to us and future generations of designers.

Musical Mornings

Sit back and relax for your morning treat: last month Royal Harpist and graduate Alis Huws welcomed the nation to their This Morning viewing, playing the well-recognised opening theme to the TV show.

https://twitter.com/RWCMD/status/1584499340818939904

And not to be outdone, musical theatre grad Levi Johnson joined in the fun with the cast from The Choir of Man. 

Sir Geraint Evans scholarship

Congratulations to Edward Kim, the very first RWCMD Sir Geraint Evans centenary scholar.

South Korean baritone, Edward who joined the David Seligman Opera School in 2021, performed at Not a Bad Voice, an event to celebrate the centenary of Sir Geraint Evans, alongside fellow RWCMD students.

This new scholarship is awarded in Sir Geraint’s name to inspire future singers. Sir Geraint was President of the College when he died in 1992.

Composition news

Congrats to composition grad Derri Lewis who’s been nominated for the Ivors Composer Awards Community and Participation Award for his piece, Something Exciting. 

https://twitter.com/RWCMD/status/1583424237716414464

Exciting times indeed!

And in more composition news, we’ll be celebrating Christmas with beautiful music created by our composition elves, in the College’s ‘back garden,’ the Bute park Christmas light trail (see our featured image).

https://twitter.com/xmasatbutepark/status/1582304540635717633

Keep an eye on our instagram for Christmassy photos and updates.

 A Whirlwind of music

Our building was a blur of music and activity with the Whirlwinds festival, a celebration of woodwind, led by head of dept Robert Plane and featuring internationally acclaimed artists, students and community events.

Graduate and RWCMD tutor Mark David Boden’s work was also premiered at the festival:

Focus on Welsh music

Llongyfs to our graduates competing in the final of the Welsh Singer competition, to represent Wales in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World next year. Out of the five finalists, three are RWCMD grads: Osian Wyn Bowen, Jessica Robinson and Kieron-Connor Valentine.

RWCMD strings students played alongside the professional players, with RWCMD Conductor in Residence David Jones conducting and accompanied by graduate David Doidge.

The final will be broadcast on S4C later this year. We’ll keep you posted.

And bringing the Welsh music home, our strings students have been working with Welsh traditional musician, composer and arranger, Patrick Rimes and Welsh folk band Vri, giving students an intensive taster in the art of string playing in traditional music.

https://twitter.com/RWCMD/status/1587440158772760578

There’s still time to see our Windrush Cymru exhibition, celebrating Black and Welsh history until 30th November.

Race Council Cymru’s Windrush Cymru – Our Voices, Our Stories, Our History captures the stories of the Elders of the Windrush Generation, ensuring that these stories are shared and ‘our legacies are not forgotten.’

https://twitter.com/rcccymru/status/1589555230844264449

Don’t forget to follow us on instagram, facebook and twitter. And now also TikTok. Here’s one of our recent tik tok Thursday posts, featuring the scenic construction team and our amazing studios at Llanishen:

@rwcmdofficial Welcome to #RWCMD Llanishen Studios Croeso I Stiwdio Llanishen #CBCDC #RWCMDDesign #dramaschool #workshop #stagedesign #scenicconstruction #workshoplife #designers #designstudios #theatredesign #setdesign #creatingart #artworld #painting #setup ♬ Blinding Lights – Instrumental – The Weeknd

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