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Minister Visits Royal Welsh College’s Junior Conservatoire

19 November 2016

Cabinet Secretary for Education Kirsty Williams today visited the Royal Welsh College’s Junior Conservatoire.

She spent the morning talking to staff and students, visiting lessons, and listening to the Junior Conservatoire’s talented young performers who show exceptional promise in music and drama

Each weekend, over 450 young musicians and actors travel to the College from south Wales and the south west of England to receive a wide-ranging and intensive programme of training.

Visiting a junior jazz ensemble lesson

Kirsty Williams visited music classes during her visit, including a junior jazz ensemble lesson 

The Junior Conservatoire – which celebrates its 20th birthday this year – connects students with highly specialist tuition and enables them to share their experiences with other young people with similar interests and goals.

It forms a part of the wider work of the National Conservatoire’s provision for young people, which includes an outreach programme that reaches 10,000 school children each year.

“As the National Conservatoire of Wales, a vital part of our role is to identify young people with exceptional talent and potential in the arts and to make sure that they can receive specialist support from an early age.

We’re looking for young people who are passionate about making music or acting”, says Principal Hilary Boulding. “In a country like Wales where performance is celebrated and so much a part of the national culture, we have a great opportunity to help our young people to truly fulfil their potential.”

Kirsty Williams said, “The Royal Welsh College occupies a unique place in our higher education sector, being the National Conservatoire of Wales, as well as in Welsh public life.

It is vital that Wales continues to benefit from high quality performing arts courses as these skills are crucial to the success of our creative industries and to our cultural life in general.

“I am grateful to Hilary and the team for the invite and for treating me to such a wonderful performance by the Junior Conservatoire which celebrates its 20th year this year. Here’s to many many more.”

All of the students who study at the Junior Conservatoire go on to higher education, many the first in their family to do so.

Listening to sound

Kirsty Williams listens to sound installations inspired by design students paintings in the College’s Linbury Gallery

To make it easier for more young people to receive support locally, The Royal Welsh College recently opened a branch of its Young Actors Studio in Pembrokeshire, generously supported by local employer Valero.

The College offers an extensive bursary programme that ensures that every child with outstanding potential is able to access the training offered by the National Conservatoire of Wales.

The main image features 14 year old harpist Huw Boucher.

Editors Notes

Former students of the Junior Conservatoire include

Anne Denholm, Official Harpist to HRH the Prince of Wales

Rachel Starritt joined the Junior Conservatoire when she was ten, passed her Grade 8 Piano examination at 14, and is now in her third year of an undergraduate degree at the National Conservatoire. Born blind, Rachel is the first blind student to study a music degree here at RWCMD, and hopes to have a career as a concert pianist. In the past year, she has performed the great solo piano role of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and featured in Channel 4’s Paralympic Games We are the Superhumans trailer.

Jenny Porton from Cardiff was one of the first students to join the Junior Conservatoire. She went on to study at the Royal College of Music and the Mozarteum in Salzburg before completing a MMus degree at RWCMD. Jennie now enjoys a varied career as a performer, teacher and researcher. She performs regularly with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera and the BBC Nationa lOrchestra of Wales. She holds teaching positions with Cardiff University and – coming full circle – RWCMD’s Junior Conservatoire.