The Board of Directors of Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor George Caird as interim Principal. With current Principal Hilary Boulding moving to become President of Trinity College, Oxford, Professor Caird will take up the post in September 2017.
A spokesperson for the Board said: “George Caird brings a wealth of experience as an educational leader and an accomplished musician. We are confident that this appointment will enable the College to further enhance its artistic and educational reputation, contributing to the arts and creative industries both in Wales and internationally.”
In a career spanning 40 years, George Caird has emerged as one of the most highly respected voices in advocacy for the creative and performing arts. Since 1970, Professor Caird has combined a career as an oboist with his work in education, firstly teaching and later in senior posts in British and Dutch conservatoires.
George was appointed as an oboe professor at the Royal Academy of Music before becoming Head of Woodwind there in 1987. From 1993 to 2010 he was Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire and from 2011 to 2016, the Director of Classical Music at Codarts, Rotterdam.
Professor Caird said: “I am honoured to be asked to take up the post of interim Principal of the Royal Welsh College and to work with staff and students of the College in the months ahead. I have followed the College’s development in recent years with admiration and hope to be able to contribute to its work until the permanent Principal is in place.”
“We are delighted that the leadership of the Royal Welsh College will be in his eminently safe hands while we undertake the selection of a permanent Principal, who we expect to take up post in 2018,” said the Board’s spokesperson.
For more information contact press@rwcmd.ac.uk
Editors notes
A graduate of Peterhouse, Cambridge, George Caird studied the oboe with Janet Craxton and Evelyn Barbirolli at the Royal Academy of Music, and at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie.
With extensive experience of performing with many of London’s major orchestras and as a former member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, George has also been a member of a number of leading ensembles, notably the Vega Wind Quintet, the Caird Oboe Quartet and as a founder-member of The Albion Ensemble.
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, the National Conservatoire of Wales, and part of the University of South Wales Group, operates within its international peer group of conservatoires and specialist arts colleges. Its young artists drawn from around 30 countries to provide a constant flow of emerging talent into the music and theatre industries and related professions.
In June 2011, the College opened new £22.5 million performance and rehearsal spaces. The world-class facilities include the Richard Burton Theatre, the Linbury Gallery, foyer performance space, rehearsal studios and the Dora Stoutzker Hall.
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama was recently ranked No.1 in the Guardian University Guide’s subject tables for Drama – the third time it has taken the top spot in the past five years.
In Music the College scored highly for its graduate employment record, and was the only conservatoire outside London to achieve more than 90% of graduates employed within six months.
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