Term highlights
“One of the distinct pleasures of a London Sunday... the Royal Academy of Music’s monthly series of Bach cantatas”Country Life
For the majority of our students, the events of the final term of the academic year are focused around exams and recitals — over 600 of them!
Framing them is a full spread of performances, masterclasses, discussions, prizes and so on, which continue to reveal the unique range of our activities and our commitment to providing the best opportunities we can for students and audiences.
We are confident that — no matter what your musical tastes — you will discover something here which offers both entertainment and enlightenment.
Some of the many highlights for the term ahead include:
— Masterclasses with renowned international soloists including our new Menuhin Professor of Music, Maxim Vengerov, as well as Nobuko Imai, Richard Goode, Barbara Bonney and many more, along with principal players of the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Orchestre National de France
— Collaborations with and visits to Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Spitalfields Music, Kings Place, London Handel Festival, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Southwark Cathedral, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Pizza Express, Wilton’s Music Hall, The Forge and Jermyn Street Theatre
— Further performances in the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantatas series, which was recently described in the press as ‘becoming something of a London cult’
— Elgar Howarth conducts a semi-staged Royal Academy Opera performance of Strauss’s Prologue to Ariadne auf Naxos, as part of our ‘free on Fridays’ lunchtime concert series
— Semyon Bychkov conducts Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, also in the ‘free on Fridays’ series
— Royal Academy Opera presents the first London production of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park
— Rachel Podger directs the Academy Baroque Orchestra at Wigmore Hall
— Our end-of-year musical theatre productions are The Pajama Game and Promises, Promises, as well as a cabaret
— The Academy’s Museum reopens on 25th April after vital refurbishment work across all three galleries. A new temporary exhibition, investigating our connections with Charles Dickens (his sister was one of the first students here in 1822) and with Victorian musical life in general, will open on 2nd May
— Our annual Weekend Vocal Workout, an intensive course for singers of any background
There is much more than we have space to include here: please check at www.ram.ac.uk/events for details about all our other events, especially lunchtime and early evening concerts.
At the Academy we thrive in our culture of quality and creative energy where — together with our dedicated community of supporters — we explore exceptional and diverse musicmaking. I hope you will want to join us, and feel part of this friendly and invigorating place.
Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
Principal
