Alumni

Academy alumni permeate all areas of the music profession, and lead the way in concert halls, opera houses and theatres across the globe. We are hugely proud of the breadth and diversity of their careers, and the significant contribution our alumni make to the music profession and beyond.

Our relationship with former students is lifelong and everyone who attended Senior or Junior Academy is a member of our alumni community.

Stay in touch

We are here to help you stay connected with the Academy and your fellow alumni. If you studied at the Academy, make sure to update your contact details through our Online Alumni Portal to receive our e-newsletter, Alumni News.

We love to hear from you – send us your news, updates or just say hello at alumni@ram.ac.uk.

Alumni Updates

28 April 2021

Stephanie Wake-Edwards

Singing, 2019

Finalist in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021.

28 April 2021

Michael Rakotoarivony

Singing, 2018

Finalist in BBC Cardiff Singer of the Year 2021.

28 April 2021

Sarah Gilford

Singing, 2019

Finalist in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021.

28 April 2021

Christina Gansch

Singing, 2014

Finalist in BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021.

26 April 2021

Martin Suckling

Composition, 2010

Released new album This Departing Landscape on NMC Recordings.

26 April 2021

Chloé van Soeterstède

Viola, 2014

Featured as a guest on the podcast a mic on the podium with Michael Seal.

26 April 2021

David Shewchuk

Violin, 2015

Released a debut album Sympathetic Vibrations.

26 April 2021

Alex Roth

Jazz Guitar, 2013

Released his debut single Snowy Night in collaboration with alumna Catriona Price (Violin, 2012).

26 April 2021

Kris Reeder

Bass Trombone, 2005

Recognised as one of 25 artists who have engineered the cultural transformation of British jazz over the past four decades in a book by David Burke entitled Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz.

26 April 2021

Alex Paxton

Composition, 2014

Released new album Music for Bosch People on Birmingham Record Company.

26 April 2021

Ian Mitchell

Clarinet, 1970

Directed the chamber ensemble Gemini in their latest recording entitled for clarinet and strings. Performing on the recording are several familiar Academy names including Yuko Inoue (viola professor), Jo Cole (Head of Strings) and Caroline Balding (Violin, 1985).

26 April 2021

Steven Fox

Choral Conducting, 2004

Chorus master on the record that won Best Classical Solo Vocal album at the Grammys.

26 April 2021

Jo Harris

Trumpet, 2005

Recorded Enter Ghost by Judith Bingham.

26 April 2021

Jacob Collier

Jazz Piano, 2018

Won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for the second year running.

26 April 2021

Trish Clowes

Jazz Saxophone, 2007

Appointed an Associate Artist by Wigmore Hall for a five-year period.

26 April 2021

Andrew Bateup

Musical Theatre, 2012

Reached the semi-finals of The Voice UK.

26 April 2021

Helen Astrid

Singing, 1988

Set up Opera Live at Home, a performance platform for singers and their accompanists that gives the audience a unique opportunity to engage with the artists at the end of each performance.

29 March 2021

Magdalena Hoffmann

Harp, 2012

Signed to Deutsche Grammophon and will release her debut album for the label in January 2022.

05 February 2021

Isata Kanneh-Mason

Piano, 2020

Winner of the 2021 Leonard Bernstein Award by the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

01 February 2021

Freddie de Tommaso

Singing, 2018

Signed to Decca Classics with his debut album Passione to be released in April.

18 December 2020

David Todd

Choral Conducting, 2015

Appointed Studienleiter and Kapellmeister at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, Germany.

15 December 2020

Milly Forrest

Singing, 2017

Winner of the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize at the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Award competition.

15 December 2020

Ella Taylor

Singing, 2018

Won second prize at the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Award competition.

08 December 2020

Benjamin Grosvenor

Piano, 2012

Recording of the Chopin concerti for Decca Classics has been awarded a Diapason d’or de l’année 2020 in the concerto category.

08 December 2020

Kieran Carrel

Singing, 2019

Won second prize at Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin.

02 December 2020

Philip Venables

Composition, 2013

His opera, Denis & Katya, won the Stage Works category at the Ivors Composer Awards 2020.

02 December 2020

Gareth Moorcraft

Composition, 2015

His work for solo alto recorder, Diaries of the Early Worm, won the Solo or Duo category at the Ivors Composer Awards 2020.

02 December 2020

Robin Haigh

Composition, 2013

His work for chamber orchestra, Grin, won the Chamber Orchestral category at The Ivors composer award 2020.

24 November 2020

Eleanor Corr

Violin, 2017

Awarded the Gold medal at the 2020 ROSL Annual Music Competition final.

16 November 2020

Brian Giebler

Singing - Tenor, 2009

Debut solo album, A Lad's Love, released on Bridge Records.

16 November 2020

Robert Szymanek

Composition, 2012

Released new album We’re Done For (And Other Responses).

11 November 2020

Aaron Holloway-Nahum

Composition, 2007

Riot Ensemble have been awarded the Ernst von Siemens Ensemble Prize.

10 November 2020

Carol Williams

Organ, 1986

Recently appointed Organist in Residence and Choir Director at St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlottesville, Parish to the University of Virginia.

10 November 2020

Michael Butten

Guitar, 2016

Winner of the 2020/21 Musicians' Company's New Elizabethan Award for guitarists and lutenists.

30 October 2020

Bartosz Jakubczak

Organ, 2003

Appointed Professor at Frederic Chopin University of Music, Warsaw.

30 October 2020

Anne Marsden Thomas

Organ, 1974

New book The New Oxford Organ Method, jointly authored with Frederick Stocken, has been published by Oxford University Press.

30 October 2020

Brian Mark

Composition, 2016

Awarded the Mozaik Philanthropy Future Art Awards prize for his multimedia video installation piece Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free which was written in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA.

28 October 2020

Quintin Beer

Choral Conducting, 2019

Appointed Director of Music of St Peter's College, University of Oxford.

22 October 2020

John Smith OBE

Tuba, 1971

Awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2020.

21 October 2020

Jacqueline Leung

Piano, 2005

Released solo album That's the Berries! New York Nights featuring music by Gershwin, Florence Price and Samuel Barber.

19 October 2020

Prof Graham Johnson OBE FRAM

Piano, 1973

Published biography of Francis Poulenc, Poulenc: The Life in Songs.

19 October 2020

Edmund Reid MBE

Violin, 1958

Awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2020.

19 October 2020

Nicholas Daniel OBE FRAM

Oboe, 1983

Awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2020.

19 October 2020

Diana Golden

Cello, 2010

New album, Tanbou Kache, released on New Focus Recordings.

08 September 2020

Sarah Gait

Cello, 2019

Won the Digital Creative Award at the ISA Digital Festival in Vienna for her work Heroes: the Shadows of a Tragic Mind.

04 September 2020

Roderick Elms

Piano, 1973

Published mini-autobiography Just a Little from the Top.

04 September 2020

Edward Gregson

Composition, 1967

New recording Complete Music for Solo Piano by Edward Gregson, performed by Murray McLachlan, released on Naxos.

01 September 2020

Kyeong jin Lee

Cello, 2016

Appointed Vice Principal Cello of the Korean Symphony Orchestra.

18 August 2020

Jonny Liebeck

Organ, 2014

Debut album Mellow Mind released in August 2020.

17 August 2020

Adriana Ivelisse

Musical Theatre, 2019

Nominated in the category of 'Best Performer in a Musical' for The Stage Debut Awards for her performance as Maria in West Side Story at The Curve, Leicester.

05 August 2020

Amelia Conway-Jones

Violin, 2010

Curated Many Voices on a Theme of Isolation, an album raising funds for Help Musicians, featuring 18 artists including Academy professor Rachel Podger. The campaign has raised over £24,000 for musicians in need.

23 July 2020

Alexandra Oomens

Singing - Soprano (Opera), 2019

Selected to join the ENO's Harewood Artists programme.

23 July 2020

Ruta Vitkauskaite

Composition, 2018

Selected for the 2020-21 RPS composer programme.

23 July 2020

Jonathan Woolgar

Composition, 2016

Selected for the 2020-21 RPS composer programme.

23 July 2020

James B. Wilson

Composition, 2012

Selected for the 2020-21 RPS composer programme.

23 July 2020

Alex Paxton

Composition, 2014

Selected for the 2020-21 RPS composer programme.

17 July 2020

Nigel Foster

Piano Accompaniment, 1986

Featured on new recording of David Lewiston Sharpe's 60-minute song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano, In the Tavern of Sweet Songs.

16 July 2020

Paolo Zanzu

Harpsichord, 2008

New solo album, Bach: The English Suites BWV 806-811, released on Musica Ficta.

15 July 2020

Julia Sinani

Piano Accompaniment, 2017

New album of French repertoire for violin and piano, Les Saisons Françaises, released on Stone Records.

09 July 2020

Sarah Tandy

Jazz Piano, 2011

Won the Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

08 July 2020

Finnegan Downie Dear

Piano Accompaniment, 2013

Awarded 1st prize at the 2020 Mahler International Conducting Competition.

25 June 2020

Eleanor Corr

Violin, 2017

Overall winner of the Strings Section Prize in the 68th ROSL Annual Music Competition.

25 June 2020

Grace Farrell

Musical Theatre, 2018

Cast in world premiere of Orfeus: A House Music Opera at the Young Vic.

25 June 2020

Kate Oswin

Violin, 2016

Selected to join the London Philharmonic Orchestra 1st violin section.

25 June 2020

Ben Hulme

Horn, 2019

Appointed Principal Horn of the BBC Philharmonic.

25 June 2020

Vikki Stone

Musical Theatre, 2004

New musical #zooilogicalsociety released as online album, due to be staged later in 2020.

25 June 2020

Michael Rakotoarivony

Singing (Baritone/Bass), 2018

Accepted on the 2020 Salzburger Festspiele Young Singer's Programme and joining the studio of the Vienna State Opera for two years from September 2020.

25 June 2020

Alex Paxton

Composition, 2014

Winner of the Small Ensemble Dankworth Composition Prize.

25 June 2020

Robin Davis

Piano Accompaniment, 2008

Appointed General Music Director at the Pforzheim Theatre, in Baden-Württemberg, starting in September 2020.

25 June 2020

Peter Noble

Singing (Tenor), 1997

Won the 'Best Mystery' Audie award for his audiobook narration of The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup.

25 June 2020

Valentina Peleggi

Conducting, 2014

Appointed Music Director of the Richmond Symphony in Virginia, USA.

25 June 2020

Alex Roth

Jazz Guitar, 2013

Orchestral piece Bone Palace Ballet, written for the London Symphony Orchestra, featured on the new CD Panufnik Legacies III released on LSO Live.

25 June 2020

David Jonies

Organ, 2004

Appointed Director of Music and Organist at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, USA.

25 June 2020

Konrad Elias-Trostmann

Violin, 2012

Released a new CD, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Complete Trios, with the Linos Piano Trio.

25 June 2020

Iain Farrington

Piano Accompaniment, 2001

Commissioned by BBC Proms to write a unique First Night arrangement for a Grand Virtual Orchestra to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.

25 June 2020

Alexandra Scott

Double Bass, 2004

Appointed Professor of Double Bass, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Munich.

01 March 2020

Samantha Fernando

Composition, 2009

One of seven composers commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to write a movement of an a cappella work for choir entitled Seven Ages of Woman, broadcast on International Women's Day.

01 March 2020

Des Oliver

Composition, 2001

New piece The Diasporic Quartets to recieve it's world premiere at LSO in April (postponed).

01 March 2020

Roshani Abbey

Musical Theatre, 2019

Cast in the ensemble of Bring It On The Musical tour.

01 March 2020

Midori Komachi

Violin, 2013

Appointed a Musician in Residence with the British Council and PRS Foundation and will undertake a residency in Brazil in spring 2020, collaborating with a youth orchestra, brass band and local musicians.

01 February 2020