For the Academic Year 2025/26

We are inviting chamber music ensembles to apply for the Nina Drucker Quartet Fellowship, designed to enable talented string quartets to rehearse intensively and launch their career. Only existing quartets who have both the potential and ambition to function at the highest professional level and contribute meaningfully to the Academy community will be considered for a Fellowship. The value of the fellowship is £40,000 to be shared equally among the members of the quartet.

Chamber Music Fellowships support career development but also require an ensemble to invest back into the Academy for the benefit of students. Ensembles will have access to internal and external performance opportunities with a range of Academy partners. These include the Academy Chamber Music Festival, national festivals, concert series and other prominent venues. Ensembles are expected to participate in Academy performance platforms and to support chamber activity across the Academy.

Applications should be submitted by email to Louisa Rosi at lrosi@ram.ac.uk with the subject line:

Nina Drucker Quartet Fellowship, [name of your quartet].

Important Dates

Deadline for Applications
Monday 2 December 2024, 5pm

Live Auditions
Week c/o 27 January 2025

Applications should include:

  • A CV for the group, including information about who you have received coaching from, any performances, and any experience of this sort of role. Please outline the ensemble’s web presence and attachments of, or links to any recordings (including unlisted/private YouTube/Vimeo videos etc.).
  • Repertoire list and a minimum of three sample programmes.
  • A short statement outlining your plans and aspirations for the future, the ways in which you see the Fellowship as contributing to your development and what benefits you would bring to the Academy community.
  • Contact details (email and telephone) of the main contact for the ensemble.
  • Availability restrictions for your audition on the week c/o 27 January 2025.

You should be prepared to perform one movement of a significant String Quartet (max. 10 minutes) at the live auditions. Please include any availability restrictions for this time period with your application.

The Nina Drucker Quartet Fellowship is named in memory of Nina Drucker, who was a Junior Academy piano student from 1945-1951 and left a generous gift to the Academy in her will.

As a Fellow, you will be an employee of the Academy and will be paid through the Academy payroll. Each Fellowship is payable in two instalments in October 2025 and March 2026, in line with the Academy’s monthly payroll dates which are available on the Intranet. All payments are made to a UK bank account and are subject to deductions in respect of income tax and National Insurance where applicable. These payments can only be made once all necessary paperwork has been completed and may be delayed if the relevant forms are not submitted.

Fellows whose total gross earnings are less than the personal allowance (£12,570 for financial year 2024/2025) may reclaim their tax contributions at the end of the tax year by contacting HM Revenue and Customs.

All Academy appointments are subject to permission to work in the UK. All members of the ensemble must hold a valid visa to work in the UK by the start date of the Fellowship (September 2025) in order to take up the position. If the relevant visa requirements for all members are not in place by this date, the Fellowship offer for the ensemble may be withdrawn. It will not be possible to substitute any member of the ensemble after the audition due to visa issues or other reasons. Evidence of permission to work in the UK will need to be provided to Human Resources in advance of the start date of the Fellowship. Further information on the right to work in the UK is available from the Human Resources Department, hr@ram.ac.uk.

Please contact Louisa Rosi if you have any queries regarding this.

Academy Fellowships represent an opportunity for individual students or ensembles to contribute to the educational and musical life of the Academy and to use their time as Fellows to develop and further their own professional careers. Individual Fellows will have specific ideas about how they can best use their talents within departments or across the Academy as a whole, and a broad outline of activities will be agreed in advance with the Deputy Principal and the Head of Strings.

Professor Timothy Jones
Deputy Principal