The Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood CBE, is delighted to announce a £30 million donation from philanthropist Mrs Aud Jebsen. The gift, the largest in its 203-year history and the biggest donation ever given to a conservatoire outside the USA, will be used to transform the Academy’s facilities. In recognition of Mrs Jebsen’s outstanding support, 1-5 York Gate, a large Nash-terrace building, part of the Academy’s main site on London’s Marylebone Road, will be named Aud Jebsen House.

The Grade II-listed Regency building will undergo major works over the next three years. The Academy’s Museum and Collections (home to a significant collection of prestigious string instruments – including world-renowned Stradivari – played by staff and students) will be reimagined. The transformation will include a complete, top-level acoustic refit of teaching, rehearsal and practice rooms ensuring students continue to prepare for the technical demands of a fast-evolving music industry.

The adjoining hall, currently known as the David Josefowitz Recital Hall, will also receive full internal reconfiguration to create a world-class venue, with refreshed acoustic treatment, interior design and audience facilities to match the Academy’s other public performance spaces. It will be named the Aud and Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Recital Hall, in honour of Mrs Jebsen and her late husband.

These works will further enhance the Academy’s Marylebone facilities, adding to the award-winning Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall which opened in 2018, and will complement the work underway to fit out an entirely new building for large-scale rehearsals and teaching in east London, due to open in early 2027. Last year, state-of-the-art composition and recording facilities were opened in the Academy’s Cross Keys Practice Centre off Marylebone High Street. These developments were only made possible by generous donors.

Wright & Wright Architects have been appointed to carry out the three-year project. They have recently completed significant work on cultural landmarks, including the British Museum, the British Academy and the Royal Opera House. Many of the practice’s projects are situated on sites of national or international importance, where they help clients reimagine and enhance their buildings to enrich the experience of visitors and users.

Chairman Sir Simon Robey said ‘the Academy could not wish for a more dedicated and extraordinary donor than Aud Jebsen. Her foresight and generosity will directly benefit the coming generations of the most talented musicians by providing them with exceptional facilities in which to develop their craft.’

Principal Jonathan Freeman-Attwood said ‘in recent years Mrs Jebsen has funded scholarships and endowed the Jebsen Visiting Professorship of Piano, both of which play a significant part in future-proofing the best teaching for our young musicians. This extraordinary gift will be game-changing in enabling us to bring our York Gate building up to the high standards set by the Susie Sainsbury Theatre and other important recent developments. Together they will further cement the Academy’s position as a global leader in music performance training.’

Mrs Jebsen is a UK-based philanthropist who has supported many music and dance-focussed arts organisations with generous gifts to the Royal Ballet School and Royal Ballet and Opera. A frequent attender at concerts, musical theatre and opera, she is committed to ensuring the next generation of talented artists are given every opportunity to succeed.

Aud Jebsen said ‘I believe in supporting the very best. Students need the best teachers, and they also need the finest spaces in which to explore and extend their musical potential. I am proud to support this outstanding organisation and to contribute to the life and prospects of its students. I feel so lucky that my late husband Kristian Gerhard’s extraordinary business life enables me to make this gift.’

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Notes for Editors

The Royal Academy of Music moves music forward by inspiring successive generations of musicians to connect, collaborate and create. It is the meeting point between the traditions of the past and the talent of the future.

The Academy has had an inestimable impact on British and international musical life by training outstandingly talented musicians for fulfilling careers for over 200 years. From its outset, Britain’s oldest conservatoire has been associated with some of the greatest names in music including Mendelssohn, Liszt and Sir Henry Wood. More recent alumni include Sir Elton John, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Edward Gardner, Max Richter, Lucy Crowe, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Jacob Collier.