Editing Royal College of Music

{{short description|College in Kensington and Chelsea, England}}
{{distinguish|text=the [[Royal Academy of Music]], [[the Royal Conservatory of Music]], or the [[Royal College of Music, Stockholm]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox university
 | name                   = Royal College of Music
 | logo                   = Royal College of Music Logo (correctly spaced).svg
 | image                  = Royal College of Music - April 2007.jpg
 | image_size             = 295px
 | caption                = Front façade of the Royal College of Music
 | coordinates            = {{WikidataCoord|display=it}}
 | established            = {{Start date and age|1882}}
 | type                   = [[Public university|Public]]
 | endowment              = [[Pound sterling|£]]47.9 million (2024)<ref name="RCM 23/24">{{cite web | url = https://www.rcm.ac.uk/media/Report%20&%20accounts%202024%20(2).pdf | title = Royal College of Music Annual review and financial statements 2023/24 | access-date = 8 January 2025 | publisher = Royal College of Music }}</ref>
 | budget                 = [[Pound sterling|£]]37.1 million (2023/24)<ref name="RCM 23/24"/>
 | head_label             = [[Patron]]
 | head                   = [[Charles III]]
 | president              = 
 | chairman               = [[Guy Black, Baron Black of Brentwood]]<ref>[https://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/governance/strategy/financialinformation/Reports%20and%20Accounts%202019.pdf] {{dead link|date=October 2021}}</ref>
 | director               = James Williams
 | students               = {{HESA student population|INSTID=10007778}} ({{HESA year}})<ref name="HESA citation">{{HESA citation}}</ref>
 | undergrad              = {{HESA undergraduate population|INSTID=10007778}} ({{HESA year}})<ref name="HESA citation"/>
 | postgrad               = {{HESA postgraduate population|INSTID=10007778}} ({{HESA year}})<ref name="HESA citation"/>
 | city                   = [[Prince Consort Road]], [[London]]
 | country                = [[England]]
 | campus                 = Urban
 | affiliations           = [[Conservatoires UK]] <br />[[Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music]] <br />[[Universities UK]]
 | website                = {{url|rcm.ac.uk}}
 | module                 = {{Infobox mapframe
 |wikidata=yes
 |zoom=11
 |marker=museum
 |width=300
 }}
}} 

The '''Royal College of Music''' ('''RCM''') is a [[music school|conservatoire]] established by [[royal charter]] in 1882, located in [[South Kensington]], London, UK. It offers training from the [[Undergraduate education|undergraduate]] to the [[Doctorate|doctoral level]] in all aspects of Western Music including performance, composition, conducting, [[music theory]] and history, and has trained some of the most important figures in international music life. The RCM also conducts research in [[performance practice]] and [[performance science]]. 

The RCM has over 900 students from more than 50 countries, with professors who include many who are musicians with worldwide reputations. 

The college is one of the four conservatories of the [[ABRSM|Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music]] and a member of [[Conservatoires UK]]. Its buildings are directly opposite the [[Royal Albert Hall]] on [[Prince Consort Road]], next to [[Imperial College]] and among the museums and cultural centres of [[Albertopolis]].

==History==

===Background===
{{main|National Training School of Music}}
The Royal College of Music was founded in 1883 to replace the short-lived and unsuccessful [[National Training School of Music]] (NTSM). The idea for the NTSM was initially proposed by the [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Consort]] decades before the school opened. Conservatoires to train young students for a musical career had been set up in major [[Europe|European]] cities, but in London the long-established [[Royal Academy of Music]] had not supplied suitable training for professional musicians: in 1870 it was estimated that fewer than ten per cent of instrumentalists in London orchestras had studied at the academy.<ref name=wright>Wright, David [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557473 "The South Kensington Music Schools and the Development of the British Conservatoire in the Late Nineteenth Century"], ''Journal of the Royal Musical Association'', Vol. 130, No. 2 (2005), pp. 236–282 {{subscription required}}</ref> 

The NTSM opened in 1876, with [[Arthur Sullivan]] as its principal. Under Sullivan, a reluctant and ineffectual principal, the NTSM failed to provide a satisfactory alternative to the [[Royal Academy of Music|Royal Academy]] and, by 1880, a committee of examiners comprising [[Charles Hallé]], [[Julius Benedict|Sir Julius Benedict]], [[Michael Costa (conductor)|Sir Michael Costa]], [[Henry David Leslie|Henry Leslie]] and [[Otto Goldschmidt]] reported that the school lacked "executive cohesion".<ref name=wright/> The following year Sullivan resigned and was replaced by [[John Stainer]].<ref name=mt/> The original plan was to merge the Royal Academy of Music and the National Training School of Music into a single, enhanced organisation. The NTSM agreed, but after prolonged negotiations, the Royal Academy refused to enter into the proposed scheme.<ref name=mt>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3357634 "The Proposed College for Music"], ''The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'', Vol. 23, No. 467 (January 1882), pp. 17–18 {{subscription required}}</ref>

In 1881, with [[George Grove]] as a leading instigator and with the support of the Prince of Wales, a draft charter was drawn up for a successor body to the NTSM. The Royal College of Music occupied the premises previously home to the NTSM and opened there on 7 May 1883. Grove was appointed its first director.<ref name=mt83>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3357708 "Royal College of Music"], ''The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular'', Vol. 24, No. 484 (June 1883), pp. 309–310 {{subscription required}}</ref> There were 50 scholars elected by competition and 42 fee-paying students.<ref name=grove>Rainbow, Bernarr and Anthony Kemp. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/16904pg8 "London – Educational establishments"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 4 January 2012 {{subscription required}}</ref>

===Early years===
Grove, a close friend of Sullivan, loyally maintained that the new college was a natural evolution from the NTSM.<ref name=wright/> In reality, his aims were radically different from Sullivan's. In his determination that the new institution should succeed as a training ground for orchestral players, Grove had two principal allies: the violinist [[Henry Holmes (composer)|Henry Holmes]] and the composer and conductor [[Charles Villiers Stanford]].<ref name=wright/> They believed that a capable college orchestra would not only benefit instrumental students, but would give students of composition the essential chance to experience the sound of their music.<ref name=wright/> The college's first intake of scholarship students included 28 who studied an orchestral instrument. The potential strength of the college orchestra, including fee-paying instrumental students, was 33 violins, five [[viola]]s, six [[Cello|cellos]], one [[double bass]], one [[flute]], one [[oboe]] and two [[Horn (instrument)|horns]].<ref name=wright/> Grove appointed 12 professors of orchestral instruments, in addition to distinguished teachers in other musical disciplines including [[Jenny Lind]] (singing), [[Hubert Parry]] (composition), [[Ernst Pauer]] (piano), [[Arabella Goddard]] (piano) and [[Walter Parratt]] (organ).<ref name=mt83/>

The old premises proved restrictive and a new building was commissioned in the early 1890s on a new site in [[Prince Consort Road]], [[South Kensington]]. The building was designed by [[Arthur Blomfield|Sir Arthur Blomfield]] in [[Antwerp Mannerism|Flemish Mannerist]] style in red brick dressed with buff-coloured Welden stone.<ref>"State opening of the Royal College of Music", ''Musical Times'', '''35''' (1 June 1894:390); the style was reported as "Renaissance, freely treated"</ref> Construction began in 1892 and the building opened in May 1894.<ref>The date 1892 on a tablet in the peak of the central pavilion. The formal opening was in May 1894.</ref> The building was largely paid for by two large donations from [[Samson Fox]], a Yorkshire industrialist, whose statue, along with that of the Prince of Wales, stands in the entrance hall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47530 |title=Royal College of Music &#124; British History Online |publisher=British-history.ac.uk |date=2003-06-22 |access-date=2010-05-02}}</ref>

Grove retired at the end of 1894 and was succeeded as director by Hubert Parry.<ref name=dnb>Young, Percy M. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11680 "Grove, Sir George (1820–1900)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, May 2006 accessed 2 November 2010 {{subscription required}}</ref>

===Later history===
Parry died in 1918 and was succeeded as director by [[Hugh Allen (conductor)|Sir Hugh Allen]] (1919–37), [[George Dyson (composer)|Sir George Dyson]] (1938–52), [[Ernest Bullock|Sir Ernest Bullock]] (1953–59), [[Keith Falkner|Sir Keith Falkner]] (1960–74), [[David Willcocks|Sir David Willcocks]] (1974–84), [[Michael Gough Matthews]](1985–93), Dame [[Janet Ritterman]] (1993–2005) and Professor [[Colin Lawson]] (2005-2024). The College's current Director is James Williams, whose tenure began in September 2024.<ref>[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=6132&inst_id=25&nv1=search&nv2= "Royal College of Music: Director"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513043007/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=6132&inst_id=25&nv1=search&nv2= |date=13 May 2013 }}, AIM 25, accessed 6 January 2012</ref>

The College's teaching professoriate numbers over 200 musicians, including internationally known figures like [[Dmitri Alexeev]], [[Martyn Brabbins]], [[Natalie Clein]], [[Danny Driver]], [[Martin Gatt]], [[Chen Jiafeng]], [[Jakob Lindberg]], [[Mike Lovatt]], [[Patricia Rozario]], Brindley Sherratt, [[Ashley Solomon]], [[Mark-Anthony Turnage]], [[Maxim Vengerov]], [[Roger Vignoles]], [[Raphael Wallfisch]] and [[Errollyn Wallen]] as well as principals of the major London orchestras including the [[London Symphony Orchestra|London Symphony]], [[BBC Symphony Orchestra|BBC Symphony]], [[London Philharmonic Orchestra|London Philharmonic]] and the [[Philharmonia Orchestra|Philharmonia]].<ref>[http://www.rcm.ac.uk/requestaprospectus/Faculties.pdf "Faculties"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108080222/http://www.rcm.ac.uk/requestaprospectus/Faculties.pdf |date=8 November 2011 }}, Royal College of Music prospectus 2012, accessed 6 January 2012</ref>

Since its founding in 1882, the college has been linked with the [[British royal family]] and its Patron is His Majesty King Charles III. For 40 years [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]] was president; in 1993 [[Charles III]] (then Prince of Wales) became president.<ref>[http://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/historyofthercm/ "History of the RCM"], Royal College of Music, accessed 6 January 2012</ref>

Opened in 2016, the Royal College of Music’s hall of residence, Prince Consort Village, provides accommodation for more than 400 students and with acoustically treated bedrooms and dedicated practise rooms. 

The college is a [[Charitable organization|registered charity]] under English law.<ref>{{EW charity|309268}}</ref>

==Curriculum==
The college teaches all aspects of Western [[classical music]] from undergraduate to doctoral level. There is a junior department, where 300 children aged 8 to 18 are educated on Saturdays.<ref name=official>{{cite web|url=http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Studying/Courses/RCM+Junior+Department|title=Royal College of Music, Junior Department|access-date=2008-06-02|archive-date=28 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228200301/http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Studying/Courses/RCM+Junior+Department|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Partnership==
Since August 2011, RCM has been collaborating with [[Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts]], Singapore, and now offers both undergraduate and taught postgraduate degree programmes, jointly conferred by both institutions.<ref>{{cite web|title=RCM-NAFA degree programme|url=http://www.rcm.ac.uk/nafa/|website=RCM Website|access-date=2 November 2017}}</ref>

==Performance venues==
The RCM has a wide variety of concert venues including the [[Amaryllis Fleming]] Concert Hall, a 468-seat barrel-vaulted concert hall designed by Blomfield, built in 1901 and extensively restored in 2008–09. The [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]] Theatre seats 400, and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 and is used for opera, ballet, music and theatre. There is also a 150-seat recital hall dating from 1965, as well as several smaller recital rooms, including three organ-equipped Parry Rooms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Venues {{!}} Performances {{!}} Receptions {{!}} Conferences {{!}} Dinners {{!}} RCM |url=https://venuehire.rcm.ac.uk/our-venues/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=Royal College of Music {{!}} Venue Hire |language=en-GB}}</ref>

A £40 million development was completed in 2021 and the estate’s footprint was almost doubled.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Alberge |first=Dalya |date=2020-03-22 |title=Royal College of Music transforms ‘forbidding’ HQ in £40m upgrade |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/mar/22/royal-college-of-music-40m-pound-upgrade |access-date=2024-12-08 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> This included the creation of two new performance spaces: the Performance Hall which seats 140 people, and the Performance Studio which was enhanced in 2023 following a £1.89 million investment from the [[Arts and Humanities Research Council]] to incorporate state-of-the-art acoustic and visual performance simulation technologies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williamon |first=A. |last2=Bland |first2=R. |last3=Waddell |first3=G. |date=2024-05-28 |title=Learning in the spotlight: cutting-edge technology to help performers reach their full potential |url=https://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/2599/ |journal=Futurum Careers |language=en |doi=10.24379/rcm.00002599}}</ref>

== Royal College of Music Collections==
[[File:Schnittke by Reginald Gray DSC00520.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[Alfred Schnittke]] by [[Reginald Gray (artist)|Reginald Gray]]]]
The Royal College of Music Museum houses over 14,000 items, representing a range of music-making activities over a period of more than five centuries. Amongst instruments housed in the museum is a [[Clavicytherium#The RCM clavicytherium|clavicytherium]], thought to be the world's oldest surviving [[keyboard instrument]], and the earliest known guitar. Following a £3.6 million investment from [[Heritage Lottery Fund]], the Museum underwent a major redevelopment in 2020–21.

Owing partly to the vision of its founders, particularly Grove, the RCM now holds significant Collection Materials, dating from the fifteenth century onwards. These include autograph manuscripts such as [[Anne Boleyn]]'s Music Book, [[Chopin]]'s [[Minute Waltz]], [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]]'s [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello Concerto]], [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]]'s [[String Quartets, Op. 64 (Haydn)|String Quartet No. 48 Op. 64/1]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor K491]].<ref>[https://www.rcm.ac.uk/library/collections/ RCM Library Collections]</ref> More extensive collections feature the music of [[Herbert Howells]] and [[Frank Bridge]] and film scores by [[Stanley Myers]]. Among more than 300 original portraits are [[John Cawse]]'s 1826 painting of [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]] (the last of the composer), [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] by [[Thomas Hardy (English painter)|Thomas Hardy]] (1791) and [[Bartolomeo Nazari|Bartolommeo Nazari]]'s painting of [[Farinelli]] at the height of his fame. A recent addition to the collection is a portrait of the Russian composer [[Alfred Schnittke]] by [[Reginald Gray (artist)|Reginald Gray]]. 10,000 [[printmaking|print]]s and photographs constitute the most substantial archive of images of musicians in the UK. The RCM's 600,000 concert [[Programme (booklet)|programme]]s document concert life from 1730 to the present day. There are also more than 800 musical instruments and accessories from circa 1480 to the present.

[[File:CT-Holst-RVW-Ireland.jpg|thumb|right|alt=head and shoulders shots of four youngish men in early 20th century dress|Early RCM pupils included (clockwise from top left) [[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor|Coleridge-Taylor]], [[Gustav Holst|Holst]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]] and [[John Ireland (composer)|Ireland]]]]

==Alumni ==
{{main|List of Royal College of Music people}}

Since opening in 1882, the college has had a distinguished list of teachers and alumni, including most of the composers who brought about the "[[English Musical Renaissance]]" of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Students in the time of Stanford and Parry included [[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor]], [[Gustav Holst]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] and [[John Ireland (composer)|John Ireland]].<ref name="stanforddnb">Firman, Rosemary. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36239 "Stanford, Sir Charles Villiers (1852–1924)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 11 December 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref> Later alumni include [[Louise Alder]], Sir [[Thomas Allen (baritone)|Thomas Allen]], [[Stanley Bate]], [[Benjamin Britten]], Dame [[Sarah Connolly]], [[Colin Davis]], Sir [[James Galway]], [[Peggy Glanville-Hicks]], [[Gwyneth Jones (soprano)|Gwyneth Jones]], [[Rowland Lee (composer)|Rowland Lee]], [[Neville Marriner]], [[Anna Meredith]], [[Hugh McLean (organist)|Hugh McLean]], [[Tarik O'Regan]], [[Gervase de Peyer]], [[Trevor Pinnock]], [[Anna Russell]], Dame [[Joan Sutherland]], [[Mark-Anthony Turnage]], [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]], [[Julian Lloyd Webber]], [[James Horner]], [[Reginald Thatcher|Sir Reginald Thatcher]], [[Michael Tippett]] and the guitarist [[John Williams (guitarist)|John Williams]].

===Directors of the RCM===
*[[George Grove|Sir George Grove]]&nbsp;(1882)
*[[Hubert Parry|Sir Hubert Parry]]&nbsp;(1895)
*[[Hugh Allen (conductor)|Sir Hugh Allen]]&nbsp;(1918)
*[[George Dyson (composer)|Sir George Dyson]]&nbsp;(1938)
*[[Ernest Bullock|Sir Ernest Bullock]]&nbsp;(1953)
*[[Keith Falkner|Sir Keith Falkner]]&nbsp;(1960)
*[[David Willcocks|Sir David Willcocks]]&nbsp;(1974)
*[[Michael Gough Matthews]]&nbsp;(1985)
*[[Janet Ritterman|Dame Janet Ritterman]]&nbsp;(1993)
*[[Colin Lawson]]&nbsp;(2005)
*James Williams (since 2024)

== Awards ==
Awards include [[Associate of the Royal College of Music|ARCM]] (Associate), LRCM (Licentiate) and FRCM (Fellow).

Each year the Royal College of Music bestows a number of honorary degrees, memberships and fellowships on individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to life at the RCM and the wider musical community.<ref name="2013list">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rcm.ac.uk/about/historyofthercm/honoursandfellowships/|title=Honours and Fellowships &#124; Royal College of Music|website=Rcm.ac.uk|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref>

{{Main list|List of Fellows of the Royal College of Music}}

==See also==
* [[List of music museums]]
* [[Royal College of Music war memorial]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.rcm.ac.uk/ Official website]
*[https://www.youtube.com/user/RCMLondon Official YouTube channel]
*[https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/royal-college-of-music?hl=en Virtual tour of the Royal College of Music] provided by [[Google Arts & Culture]]
*{{commons category-inline}}

{{Universities and colleges in London}}
{{Music schools in the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal College Of Music}}
[[Category:Royal College of Music| ]]
[[Category:Royal colleges]]
[[Category:Music schools in London]]
[[Category:Higher education colleges in London]]
[[Category:Performing arts education in London]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges established in 1882]]
[[Category:Charities based in London]]
[[Category:Museums in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Music museums in London]]
[[Category:1882 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Arthur Blomfield buildings]]
[[Category:Education in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Universities UK]]