Welcome to April's RCS News
Alumni singing success in prestigious international competitions
Two major singing competitions have been won by RCS alumni this month.
Congratulations to Will Frost and Matthew McKinney for their recent successes in the International Handel Singing Competition and the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, respectively.
Will, a bass-baritone, won the International Handel Singing Competition in London, now in its twentieth year, which takes place during the London Handel Festival.
The jury was chaired by David Gowland who is the artistic director of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Will won £5,000 and will be offered a major performance at next year’s festival. Enjoy his performance, below, from 57 minutes.
Will, who graduated with a First Class BMus and subsequent MMus, studied under Julian Tovey.
He performs in Garsington Opera’s upcoming production of Rameau’s Platée and will join the Confidencen Opera & Music Festival for a production of Handel’s Alcina. Will joins the Graz Opera young artist programme in Austria in August for its next season.
Enjoy Will’s performance in the video below, from 57 minutes.
Tenor Matthew McKinney won first prize in this year’s Kathleen Ferrier Awards competition in Wigmore Hall.
The panel was chaired by conductor and pianist David Syrus, former Head of Music at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
The Kathryn Ferrier Prize carries not only a £12,500 award but catapults the winner towards a major career. Matthew follows in the footsteps of previous winners, RCS graduates Gemma Summerfield (2015) and Karen Cargill (2002).
Listen to Matthew talking about his win on BBC Radio 3’s Saturday Morning programme, from 2.31.05
Matthew recently recorded La Traviata (OperaGlass Works) and La Bohème on Robin Norton-Hale’s forthcoming feature produced by Finite Films and is currently singing with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus.
Matthew, who studied with Stephen Robertson at RCS, was awarded First Class Honours for his BMus degree followed by an MMus in 2021.
During his time at RCS, he won both the Norma Greig French Song Competition and the Governors’ Recital Prize
Professor Aaron Shorr, Director of Music at RCS, said: “For RCS graduates to bag two of Britain’s top singing prizes in short succession is quite spectacular and we send them our warmest congratulations.”
Main photo: Craig Fuller
Matthew photo: Ben Durrant
Professor Aaron Shorr and Dr Marc Silberschatz appointed RCS school directors
Following a period as interim postholders and an internal appointment process, Professor Aaron Shorr has been appointed Director of Music and Dr Marc Silberschatz as Director of Drama, Dance, Production and Film.
Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, RCS Principal said: “Aaron and Marc are both excellent artists and arts practitioners as well as experienced academics with a deep working knowledge of our learning community and the sector.
“I look forward to continuing to work with them and value very much their leadership and support of their teams and students in delivering world-leading performing arts learning and teaching here at RCS.”
Acting alumni in running for top award
The National Theatre and The Times have revealed the nominees for this year’s Ian Charleson Awards … and they include three BA Acting graduates.
Joséphine Callies (Henry V, Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong), Anna Russell-Martin (Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company) and Shyvonne Ahmmad (Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company), have been nominated in the annual awards that celebrate the best performances by actors under 30 in a classical role.
The awards honour British actor Ian Charleson who in 1990 at the age of 40.
This year’s judges of this year’s awards are Robert Hastie, the artistic director of Sheffield
The winners will be announced on 26 May.
Ballerina turns researcher to help improve the lives of people with MS
Garry F McHarg – Focal Scotland.
Ballerina Emily Davis gave up her professional career in the US and came to Glasgow to look at how dance could help people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Scotland, which has one of the highest incidence rates of the disease in the world.
Emily, 27, was a professional ballerina with the world-renowned Philadelphia Ballet Company for six years while also studying for a biology degree at the University of Pennsylvania and working as a volunteer researcher in neurorehabilitation at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
After graduating with the highest distinction, she moved to Scotland in 2021 to start a PhD in the emerging field of dance health, funded by the Thouron Scholarship, and forging a unique partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, in collaboration with Scottish Ballet, Scotland’s national dance company and a national centre for dance health.
Full story on the newsroom.
Photo: Garry F McHarg
News from around RCS
Students’ Union updates
Elections for the Students’ Union took place last week and the new officers for the 2024/2025 academic year are:
President: Ulysse Tonnelé Verjus
Vice-President: Dale Thrupp
Events Officer: Avina Shah
Congratulations to all involved!
Dr Karen McAulay, Performing Arts Librarian and researcher, was awarded an honorary fellowship of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres, which represents and promotes the interests of music librarians, libraries, music–related archives and music information providers throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.
A new album by staff composer David Fennessy – Caruso – was released this month.
Cryptid by staff composer Bekah Simms received its first performance by Crash Ensemble, as part of New Music Dublin at the end of April.
The RCS Young Ballet Company has been selected to participate and perform at the U.Dance National Festival in Liverpool in July. The company will take to the stage at Liverpool Playhouse on Saturday 13 July.
Fair Access has launched its first-ever digital artist-in-residence programme. The Digital Artist is animator, storyteller and workshop facilitator Dominika Jackowska, who will deliver an Introduction to Animation course to a group of Fair Access students in the East of Scotland.
The pool table in the AGOS has had an upgrade with new covering, cues and balls. See you there for a game?!
New exhibition documents performing arts project from RCS and Mull Youth Theatre
An uplifting new exhibition that explores and celebrates creative expression through the eyes of young people will be unveiled at Mull Youth Theatre in June.
We are all people in the room will document a collaboration between RCS and Mull Youth Theatre, where the performing arts were used to connect youth theatre participants with care experienced and estranged artists.
Two care experienced and estranged artists, RCS graduate and filmmaker Colleen Bell and RCS Transitions alumni, actor and director Genna Allen, led a workshop earlier this year with four members of Mull Youth Theatre, which concentrated on movement, writing and performance.
They were joined by Jesse Paul, RCS Head of Fair Access, producer and director Abbie Wallace, Andi Stevens, Head of Creative Learning at Mull Theatre, and Mull-based photographer Sarah Darling.
Full story on the newsroom.
Photo: Sarah Darling
RCS projects selected for entrepreneurial funding scheme
Researchers in arts and humanities are exploring applications for their work thanks to a new funding scheme that encourages entrepreneurial thinking in disciplines beyond science and technology.
The Founders Fund for Creatives programme is a collaboration between RCS, the University of Glasgow and The Glasgow School of Art, which supports the development of early-stage projects that could offer up commercial opportunities or be explored for wider social, community or creative impact.
RCS has three projects: an animated retelling of a medieval Shetlandic folktale as part of a series of work to educate people about Scotland’s history; a queer-led musical podcast company that is exploring Britain’s first queer communities; and building training for medical students that demonstrates and promotes singing for health.
Full story on the newsroom.
Summer Schools
Have you checked out our brilliant range of Summer Schools? There’s something for all ages and abilities, and across all our art-forms.
They include Acting: Stage and Screen Intensive Webinar.
Do you want to engage in professional acting but cannot commit to full-time training just yet? Or perhaps you have experience and want to engage in an intensive training experience with others who are also passionate about acting.
Acting: Stage and Screen Intensive is a practical course designed to develop your acting skills. You will work with a large variety of industry professionals to explore acting for screen, acting with both classical and contemporary texts, movement, and voice.
To find out more about this exciting new course, join us online on 14 May.
All RCS students, staff and alumni are eligible for a discount. Please email summerschools@rcs.ac.uk to enquire.
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