Staff A-Z

After graduating with distinction from Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh he has worked as a Lighting Designer on productions in many genres, including devised theatre, stand-up, cabaret, corporate events, car and product launches and fashion shows.

After reading Music at Kings College, Cambridge, and Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, John held a variety of Trumpet positions in London Orchestras, and enjoyed a wide-ranging and successful solo career. In 2002, John returned to Scotland and became Principal of the RSAMD (now RCS) a position which he held until he retired in 2014 after a period of huge influence on the institution. John is now an Emeritus Professor of Brass at RCS.

Jan Waterfield read music at Girton College, Cambridge, where she was also a choral scholar. This was followed by postgraduate studies in harpsichord and piano with John Toll and David Willison at the RAM in London, where she won prizes for both Lieder Accompaniment and Continued Playing.

At the RCS, Jan teaches the wealth of keyboard music before 1750, takes sideways leaps into the Opera School (for baroque ‘style’) and to the Fair Access/Education departments for Coaching. She is also very interested in coaching as an aid to teaching; the questions we ask ourselves are vital for a musician’s progress. As a life-long meditator, Jan is also curious as to mental-emotional state when playing & how that can be developed best for each individual.

As Principal Cello in some of the world’s leading ensembles English Baroque Soloists, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra David Watkin has played a key role at the heart of some ground-breaking performances.

He has conducted ensembles at the Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music, the Royal Welsh College and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Ms Wells is an advocate for increasing access to musical training. She was involved with several inner city initiatives in Baltimore and served as Chair of the Board of TUBA: The Uganda-Baltimore Alliance, providing mentorship to a brass band project in rural Uganda.

Peter Wesley was brought up in Gloucestershire where he was lucky enough to be taught by Frank Read, a retired Army Bandsman and freelance bassoonist. After briefly considering a career in the Biological Sciences he went to the Royal College of Music to study with Kerry Camden and John Burness, and after a few years freelancing in London he joined the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester as their Contrabassoon player. Whilst there he taught at the Royal Northern College of Music, and in 2007 he and his family moved to Scotland where he currently plays with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Peter also holds a degree in Psychology from the Open University and plays on a pre-war Mollenhauer bassoon, purchased in Berlin in 1945 by his first teacher.

Innes White teaches acoustic guitar and mandolin on the BMus Traditional Music Course.

In the UK Philip has worked as a guest on the music staff of the Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and Longborough Opera and he is currently Head of Music for Grange Park Opera.

Rebecca Whitener is a professional clarinettist, teacher, chamber music coach, mentor, music educator and conductor based in Scotland. She regularly performs with world class ensembles and is a founding member of Arctic Winds Wind Quintet, Sound Collective Scotland and Cameo Clarinet Quartet. Rebecca is an experienced teacher and mentor, having taught Clarinet and Chamber Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior department since 2009. She has also guest tutored for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Scottish Schools Orchestra Trust, and the Faroese National Concert Band Festival.

Bethany’s research focuses on the cultural and social analysis of participatory dance and dance organisations, often through ethnographic means. Since 2015, research activity has been closely tied to the Engagement work of Scottish Ballet, focused in two areas: a) Dance for Health, working with dancers with dementia, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s, and b) education opportunities for professional ballet and contemporary company dancers in the UK.

Carole is a graduate of the Conservatoire where she studied Contemporary Theatre Practice followed by a Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Arts Education.

Carole has worked in a variety of settings from mental health to co-creating work with care experienced young people delivered to Scottish MSPs. She has taught classes for the Short Courses team at the RCS and has been working in the Fair Access team for over 10 years.

Outside of RCS Carole is the National Drama Advisor for Scottish Community Drama (SCDA) and travels across Scotland delivering skill-based workshops to local community groups. She has delivered directing skills for amateur theatre-makers in partnership with the Citizens Theatre and has spoken about community arts at a symposium in Canada. She is passionate about fair access and the importance that arts plays in the health of communities across Scotland and beyond.

Duncan has had a relationship with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for the last 20 years as both a teacher and visiting coach and has now taken up the post of full-time coach in the Opera Department.

Tom was born in Manchester in 1957. In the 1970s, he studied composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire with Andrew Downs. In the 1980s, as a student at Goldsmiths University of London, he spent five years studying composition with Melanie Dakin and Edward Gregson. For ten years he was Head of Woodwind and Tutor for Academic Music at Uppingham School in Rutland. Since 1989, Tom has lived in Glasgow and Musselburgh, where he teaches composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and St. Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh.

Fiona studied at the Juilliard School in New York, going on to become Principal Violist of the Royal Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras. As a chamber musician Fiona has appeared at halls and festivals all over the world, such as Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, Lincoln Centre, New York, Festival da Camera, Lima, the Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, Singapore Esplanade Hall and the Banff Centre.

Konrad is a Saxophone lecturer on the Jazz course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Bill trained as an actor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (then RSAMD) in 1990. After several years of professional work on stage, screen and radio, he began to teach Performing Arts at Coatbridge College. He joined the Centre for Voice in Performance CViP at the Conservatoire in 2007 and after engaging in further voice work with Nadine George of Voice Studio International, he became an accredited teacher in 2012.

As the KE Development Assistant, Gallia supports the Engagement team to deliver on Enterprise, Innovation, and Public Engagement through administrative support and project operations. In addition, Gallia manages the staff Athenaeum Awards and the Engagement Committee.

Dr Svetlana Zvereva is a musicologist, editor, choral conductor, lecturer, and language coach. She is well-known internationally as a specialist in Russian music, both through her publications and through many years of participating in international conferences, seminars, and lectures, and also as an organiser of music festivals and exhibitions. She has participated over the years in several Russian and international projects related to the editing, popularising, and performing of Russian music, as well as the strengthening of the Russian cultural heritage.