Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire located in South Kensington. It was established by royal charter in 1882. The College is strongly connected with the British Royal family, since the day it was founded. Queen Elizabeth II is a current patron of Royal College of Music, and since 1993 Charles, the Prince of Wales, became its president. College offers training in all aspects of Western Art from undergraduate to the doctoral level. There is also a junior department, where 300 children aged 8 to 10 are educated on Saturdays. This school conducts classes in various fields such as composition, performance, conducting, music theory and history. Royal College of Music also focuses on research, concentrating particularly in performance science and performance practice. The College is one of the four conservatories on the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and a member of Conservatoires UK.

Museum

The Royal College of Music was established in 1884 and replaced the unsuccessful National Training School of Music. Over the years the College gained extensive knowledge in both practical and intellectual resources. College library and the Royal College of Music Museum hold magnificent collections of unique musical instruments, historical documents and famous composers’ manuscripts. For example, autographs such as Haydn’s String Quartet OP 64/1, Mozart’s Piano Concerto K491 or  Elgar’s Cello Concerto. The museum also possesses a significant collection of music of Herbert Howells, Frank Bridge, Malcolm Arnold or film scores by Stanley Myers. Furthermore, College archives consist of 10000 prints and photographs of musicians visiting or performing in the UK. The Royal College of Music  studios are providing cutting edge facilities for audio and video recording. Moreover, the most important resource, which the institute possesses is extremely talented musicians! Since the August 2011 College has been cooperating with Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, offering a Bachelor of Music Degree jointly conferred by both schools. Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, which is  College’s main concert venue, can seat up to 468 people. The Britten Theatre, which was opened by the Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 is being used for theatre, opera and ballet.

The most interesting facts according to Connect-Click:

• Every year the Royal College of Music bestows honorary degrees, memberships and fellowships on individuals who have made major contribution to its life and musical community in general.
• Since opening, the college has had a number of extremely talented students including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst or John Ireland

Address: Prince Consort Rd, Kensington, London SW7 2BS