UK choral charity, Sing for Pleasure, has announced that funding has been secured to provide training for four would-be choral conductors under its Young Conductors Programme for 2017-18. Launched in 2013, the Young Conductors Programme offers a transformational learning experience for talented young musicians aged 18-25 who aspire to a choral conducting career but who lack the financial means to access the specialised training needed to succeed. Those applicants chosen to receive scholarships will benefit from fully funded group training sessions interspersed with personalised, one-to-one mentoring and support to ensure each individual develops best practice conducting skills and techniques at their…
ABRSM has released a new singing syllabus for candidates who will be taking exams from January 2018 onwards. With repertoire lists refreshed for all eight grades and some changes made to the accompanied song requirements for Grades 6 to 8, the syllabus offers a variety of new songs with a broad choice of repertoire. Ranging from core classics and opera to songs from the stage and screen, there are over 900 songs to choose from and five lists at each grade. ABRSM has published a number of materials to support candidates including new Songbook Plus books at Grades 1 to…
The Chartered College of Teaching has launched a new music education network for teachers in London. The Chartered College is an independent professional membership body for the teaching profession that opened in January 2017. Its stated aim is to support teachers with the expertise they need to maintain genuine excellence – achieving the best outcomes for children and young people. The Chartered College covers all phases of education and subject specialisms, and connects a diverse community of teachers to share ideas and knowledge. Membership is voluntary and offers a pathway of professional development to support teachers at every stage throughout their…
Tony Hales CBE, Chair of the Greenwich Foundation and a board member of the Welsh National Opera, has been appointed Chair of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), taking over the role when Dame Colette Bowe ends her term in September 2018. Speaking about the appointment, Michael Elliott, ABRSM Chief Executive said: ‘Tony is a champion of music and the arts with considerable commercial and non-executive experience. In his former role of Chair of the Canals and Rivers Trust, he led the organisation through its most transformative period yet. I’m thrilled that ABRSM will now benefit from his…
NYMAZ, the North Yorkshire-based youth charity, has been awarded £273,000 by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to extend its innovative online music education project, Connect: Resound, for four years. The funding will enable a significant number of music hubs operating in rural areas to embed NYMAZ’S proven method of online learning into their programme of music tuition, providing many more children with access to high-quality online instrumental lessons and live broadcasts of professional performances. Heidi Johnson, director of NYMAZ, said: ‘Connect: Resound is addressing the fact that children in rural parts of England are simply not being offered the same music opportunities.…
Analysis by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and Schools Week has shown a significant fall in the number of GCSE and A Level Music candidates in 2017. The number of GCSE Music candidates dropped from 41,850 in 2016 to 38,750 in 2017 – a fall of 7.4% – while the number of A Level Music candidates dropped from 6250 in 2016 to 5650 in 2017 – a fall of 9.6%. Conversely, the percentage of students achieving A* or A at GCSE was up slightly from 30% in 2016 to 30.8% in 2017 while those achieving A* or…
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group (RUG) has announced a new strategic partnership with Shanghai Media Group Live (SMG Live) to develop the musical theatre industry in China. As RUG’s first Chinese language production of Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me On A Sunday gets ready to tour the country in 2018, RUG and SMG Live will work together to build awareness of and interest in musical theatre and to develop new content – either in terms of culturally sensitive translations of existing works or of new works drawing on Chinese heritage and literature. The two groups have also announced an initiative…
A new training link-up between Falmouth University, CEG Digital (the blended learning division of Cambridge Education Group) and A Greener Festival is boosting environmentally-friendly events. A Greener Festival – a not-for-profit company helping festivals, events and venues around the world adopt environmentally-efficient practices – is making its environmental assessor training available to a global audience for the first time through a new short course offered with Falmouth University and CEG Digital. The online course sits within Falmouth’s MA in Creative Events Management, launched last year in partnership with CEG Digital, and is now open for student applications ahead of an…
The Guildhall School of Music & Drama has announced details of its Autumn 2017 season. Highlights include the following: Guildhall musicians perform a concert curated by alumnus, Thomas Adès, and join the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) for an LSO On Track concert as part of 10 days of special events to mark Sir Simon Rattle becoming Music Director of the LSO and Artist-in-Association with the Barbican and Guildhall School A concert with Dave Arch launches the Guildhall Studio Orchestra, a multi-disciplinary ensemble and the first of its kind in a UK conservatoire Alumni Recital Series presents three concerts: a concert…
WOMEX 17 has announced two of its upcoming Award-winners: Malian activist and singer, Oumou Sangaré, will receive the World Music Expo’s Artist Award while Czech radio journalist, Petr Dorůžka, will receive the Professional Excellence Award. Oumou Sangaré Having sung professionally from an early age, Oumou Sangaré is famous not only for her Wassoulou pop music but also for staying true to her original style in her many musical projects – including collaborations with Tony Allen and Herbie Hancock. With a strong onstage presence, her song lyrics address women’s rights, which she mirrors offstage with her work organising festivals and community projects.…
