University News Last updated 31 October
Friends,
October always feels like a long month, doesn’t it? As I write to you on Halloween, there is a huge amount to look back on since the arrival of autumn. Our students have been immersed in their studies for several weeks now, and alongside their lessons, classes and academic work, there have been some wonderful public performances.
I especially enjoyed the three BA Acting productions at The Crescent Theatre – Clybourne Park, The Art of Success and Time and the Conways – all of which shed light on political and social issues in insightful and entertaining ways, as part of a strand that runs through our programming this year.
Our RBC Symphony Orchestra gave an impressive first concert of the year, with soloist Jordan Ashman, winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year award 2022, and conducted by alumnus Michael Seal. I was happy to hear two other highly talented Music alums as well – Laura Mvula in her showcase concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), which was carried live on BBC Radio 3 and is still available on BBC Sounds, and recent graduate Emanuil Ivanov who gave an astonishingly brilliant account of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues for solo piano in Bradshaw Hall this week.
On the recruitment front, we had barely finished the enrolment of this year’s intake before we received the UCAS Music applications for 2026 entry. These have once again come in from far and wide – 35 countries in total so far – with some interesting trends in terms of the instruments and disciplines involved. I was especially pleased to see an increase in applications from UK students at a time when we know there are many challenges in our music education system.
We look forward to welcoming a great many of these students to RBC in the next few weeks as they undertake their auditions – and I hope that as many as possible will also take the chance to attend one of the many concerts here while they are in Birmingham.
I am sure you will all want to join me in wishing all the students applying here the very best for their auditions and then the hard choices that will follow!
Stephen Maddock