Guildhall School News Autumn 2012

newsGuildhall School

Viva Stage Manager!

Judy Craymer Class of 1978

Autumn/Winter 2012

p4 Pomp and Ceremony

Students in the Jubilee and Olympic celebrations

p6 Orchestral ArtistryNew Masters specialism in

association with the LSO

p8 Milton CourtThe countdown begins

2 GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2012

.

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and ChorusFriday 21 September • 7.30pm

Takuo Yuasa, conductor, Lucy Hall, soprano, Tom Verney, countertenor, Ben McAteer, baritone

Messiaen Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum

Orff Carmina Burana

BaRBicaN hall

Blood WeddingThursday 4, Friday 5, Saturday 6, Monday 8, Tuesday 9 October • 7.30pm Friday 5, Monday 8 October • 2pm

Christian Burgess, director, Agnes Treplin, designer, Neill Brinkworth, lighting designer, Sue Lefton, director of movement, Maria Camahort and Julian Philips, music

Lorca’s Blood Wedding is a classic of 20th century theatre.

SilK STREET ThEaTRE

ToastMonday 15, Tuesday 16, Wednesday 17, Thursday 18 October • 7.30pm Tuesday 16, Thursday 18 October • 2pm

Jo McInnes, director, Tom Hadley, designer, Adam Dallman, lighting designer

An investigation into the collective psychology of male night-workers – brilliant, touching, funny.

BRidEwEll ThEaTRE

Faculty Artist RecitalsWednesday 31 October • 7.30pm

Paul Roberts Debussy Preludes Book II

Thursday 15 November • 7.30pm

Noriko Ogawa with a lecture by Paul RobertsDebussy Douze Etudes

MuSic hall

Massenet La Navarraise Le Portrait de ManonMartinů Comedy on the BridgeThursday 1, Saturday 3, Monday 5, Wednesday 7 November • 7pm

Peter Robinson, conductor, Stephen Barlow, director, Yannis Thavoris, designer, David Howe, lighting designer

Conceived in the spirit of Puccini’s ‘Il trittico’, the Guildhall School tackles three distinctive styles of opera in one evening.

SilK STREET ThEaTRE

London Jazz FestivalFriday 9 November • 7.30pm

Guildhall Jazz Band with Nikki Iles

Special guest pianist and composer Nikki Iles performs with the Guildhall Jazz Band.MuSic hall

Nicholas Nickleby Part TwoFriday 23, Saturday 24, Monday 26, Tuesday 27, Wednesday 28 November • 7.30pm Monday 26, Wednesday 28 November • 2pm

Joseph Blatchley, director, Dora Schweitzer, designer, Neill Brinkworth, lighting designer

Following the success of Nicholas Nickleby Part 1 at the Guildhall School in March, Nicholas’s adventures are concluded by a new ensemble of actors who conjure up a gallery of favourite characters.

SilK STREET ThEaTRE

Guildhall Symphony OrchestraWednesday 21 November • 7.30pm

Sir Colin Davis, conductor

Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor Humperdinck arr. Wallace Suite from Hänsel und Gretel

BaRBicaN hall

.

Forthcoming Events

For further information about any Guildhall School event, please go to www.gsmd.ac.uk/events

Blood Wedding

“This bakehouse is my church.”

Tickets: available from the Barbican Box Office 020 7638 8891. www.barbican.org.uk

3GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2012

EditorialContents

Welcome to the Autumn/Winter 2012 edition of Guildhall School News.

This summer has been packed full of national and international celebrations and wherever you find a big stage, you will find Guildhall students (past and present) – on stage, backstage, down in the orchestra pit or up on the lighting rig…

In this issue you can read about students, from Junior and Senior Guildhall, involved in the Jubilee and Olympic celebrations, the winners of this year’s Gold Medals and Lutine Prize as well as the new Josephine Hart Poetry Prize and the Michael Bryant Award, alumni who have received birthday honours, Guildhall singers that have triumphed at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and actors who have won BAFTAs.

The Guildhall School/Barbican’s joint Creative Learning division reports on the exciting opportunities this summer for our students, and Research shares the highlights of the third Reflective Conservatoire conference that took place in March.

In July, alumna Judy Craymer took time out of preparations for the opening of her next West End musical, VIVA FOREVER!, to take a walk down memory lane and tell me how studying Stage Management at the Guildhall helped prepare her for becoming a globally successful producer.

I hope you enjoy reading the magazine and would love to hear your feedback. Please send any comments or suggestions for future editions to [email protected].

With best wishes,

Rachel Dyson Editor

FEATURES

4 PompandCeremony Jubilee and Olympic celebrations

8 MiltonCourtCountdown One year to go

9 MontserratMusicInitiative Music and goat races in the Caribbean

14 JudyCraymerInterview “I think it had to be the best training in the world”

NEWS

6 OrchestralArtistryNew Masters performance specialism in association with the LSO

7 TheReflectiveConservatoireReport of third international conference

8 GuildhallisNo.1SpecialistInstitutionAccording to Guardian University Guide

11 GoldMedalandLutinePrizewinners2012

25 InMemoriam

ALUMNI COMMUNITY PAGES

21 OverToYou Written by and for alumni

22 AlumniChorusWho’s interested?

23 ClassNotes Alumni news

25 Reunions Recent and coming up

27 Stayintouch

Editorial Group

Rachel Dyson (Editor), Alumni Relations Manager

Deborah MacCallum, Director of Corporate & Student Affairs

Jo Hutchinson, Marketing & Communications Manager

Duncan Barker, Head of Development

Richard Grosse, Falconbury Ltd

Contact: [email protected]

(Please note, we cannot guarantee to include everything that we receive and we reserve the right to edit submissions.)

The Guildhall School of Music & Drama is

provided by the City of London Corporation

.

.

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GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 20124

News

Musicians, actors and theatre technicians from the Guildhall School played key roles in the Olympic celebrations this summer

Guildhall had a strong presence at the Opening Ceremony on Friday 27 July. Acting student Faith Alabi was a character actor in Danny Boyle’s extravaganza, while undergraduate music students Lydia Gosnell (Recorder), Katrina Pett (Percussion) and Felicity Hindle (Percussion) performed as part of the ceremony. Technical Theatre students were out in force behind the scenes: Vaiva Baltrunaite, Scarlett Hooper, Osnat Koblenz, Tom Leggat and Sarah Sweet were Assistant Stage Managers; props were handled by Lisa Jürgensen, Grace Douetil, Sasja Ekenberg, George Walters and Mimi Palmer Johnston; Katie Ducarreaux, Jennie Leach, Tara Wells, Hannah Stewart and Will Newman were on the staging team; James Adkins and Alex Bratza (Roof Follow Spot), Anna Newton and Katy Nixon (LX Ground Crew) and

Beth Price Williams (Follow Spot Swing Captain) were on the lighting team; and sound was delivered by Iain Harvey, Holly Curtis, Alex Durrell, Joe Morgan, Ceri Hazeldon and Adam Dallman. Making props in advance of the show were Megan Courage, Lai Fung, Rebecca Humphreys, Ellie Pitt and Daisy Rigley. Given the number of people who had a hand in this spectacular event and others throughout the Olympics and Paralympics, we are certain that many more Guildhall students and, of course, alumni will have been involved. We would love to hear about all your Olympic stories (contact details on page 3).

Danny Boyle with volunteers, including Lydia Gosnell on his left

Guildhall School participates in London 2012

Guildhall School musicians perform in the Thames Diamond Jubilee PageantGuildhall musicians joined The Mayor’s Jubilee Band on one of ten music herald barges

Fourteen students performed in The Mayor’s Jubilee Band as part of the flotilla to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations on 3 June.

The band was made up of a total of 58 performers from the four London conservatoires. The Guildhall’s representation was fourteen students, with eleven from Junior Guildhall, two from Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) and one from the Guildhall. The students involved were Matilda Lloyd, Hollie Woodley, Bryony Prior, Robert Moseley, Chris Brewster, Gregory Huff,

Edward Parr, Christopher Dunn, Tom Steer, Christopher Karwacinski and Peter Rayner from Junior Guildhall, Barney Medland from Guildhall and Rose Hawkins and Muthoni Mbuya from CYM.

Junior Guildhall’s Brass Coordinator, Spencer Down, conducted the band in a varied programme which included the premiere of Celebration by Rachel Portman, which was written specially for the event, and some other well-known numbers including: Let’s Face the Music and Dance and There’s No Business Like Show Business (Irving Berlin arr. Goff Richards), Fantasia

on Tico Tico (Derek Bourgeois) and Gaelforce (Peter Graham).

The music barges were interspersed through the procession which made for a very long day with the students playing from the time they boarded the barge at 11am until the end of the procession at 6pm. Despite the bad weather a great time was had by all and the students enjoyed being part of this historic event.

v Alison Mears head of Junior Music courses


News

Away from the opening ceremony…• Professor and alumnus John Miles’s composition for

the Cultural Olympiad, On Golden Cap, was performed at the opening of the Olympic sailing in Weymouth on 27 July to an estimated audience of 15,000. The piece had previously premiered at The Lighthouse in Poole, alongside new works by John Surman and Sonia Slaney. On Golden Cap was inspired and informed by a community project John led, along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, with several groups of young people aged 10-18 and special guest Billy Bragg. This project was the catalyst for the written score, which was for strings, percussion, vibraphone and 200 voices.

• Junior Guildhall alumnus Alex Woolf has had an incredible run recently. He was Junior Winner of this year’s BBC Proms Inspire Young Composer’s Competition, the National Centre for Early Music’s Composers Award and the Royal Opera House’s Fanfare Competition. His ROH prize-winning fanfare was chosen by Antonio Pappano for the opening of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Gala at the Royal Opera House, when it was played to mark the arrival of Princess Anne. Another fanfare by Alex was performed by the brass section of the Aldeburgh World Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder as the Olympic torch relay passed through Aldeburgh.

New Water MusicAs part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, eleven of Britain’s most renowned film composers were commissioned to create a new work using for inspiration the original titles of Handel’s Water Music. This new suite of music was performed live for the first time as part of The Thames Pageant. The composers, who each contributed one movement, included Guildhall alumni Christopher Gunning, Jocelyn Pook and Debbie Wiseman.

Guildhall Scholars given royal treatment by their livery company benefactorsOn 5 June, the final day of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the City livery companies hosted a lunch at Westminster Hall for Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. The livery companies that participated were asked to bring guests who represented their charitable giving and ten companies chose to highlight their scholarship support of the Guildhall School by inviting Guildhall students!

The students invited were Catherine Backhouse (guest of the Actuaries’ Company), Lucy Hall (Plumbers’ Company), Emily Blanch (Weavers’ Company), Erdem Misirlioglu (Goldsmiths’ Company), Timothy Connor (Environmental Cleaners’ Company), Scarlett Hooper (Lightmongers’ Company), Benjamin Appl (Mercers’ Company), Barnaby Rea (Gold & Silver Wyre Drawers’ Company), Marisa Gupta (Plaisterers’ Company) and Ashley Riches (Upholders’ Company).

Professor Ife was also in attendance and managed to take a few photographs of the occasion.

Lucy Hall said “The lunch was amazing and it was brilliant to be part of a moment in history. It was great to see the Queen and Royal Family and very nice to have been invited by our livery companies and to get to know the people that sponsor us a little more.”

Benjamin Appl added, “As a foreigner living in London, taking part in such an impressive and important ceremony was particularly an extraordinary experience. It was an immense honour to have the opportunity to dine with the Royal Family and meet many remarkable people.”

v Kate Eberwein development officer

(L to R) Marisa Gupta, Barnaby Rea, Ashley Riches, Catherine Backhouse, Principal Barry Ife, Timothy Connor and Emily Blanch


News

Orchestral ArtistryNew Masters-level performance specialism in association with the London Symphony Orchestra

The Guildhall School offers one of the world’s most innovative packages of postgraduate study in music. One of the programmes of study is the Guildhall Artist Masters Programme, which has just announced a new addition to its professional specialisms: Orchestral Artistry in association with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Orchestral Artistry is open to string, wind, brass and percussion students.

Commencing in September 2013, this distinctive and ground-breaking specialism will place students alongside LSO players, international artists/conductors and Guildhall School professors in a context akin to a professional environment. The programme is focused on excellence in performance, core musicianship, leadership and communication and will explore the diverse skills required to become a modern professional ensemble player. The aim is to produce fully rounded, excellent musicians who have acquired the skills, knowledge and capabilities to become part of the twenty-first century orchestra.

As well as coaching and mentoring from members of the LSO, students will be given the opportunity to play in LSO schools and family concerts, conduct masterclasses and participate in outreach work alongside LSO Discovery staff.

Guildhall School Director of Music Jonathan Vaughan commented: “The Guildhall School’s relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra has thrived and prospered in

recent years. In this exciting and far-reaching new course the Centre for Orchestra has come of age – it will be the Rolls-Royce of orchestral training, giving students the best possible preparation for the profession with a world-class orchestra.”

Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of LSO, said, “This new course will give young instrumentalists a unique opportunity to study the art of orchestral playing, and to build the skills needed in the orchestra profession today, from specialist performance practice to techniques for leading workshops in the wider community and tools for maintaining health and wellbeing. Immersion in the London Symphony Orchestra’s daily life, and extensive coaching by LSO members as well as world-renowned artists, will equip the finest young players for the orchestral profession they are hoping to enter.”

The student cohort will be between 60 and 70, enabling the core group to form a large chamber orchestra as well as string ensembles, wind ensembles and brass ensembles. Full symphony work will be supplemented by numbers from other postgraduate programmes and undergraduate third and fourth years.

Other course options in the Guildhall Artist Masters programme include Advanced Instrumental Studies, Chamber Music, Composition, Repetiteur, Piano Accompanist, Vocal Studies, Opera, Historical Performance, Leadership and Jazz.

LSO Principal Tuba Patrick Harrild conducting the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra

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In March, the Guildhall School hosted the third international Reflective Conservatoire Conference, Performing at the Heart of Knowledge, which attracted 244 delegates from 25 countries.

Chaired by Professor Barry Ife and directed by Dr Helena Gaunt, the programme incorporated 104 presentations, workshops and performances over the four days of the conference. There were three excellent keynote presentations. Sir Nicholas Kenyon opened the conference with his presentation on Performance Today. Professor Richard Sennett gave an address entitled Together: Cooperation within Rehearsing and Performing and Christian Burgess and Sean Gregory presented a lecture demonstration on Working Together: Inside the Practice.

There was lively debate from all delegates around the conference’s four key themes. On the theme of Repertoire for the 21st Century, questions were raised around the choices and authenticity of all genres in higher music education. Once musicians have left the conservatoire and are working in the ‘real world’, there are more possibilities than ever before, in terms of contexts in which to work, audiences to engage with, and the resulting sense of the musician’s identity. The way in which conservatoire training prepares students for a variety of careers in the 21st century was discussed in relation to the theme Artists in society: understanding audiences and life in the real world.

Several sessions focused on the theme of Researching performance: practice, discourse and methodologies

to examine a range of approaches to researching process and product. Contemporary professional practice has become a fundamentally collaborative process, and this is equally true of learning and teaching, as debated by delegates presenting under the theme Creative Collaborative Learning: from one-to-one partnerships to ensembles/companies. Several of these strands of research continue to be the focus of the Guildhall School’s researchers, and new links with international colleagues were established as a result of the conference.

The conference also included a range of performances, with current students and alumni as well as delegates performing as part of Explore and Reflect, a festival of performances and open workshops, and the spectacular Extraordinary Voices in the Barbican Conservatory.

Visit the conference website (http://rcconference2012.org.uk/) for more information, including papers and audio highlights.

The fourth international Reflective Conservatoire Conference will take place in Spring 2015.

v Sophie Leighton Kelly Research & Evaluation coordinator

Delegate Reception in the Barbican Conservatory

Conference Plenary

Extraordinary Voices in the Barbican Conservatory

Guildhall Batacuda in the School Foyer


3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCETHE REFLECTIVE CONSERVATOIRE

Milton Court: The countdown BeginsWe have just twelve months to go until the official opening of our additional facilities at Milton Court.The building itself is up and is now being fitted out with all the stage technology, sprung floors and plush seats that will make our performance and training spaces world-class and will give our students the best possible opportunities to learn.

We can scarcely contain our excitement about this project and in order to help you understand and share in our enthusiasm, we have posted a short video on our website which takes you on a tour of Milton Court mid-construction (www.gsmd.ac.uk/miltoncourt).

Take a look and let us know what you think.

To take full advantage of its state-of-the-art performance spaces, the opening season of Milton Court will be extended over three terms. Highlights of the first term (Autumn 2013) will include:

Beethoven Ninth SymphonyGuildhall Symphony Orchestra and ChorusConducted by James GaffiganMilton Court Concert Hall

Chekhov Season3rd Year Acting EnsembleDirected by Christian Burgess and Wyn JonesMilton Court Theatre and Milton Court Studio Theatre


News

Guildhall School is No. 1 specialist institution in University Guide 2013The School achieves a score of 100 to top the league table

The Guildhall School has been rated top of the specialist institutions league table in the Guardian’s University Guide 2013.

The School has achieved a perfect 100 ‘average teaching score’ according to the Guardian’s rating formula, putting it at the top of the table above all other UK conservatoires.

In the subject league tables, the School comes highest in music with a Guardian rating of 100 and second highest in drama (combined with dance in the tables), with a score of 98.2 – the highest-rated drama school in the table.

The Guardian’s University Guide assesses all UK universities based on what students are looking for. The score, out of 100, is an exclusive rating of excellence based on a combination of all factors, including course satisfaction, teaching quality, feedback, staff-student ratio, spend and career prospects.

International Auditions for Guildhall SchoolApplicants for entry into the School in 2013 can now apply to audition at our home in London, or in New York (Music & Acting) or Hong Kong (Music only).

Hong Kong

On 1-2 November 2012, the School will hold music auditions in Hong Kong for entry in September 2013. The deadline for applications is 1 October 2012.

New York

During the week of 21 January 2012, the School will hold music and acting auditions in central New York City for entry in September 2013. The deadline for such applications is 4 January 2013.

For more information visit our website www.gsmd.ac.uk

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Montserrat Music InitiativeIn 2011, Sir George and Lady Judy Martin approached the School with the idea of establishing a placement for a Guildhall music graduate on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Leadership graduate Jonathan Ang was selected to undertake a pilot placement and wrote the following

account of his experience:

Black sand beaches, goat racing and a volcano in the backyard, occasionally shrouded in mystic cloud cover. It’s no wonder Sir George Martin was enthralled by this place when he fi rst visited in the seventies, enough to set up AIR Studios Montserrat in 1979. Before the studio’s tragic demise during Hurricane Hugo in 1989, it was graced by a stellar line-up of artists such as Sting, Elton John, Paul

McCartney and Phil Collins. Then the Soufrière Hills volcano awoke in 1995. The previously-dormant volcano erupted and changed the landscape permanently.

Still, Montserrat exudes a numinous sort of charm, which was evident as I fl ew in from Antigua on a seven-seater Britten-Norman Islander. The reason that took me across the Atlantic? Sir George and Lady Judy Martin were looking to send a music specialist

to Montserrat to, in simplest terms,

inspire young people to take on music.

And I responded to the call.

Within 48 hours of arriving I was

tasked with planning and delivering

the national music curriculum in the

only secondary school, running

after-school music activities as well as

wider-ops styled workshops for students

and CPD sessions for professional

musicians. Demand for instrumental

teaching continues to grow, and lots

of opportunities have opened up for

expansion of music education on the

island. I continued to set-up and support

different music ensembles on the island

that deal with young people, as well

as raise awareness and highlight the

necessity of music education within the

school system.

Currently, the Montserrat Music

Initiative is sponsored and supported

mainly by The Montserrat Foundation

(UK), of which Sir George and Lady

Judy Martin are both foundation

trustees. It is also assisted by the

Government of Montserrat, and the

Rotary Club of Montserrat. We have

also raised funds to procure more

music resources for the island: piano

books, hand percussion instruments,

and small things like rosin and valve oil

which cannot be found here and must

be specially ordered in.

Now that the school year is over, my time here has come to an end. In September the next Guildhall graduate selected, Rebecca Chalmers, will arrive to take up the reins for the new school year. It is an extraordinary opportunity.

In one month Rebecca could be playing her fi rst ever public steel pan gig, dance behind a truck loaded with massive speakers moving at half a mile an hour (this is called a jump up!), join in onstage with a Caribbean string band, or bet on her favourite caprid at the next goat race.

For more information about the Montserrat Music Initiative, contact Clare Catchpole (020 7382 2378,[email protected]).

❖ Jonathan Ang (Leadership 2010)

The Montserrat Youth Choir performs during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee recital in Montserrat.

The Montserrat Youth Choir at its inaugural performance during Cultural Day celebrations.

The culminative presentation of the Easter instrumental workshop.

GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2012 9


News

A Summer Full of Creative LearningThe Guildhall School’s joint Creative Learning division with the Barbican Centre is now two years old. This Summer has been a real expression of the new opportunities this partnership offers to students, graduates and emerging artists, as well as communities across our neighbouring East London boroughs and beyond.

In July, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returned for their second International Associate residency. Jazz at Lincoln Center musicians worked with the School’s Jazz students in a series of masterclasses and open rehearsals. The project culminated in a side by side performance of Marsalis’ own compositions at Soho’s Spice of Life, with Wynton himself sitting in and playing for a few numbers. Elsewhere in the residency youth big bands from across the UK participated in the Essentially Ellington Festival

in the Barbican Hall.

The Masters in Leadership students took over Bethnal Green’s People Show studios for our very first Curious festival. This showcased

collaborative ensemble work from their end of year assessments alongside jam sessions and performances from graduate Guildhall students, including the ensemble Jetsam. Curious culminated with a rousing set from the student folk ensemble, The Stamp Collective – who later headed off to play their first ever festival dates at the Winterwell and Wilderness festivals.

Elsewhere, as part of the Barbican’s summer 2012 programme, Creative Learning ensembles (led by and featuring Guildhall School students and graduates alongside young people from across London and beyond) performed at the Shoreditch Festival, Dalston’s Gillett Square and at the Back2Black Festival in Old Billingsgate Market. The programme concluded on the eve of the Olympics with performances by Drumworks at the BT River of Music Festival Americas stage at the Tower of London and by the East London Creative Jazz Orchestra on the steps of St Paul’s during the final day of the Olympic Torch relay.

v Sean Gregory director of creative learning

Summer Gala Success: Double the gala, double the fun! The end of the School’s year was celebrated in style when around 600 people joined us over two nights for the School’s annual Summer Gala Evenings and exclusive performances of the musical Chaplin in early July.

This special event has been steadily growing in popularity over recent years and includes a pre-performance reception and supper in the Barbican Centre’s Garden Room and Conservatory followed by an exclusive performance of the musical in the Silk Street Theatre. Indeed, there were so many advance bookings for the 2012 event that we

were delighted to extend the Summer Gala this year to two full evenings for the very first time.

The events have now become firmly fixed in people’s diaries and we are enormously grateful for everyone’s ongoing support which has enabled the School to raise over £20,000 this year towards our Scholarships Fund.

Next year’s Summer Gala Evenings will take place on Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 July. Contact Rachel Davis on 020 7382 7157 for further details.

v Duncan Barker head of development

East London Creative Jazz Orchestra

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra masterclass


News

Gold Medal and Lutine Prize winners 2012We are delighted to announce the winners of the School’s most prestigious prizes, the Gold Medals in Drama, Technical Theatre and Music and the Junior Guildhall Lutine Prize.

This year’s Drama Gold Medal was awarded to 22-year-old Katherine Rose Morley from Liverpool. Whilst at the Guildhall School Katherine took on roles including Miss Knag in Nicholas Nickleby Part I directed by Joseph Blatchley, and the title role in Jenufa directed by Sue Lefton. Other experience includes seven years as a member of the Everyman and Playhouse Youth

Theatre, Liverpool, in which time she played the lead role in Love of the Nightingale directed by Dan Meigh.

The winner of the Technical Theatre Gold Medal is Richard de Vere White, 21, from Letchworth Garden City. During 2011/12 he was Deputy Stage Manager on Aces & Jacks, Production Electrician on ...think only this of me... and Stage Manager on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Richard has gone on to work at the Royal Opera House on Les Troyens, Titian and the Olympic Concerts.

In May pianist Ashley Fripp, 23, won the Music Gold Medal, a prize for outstanding soloists, this year for instrumentalists. Pianist Ashley is currently studying at postgraduate level with Ronan O’Hora, having graduated in 2011 with First Class Honours, and is the Derek Butler Trust Scholar. He has given solo and concerto performances in many of the most prestigious venues throughout the UK, including the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Kings Place. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in a recital with two other Guildhall students in January. Recent international invitations have taken him to Poland, Germany, Amsterdam, the Netherlands and China. He won the Keyboard Prize at the Royal Over-Seas League Competition 2011 and has also made appearances on BBC television and radio.

Junior Guildhall’s Lutine Prize went to 17-year-old saxophonist Stephanie Lai in June 2012. Born in Hong Kong, Stephanie started learning saxophone in 2003. She is the prizewinner of various competitions, including second runner-up in the Hong Kong Young Musician of the Year 2006 Competition, first runner-up in the HKSAR of the People’s Republic 10th Anniversary Youth Music Competition, and in several years of the Hong Kong School’s Music Festivals. Stephanie transferred to the UK in 2010 for secondary school studies and joined Junior Guildhall during the same year. She studies with Paul Stevens and is the current holder of the sax.co.uk scholarship.


News

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Josephine Hart Poetry Prize and Scholarship Thanks to a generous donation from M&C Saatchi, the School has established The Josephine Hart Prize for Best Performance of a Poem by an Actor and The Josephine Hart Scholarship. These awards will help to further the aims of The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation and continue Josephine Hart’s life-long work to promote the performing arts and literature in society.

On 18 June final year actor Edwin Thomas won the inaugural Josephine Hart Prize, held at the British Library. Edwin fought off competition from fellow third year actors Nicholas Kendrick, Danielle Harrison, Nathalie Buscombe and Michaela Coel to take the prize. Each finalist gave a three-minute reading chosen from a provided selection of works by TS Eliot and WH Auden, for whose poetry Josephine Hart had profound admiration.

The distinguished panel of judges included Gail Rebuck, CEO of Random House, agent Angharad Wood of Tavistock Wood, and Tim Duffy, Chairman of M&C Saatchi UK Group. As winner of the Poetry Prize, Edwin Thomas was awarded £700, while Highly Commended reader, Natalie Buscombe, was awarded £300.

Josephine Hart (1942-2011) was an extra-mural drama student in 1966 at the Guildhall School. An Irish-born

British writer, theatrical producer and television presenter, she wrote the novel Damage, which was the basis for the 1992 film of the same name. Josephine was an evangelist for poetry and claimed that poets shaped her life. She was born and raised in Ireland, one of seven children, and educated at a Catholic boarding school. “I was a word child in a country of word children, where life was language before it was anything else. Poets were not only heroes; they were indeed the gods of language.” She maintained that “without reading, life would have been less bearable and infinitely less enjoyable”.

Edwin Thomas’s success in the Josephine Hart Prize was preceded by his winning another prestigious competition – the Michael Bryant Award for Verse-Speaking. Edwin was selected from eight finalists, who each performed a sonnet and a soliloquy on the stage of the NT Olivier Theatre. The Award was established by Judith Coke in memory of her late husband, the acclaimed actor Michael Bryant.

Guildhall School gets a 2:1 for sustainability! The 2012 Green League survey, which was published in the Guardian on 29 May, shows that the Guildhall School is surging ahead in its efforts to reduce its environmental impact. The School has now moved up the ranking to 53rd place out of 145, which earns it a 2:1 classification and places it ahead of institutions such as UCL, City University and both Oxbridge universities. In 2011, the School was in 80th place, earning it a 2:2 classification, and in 2010 it was 113th.

Under the guidance of the Sustainability Steering Group, the School has reduced its direct carbon emissions by 28.32% since the ‘baseline’ year of 2005, and is now also measuring the School’s indirect carbon emissions from sources such as travel, water and waste.

Congratulations to everyone who has helped to reduce the School’s carbon footprint and to achieve these very encouraging results. Next year we shall be aiming for a First!

v Clive Russell director of Strategic Projects

Faith Alabi, Edwin Thomas, Stefan Adegbola, Nathalie Buscombe, Katharine Drury and Simon Blackhall at the British Library

13GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2012 13

News

Guildhall singers triumph at Kathleen Ferrier AwardsNatalya Romaniw, a Junior Fellow and alumna of the Guildhall School, has won the 2012 Kathleen Ferrier Award. Natalya, who studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at the School, also took home the Song Prize in the annual competition finals at the Wigmore Hall on 27 April.

Ben McAteer, a baritone on the School’s Opera Course, won joint 2nd Prize which he shares with soprano Ruth Jenkins.

Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw was born in Swansea. She studied at the School under the guidance of John Llewelyn Evans where she was awarded the Gold Medal in her final year. In February 2012, Natalya won 2nd prize in Houston Grand Opera’s McCollum Competition and is currently an Associate Artist with the Classical Opera Company. Natalya has been accepted onto the Houston Young Artist Programme from August 2012. During her studies at the School she was supported by the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, the Worshipful Company of Saddlers, The Derek Butler Trust, Independent Opera, and the Music Students’ Hostel Trust.

Northern Irish baritone Ben McAteer holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of St Andrews and an MMus in Vocal Performance from the Guildhall School, where he is studying on the Opera Course with David Pollard. Ben’s studies are generously supported by Serena Fenwick, and he also received a Countess of Munster Musical Trust Award, a Dewar Arts Award and

further support from the Simon Fletcher Charitable Trust. Ben is delighted to have been named a 2011 RPS Susan Chilcott Scholar.

The Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship Fund was founded in 1953 in memory of the much-loved contralto from Lancashire who died at the tragically young age of 41 and whose career as a singer lasted just 12 years. The Fund holds an Annual Competition before a public audience at the Wigmore Hall in London every April. Young professional singers compete for glittering cash prizes plus the chance to gain instant international recognition. Previous winners include Janice Watson, Bryn Terfel, Sally Matthews and Kate Royal.

Preparing for Success: A Practical Guide for Young MusiciansWe are delighted to announce a new publication, co-authored by Assistant Principal Dr Helena Gaunt and Professor Susan Hallam of the Institute of Education, entitled Preparing for Success: A Practical Guide for Young Musicians, which is out now.

The book is an invaluable resource for young musicians already studying and moving towards a professional career in music, or for young musicians considering the potential of pursuing a music career. It also offers a resource for those involved in teaching young musicians or giving careers advice. Parents of talented musicians may also find it useful.

Topics covered include: motivation, practising and preparing for

performance, overcoming performance anxiety, making the most out of tuition, learning from experience and health and wellbeing. It also gives advice about making the most of talents and creativity, widening networks, considering career options and getting a career started.

“... provides an exemplary tool that supports the development of a host of vital skills, both transferable to other walks of life and invaluable to a lifelong career in music. An outstanding achievement.” Dr Claire Mera-Nelson, Director of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

“... whether your passion is for classical, jazz or popular music, if you want to make a success of your

career and your future, then this book is essential reading!” Paul Kirkham, Managing Director at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance.

“... a valuable contribution to an emerging body of literature that brings home the idea that it takes more than a focus on playing well to become a music professional in the 21st century.” Professor Huib Schippers, Director, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

Preparing for Success: A Practical Guide for Young Musicians is available from Amazon.co.uk or direct from the publisher at http://www.ioe.ac.uk/about/61778.html

v Rebecca Cohen Research Manager

The 2012 Ferrier Award Winners including Natalya Romaniw (far right) and Ben McAteer (2nd from left)


Interview

What made you apply to stage management at the Guildhall School originally? What were you planning to do?

I don’t really know.

My father was a lawyer and it was always presumed that I would do law. I also had horses. I was a very keen show jumper. One of the horses got sick and had to be put down, and I remember just thinking, well “I fancy going to Guildhall”.

My dad was great. He said, “You should do whatever you want to do, and if you do whatever you want to do, you’ll do well at it” [laughs].

So I applied, and I remember going to the interview and being very excited. I had no theatre connections, but I had always been involved in school plays and written school plays…

You’d written school plays?

I wrote a school play that was called Ask Tweeny when I was about ten and put it on for the parents in the school gym. I was always making props and stuff, and my parents would take me up to the West End to see plays and musicals.

I didn’t realise what career I wanted. I was just fascinated about stage management.

I remember arriving at John Carpenter Street thinking, “I love this.” There were musicians rehearsing and the smell of the place, and you met all these people… When we moved into Silk Street it was exciting working on all the design and everything – we’d all be in the paint shop all hours.

[Guildhall] was the most seminal experience and exciting time of my life.

Judy CraymerIn March 2007, Judy Craymer (Stage Management 1978) , producer and creator of the global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA!, returned to the School to give a talk to SMTT students about her career. A few months later, filming began on the MAMMA MIA! movie, with Judy again producing, and her already phenomenally successful show soon had the biggest box office returns of any musical film ever.

Later this year, her next musical venture VIVA FOREVER! will open in the West End. A fictional story, written by Jennifer Saunders, about friendship and fame, featuring the music of the Spice Girls, it is bound to be another hit.

Judy met with the School’s Alumni Relations Manager, Rachel Dyson, in July to talk about her time at the Guildhall School, her career and what it means to be a producer.

It seems funny it was only two years, because it was a turning point.

John Carpenter Street and Silk Street were very different buildings.

John Carpenter Street felt really traditional, kind of ‘Alan Ayckbourn theatre’. You were in a cosy theatre with the old cue board backstage and limited space and polished brass on the doors.

It felt like Fame. You’d see the music students rehearsing, and we’d sit up in these big airy rooms having our classes, and the wardrobe department was all slightly chaotic...

And then Silk Street; suddenly it was a ‘modern’ theatre. It was all technical – on the way to being computerised – whereas at John Carpenter Street it was the old faders up and down.

I remember doing a double bill of The Bald Prima Donna and Brief Encounter, and Ian Judge was directing. It was the most scary experience, because I was on lights… His hands would come over the side of the lighting box and he would haul himself up and shout, “What happened to that cue command?”

Sound was my other weak point. I didn’t like it, but I loved the design and loved cueing the shows.

I was going to ask what your strongest memories of your time at the School are but…

Well, being shouted at by Ian Judge was one of them, but it helped me learn that you have to get everything right. That is the intensity of theatre and live performance. You were never going to succeed as Stage Manager if you weren’t completely ‘on it’, so that was great training.

I remember loving every second of it, and that experience of working into the night and the excitement of making something happen, which has never gone away.

I love comedy. There were lots of fun things at Guildhall. We’d all go into the bar and watch The Five Erics,

which was Steve Frost, Mark Arden, Jerry Gittins and a couple of others, and they were their own kind of stand-up show.

I think it had to be the best training in the world really. Over the years I’ve met people and whether they’re directors, actors, other producers, lighting designers, many of them have done stage management at some point, and there’s almost a Masonic handshake! We’re very good at problem solving, emptying ashtrays and clearing up rooms!

After Guildhall you got your first stage management job at Leicester. Not long after that you went to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and then Tim Rice.

Leicester was an amazing experience. [Andrew Lloyd Webber’s] Sydmonton Festival was by chance…

A young director I knew from Leicester Haymarket called Hugh Wooldridge was lighting and directing Wayne Sleep’s one man show, and when I moved to London he said, “Will you come and stage manage it?” I’d suddenly be in Berkeley Square cueing Royal Ballet dancers on and in charge of lights and everything else.

Hugh was asked to go and put the Sydmonton Festival on, where they were doing a workshop of Cats with Paul Nicholas, Gary Bond and Gemma Craven, and he asked me to stage manage – which again was pushing

Interview

Real producing is thinking up an idea and

following it through.

GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS • AUTUMN / WINTER 2012 15

Judy with the Dynamos at the launch of MAMMA MIA! China in 2011


Interview

things around, putting plugs on things, working through the night.

After the West End production of Cats you went to work at Tim Rice’s office. Was that a conscious decision to move into production?

Yes. I’d worked at Leicester and I’d done Wayne’s show, toured with the Actors Company, and worked at the Old Vic. I’d really done a great mix of theatre, and I think Cats was the kind of ultimate musical. I remember thinking it would be quite interesting to be more on the producing side.

I still wasn’t completely sure what a producer did.

Tim was interested in me working for him because I had a very hands-on theatre background, and he had various shows that he was developing or working on.

The great thing about working with Tim was he’d got a perspective on everything. It gave me the opportunity to get involved in publishing, in his writing and rights (because of the shows and new projects like Chess) and dealing with Hollywood. It was a sweet shop for me.

You got to know Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus from Abba when you were working on Chess, and decided you wanted to do something using Abba songs. What made you so sure that there was a show in there?

I felt there was something incredibly theatrical about those songs, and I just thought, “Wouldn’t I love to hear Winner Takes It All in a show?” At that time it was very difficult for people to understand what I meant. It was my ambition to create a story.

By that time I did know what a producer did. I was raising money for the show, I became managing director of the company, dealing with contracts and business... It was my ‘schooling’ in the business side of this job, which I have never relished, but I have an aptitude for. You have to have a feeling for it if you’re going to produce, but I prefer the creative side.

People talk about actors having to deal with rejection, but producers have to deal with rejection in the sense that you can develop a script, raise the development money, and you’re still hiking it around and somebody’ll say “No”.

I remember loving every second of it,

and that experience of working into the night

and the excitement of making something

happen, which has never gone away.

Production shot from MAMMA MIA! London

Judy with Jennifer Saunders and the Spice Girls at the VIVA FOREVER! launch


Interview

How did you find the experience of transferring MAMMA MIA! from stage to screen?

Well it seemed kind of organic and natural to do, and it was the right time.

I had a really fortunate career after Guildhall, because I managed to work in every kind of field so I had a good grounding by the time it got to doing the movie of MAMMA MIA!. I knew I had to keep a control on it, and I couldn’t just sell it to Hollywood.

The MAMMA MIA! movie was a huge part of several years of my life. Movies always are; the preparation, the development, the actual making, post production, so I don’t want anyone to think I was slacking! And I cared so much about MAMMA MIA!… the whole thing has been about life force and passion really.

Your next West End show is VIVA FOREVER!, which this time uses the songs of the Spice Girls in an original setting. Can you tell me a bit about how that came about?

Something about the Spice Girls hit a chord with me. Although this isn’t a story about them, there was something about them, of what they represented to the landscape, what ‘Girl Power’ meant that I thought was very relevant today, and wouldn’t it be fun to do a story today that embraced all those things and used their songs to illustrate that story.

What I love about producing is doing everything. I love having the idea and taking the risk and making something happen – because it’s much more than finding someone to write it… But that’s the creative process of producing. Real producing is thinking up an idea and following it through.

Was it your idea, like MAMMA MIA! was, or did someone pitch it to you?

The Spice Girls and Simon Fuller had approached me a couple of years before but I was busy with the film, and then Geri Halliwell sent me a very endearing email just saying, “We’ve

read so much about you and we love you, can we meet” [laughs]. And I’m like “Okay”.

I met with Geri and Emma and kind of gave them homework and said, “What stories interest you? Do you like classics?...” They were really excited, “Oh we’re going to think, we’re going to think,” and I’d send them ideas and stuff… It was great because I had their support. I still had to get the rights – it is not for the faint-hearted putting the rights together of existing music for the stage. Maybe that’s something that should be lectured at Guildhall. It is a huge job contractually.

What do you think audiences are going to love about VIVA FOREVER!?

I don’t know. I just hope they’re going to love it!

I personally love shows that are great entertainment and have a lot of heart and emotion, so that’s what we’ve been developing, and with the complete fabulousness of Miss Jennifer Saunders writing it, it is witty and ironic and tongue-in-cheek.

I want audiences to come out feeling energised with a new lease of life.

You were made a Fellow of the School in 2007 and came back and talked to the students. Was that the first time you’d been back? What was that like for you?

It was the same smell. It all seemed slightly smaller, which always happens when you revisit a place, but there were so many students, and also everything is so computerised now. But still the same kind of intimacy as well I felt was still very much there. So it was fantastic going back.

You have agreed to be on the School’s Board of Patrons endorsing our fundraising campaign for state-of-the-art facilities at Milton Court. How important do you think it is for students to be familiar with the latest technology these days?

I think a grounding in all of that is incredibly important and kind of goes with the times. Of course as technical theatre graduates you’re not just probably going to be working in a West End show or on a two-hander play; you could be stage managing the Olympics.

But I do have to say, if you want to go into producing with your background in stage management and any of the main collaborative fields of design and everything, it is a people business.

Producing a show is about people skills. You can’t sit behind your computer and try to get a job, and you’ve got to go and knock on doors. Anyone I’ve employed has either written a handwritten letter and it’s arrived at the right time, or they’ve phoned or they’ve asked if they can do a meeting.

There are so few positions and jobs that you have to like people and get known by people. That’s how one thing led to another for me, and it scares me that people do studies and then go, “Well, I sent off my CV on the computer and I Skyped so and so…”

You have to meet people.

Yeah, you do I think.▗

With Sue Thornton during Judy’s talk to Guildhall students in 2007


News

Guildhall School wins CASE Europe Matched Funding AwardAward recognises outstanding fundraising results in 2010/11

CASE Europe has announced that the Guildhall School of Music & Drama is one of three higher education institutions to receive its Matched Funding Award for the most outstanding fundraising results in 2010/11, the third and final year of the government-backed matched funding scheme for voluntary giving.

The three institutions received CASE Europe Matched Funding Awards for improving and sustaining fundraising performance and increasing donors, securing new funds and growing cash income. CASE presented awards to: Rose Bruford College (Tier One), The University of the West of England (Tier Two) and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Tier Three). (The term ‘tier’ refers to the ratio of the match: Tier one 1:1; tier two 1:2, tier three 1:3. The matched funding scheme is a government-led programme that aims to increase voluntary giving to higher education providers.)

The money raised through the matched funding scheme will be used to help equip our new building, Milton Court. Milton Court will have a new state-of-the-art, 610-seat concert

hall plus two theatres (225-seat and studio), three rehearsal rooms, a TV studio suite, departments for costume, wigs and make-up, office space, tutorial rooms and public foyers. This will allow the School to increase its programme in terms of variety, scope and volume, whilst continuing to attract the most highly-regarded teachers and best students internationally.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in London, Singapore and Mexico City, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is the professional organisation for advancement professionals who work in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing and other areas.

IN BRIEFLast Night SparkleMark Simpson (MMus Composition) was commissioned to write a 2.5-minute orchestral piece, entitled sparks, for the Last Night of the Proms. Jirí Belohlávek leads this year’s festivities in his final appearance as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. A composer and clarinettist, Mark has recently been selected for representation as a Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) artist.

Drama Office FarewellsDavid Cox, Assistant Head of Drama Administration, has retired after 38 years at the Guildhall School. We have also said farewell to Sharon Clarke, Drama Administrator, this summer. We would like to thank them both for their hard work and we wish them well for the future.

Student Union ElectionsDaisy Evans (BMus 3 Vocal Studies) and Alice Barber have been elected as President and Vice President of the Guildhall School Students’ Union for

2012/13. The 2012/13 SU Executive Committee will also include: Dominick Felix (Treasurer), Alison Langer (Administrative Officer) and Laurence Russell (Technical Coordinator).

New Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Governors

In July, Alderman David Graves and Deputy John Bennett became Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Former Chairman Tom Hoffman LLB stepped down after a maximum nine years’ service as a governor of the School.

Kate Hunter (Executive Director, CASE Europe), Principal Barry Ife and Head of Development Duncan Barker accept the award

19

September 2009EvEnt liStingS/gEtting in touch

Take Your Seat

Further information:

www.gsmd.ac.uk/takeyourseat or contact Elise Farmer in the Development Office: [email protected] / 020 7382 7179

An exceptional opportunity to put your name on a world-class performance venue

Be a part of our exciting new building at Milton Court, opening in 2013, and take a leading role by naming a seat in the Concert Hall or Theatre. Your donation will help provide the very best facilities for future generations of young artists.

Seats are available from £500 with engraved plaque.


20 GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS •AUTUMN / WINTER 201220

Alumni Community News

News

• Over to You • Reunions • Class Notes

Snapshots of SuccessGuildhall alumni are achieving extraordinary things all over the world – far more than we could possibly ever know, let alone report. Here are just a few UK headlines that have been brought to our attention – congratulations to you all!

Birthday Honours for Five AlumniFive music alumni have received honours for services to music and theatre in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2012.

Soloist Tasmin Little and Elaine Padmore, former Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, have been awarded OBEs for their services to

Music; James Beirne, Chief Executive at Live Theatre, was given an MBE for services to Theatre; and soul singer-songwriter Omar Lye Fook and Katie Tearle, former Head of Education at Glyndebourne, were given MBEs for services to Music.

BAFTAs go to Appropriate Actors

Dominic West (Acting 1995) and Monica Dolan (Acting 1991) won Best Leading Actor and Best Supporting Actress BAFTAs for their outstanding performances in the

ITV drama Appropriate Adult based around the investigation into the murders committed by Fred and Rosemary West.

ENO Young Singers Four of the eleven members of the ENO Young Singers Programme in the 2011/12 season are recent graduates of the Guildhall Opera Course: Katherine Broderick (Soprano 2007), Benedict Nelson (Baritone 2008), Duncan Rock (Baritone 2010) and Nicky Spence (Tenor 2009).

The ENO’s Young Singers Programme enables exceptionally talented UK-trained singers to perform with a major opera company while receiving specialist coaching, support and guidance. Membership of the ENO Young Singers Programme is by invitation only.

Katie Tearle

Dominic West (centre) with acting students


Over To You

Clive Timms on his Retirement Party

I approached my retirement party with a certain amount of apprehension! Janet Farmer had carefully arranged for that afternoon’s music rehearsal for Our Town to take place well away from the Music Hall, where the party was to be held, and furthermore had banished me to the Staff Room from the end of the rehearsal till she came to fetch me! However, in the event, my fears proved to be groundless. Janet had masterminded a hugely enjoyable and original event which brought together a large number of past and present students and staff and

some colleagues from my previous incarnations at ENO and Opera North.

My initial impression on entering the Music Hall was ‘Where is everybody?’ The question was quickly answered when the curtain was drawn back to reveal a group of about 60 past and present students who, appropriately conducted by Dominic Wheeler and accompanied by Liz Marcus and Linnhe Robertson, sang the ‘Wach auf!’ chorus from Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg which I have been known to claim to be the greatest opera ever written! The sound these 60 voices produced can only

be described as ‘thrilling’. Further musical items followed, carefully selected by Janet from operas we have performed over the past 22 years, culminating in a performance of the Major General’s song from The Pirates of Penzance with a new, skillfully crafted and appropriate text written and performed by Roderick Williams and the chorus. Brilliant!

Thank you to everybody who came and also to those who signed or sent written contributions to my splendid ‘book of remembrance’. In addition I must thank everyone for your generosity in contributing to an equally splendid new laptop, which will remind me of all of you for many years to come. And most of all thank you to Janet for arranging a wonderful evening!

v Clive Timms Former head of opera

Guildhall Alumni in Valladolid, SpainI studied violin with David Takeno between 2002 and 2004 and graduated with Masters and Diploma degrees in violin performance. Currently I live in Valladolid, Spain, and I am playing in the Orquesta Sinfonia de Castilla y Leon as a 2nd violin player.

Here in the orchestra we have a total of five Guildhall alumni and another alumna is a teacher in the conservatoire of this city. Last November we gave a chamber concert with Guildhall alumnus Maxim Rysanov who is a Resident Artist of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon, and took this photograph to celebrate us all playing together (we were seven alumni in total).

P.S. The man behind me is not an alumnus…

v Hye Won Kim (Violin 2004)

Ximo Clemente (Assistant Double Bass), Jordi Creus (Assistant Cello), Laura de la Hoz (Teacher of Double Bass), Maxim Rysanov (Viola – Resident Artist), Ivan Garcia (2nd Violin), Joan Perarnau (Co-principal Double Bass) and Hye Won Kim (2nd Violin)

Clive shakes hands with Principal Barry Ife

Roderick Williams and chorus of alumni and students perform the Major General’s song


Over To you

United Voices of Guildhall Alumni?

Writer, broadcaster and psychotherapist, Christine Webber, remembers her years studying singing at the Guildhall, and wonders if we could form an alumni chorus.I suspect that most of us who read this magazine feel that the Guildhall School is etched on our DNA. Let’s face it, that’s where most of us grew up and first learned about the triumphs and disasters of real life.

Recently, Annie Buzzard (now Bowen) and I were reminiscing about our student years. We laughed about our general musicianship teacher John Whitworth telling us that he blew his nose on E flat. We recalled how persistent you had to be to get a practice room out of Brian, the Head Porter. And how Music Coach Cyril Gell was always running terribly late – but how he was so very worth waiting for. We also had vague memories of learning to drink alcohol in the Rose and Crown!

Of course, we had stratospheric hopes. Mine was to be as great as

Joan Sutherland. Unfortunately, I learned early on that though I’d been the best singer at my school, everyone else had been the best at their school and that – sadly – some of them were infinitely more talented than I was (Alan Opie, Lillian Watson, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Felicity Palmer). So, gradually, I shelved my starry dreams and set about finding a future that I’d be better at. I know that many other former students could recount a similar tale. But whatever we’ve all gone on to do, I’m prepared to bet that music has remained our true love. And that it’s probably at the core of who we are.

Annie asked, ‘Wouldn’t you love to sing now though?’ I realised immediately that I would. The more we thought about it, the more we liked the idea. And so the notion of an alumni chorus began to take shape.

I can think of all sorts of positive aspects to the plan. We’d expand our lungs and get oxygen rushing round our bodies. It would be sociable: just think who we might meet again – old flames, friends, former rivals … We’d be doing our grey cells a power of good: there’s growing evidence

that music has positive effects on the brain. But most of all, it would be fun.

There’s something special too about re-connecting with people who knew us before we became the individuals we are today. And I am sure that making new friends among other adults who understand what it was to have spent our formative years at the Guildhall would be very satisfying.

Could instrumentalists join? Most definitely. Actors? Why not? And of course we’d want lots of former singing students. We’ll also need at least one pianist, and probably a conductor too. Maybe then, the only absolute requirements should be that chorus members must have studied at the School and live near enough to London to come for rehearsals.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the idea to Rachel Dyson – the alumni manager. She was enthusiastic and promised to help, so long as there was sufficient interest in the project.

So – who’s interested? Does anyone other than Annie and me want to do this? I hope so. If you don’t, we’ll settle for singing duets.

v Christine Webber (Voice 1968)

If you would be interested in joining an alumni chorus, or volunteering to help run it, please email [email protected] to let us know.

Alumni Mentoring ProgrammeOver the next six months, the Guildhall School will conduct research into possible ways to further develop links between our students and the professions they intend to enter on leaving the School. One possibility

is the development of a cross-School alumni/student mentoring programme and as part of our research, we would like to know how many of our alumni from all subject areas might be interested in helping

our students and recent graduates by becoming a mentor. If mentoring sounds like something you would be interested in, please let us know by emailing [email protected].


MusicChristina Athinodorou (Composition 2005)

Christina was recently awarded Laureate Diploma in the VI International Prokofiev Composition Competition. Her piece Alma for solo viola and orchestra, composed in 2011, was performed in Russia by the Saint Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Titov with Alexei Bogorad on the viola.

www.athinodorou.com

Simon Coleman (Jazz 1997)

Simon had two works premiered at the Paralympic Torch Lighting Ceremony at Stoke Mandeville.

Simon co-produced the music to Driving Inspiration: Light Up the World, an animation celebrating the history and values of the Paralympics. The animation was created by 500 disabled and non-disabled young people from twelve countries across the globe. The second work he had premiered was his music for a short documentary, The Mandeville Legacy, charting the birth of the Paralympics.

Benjamin Ellin (Composition 2002)

My debut CD, Three States at Play, is out now. It is an all string CD and features Rivka Golani, Nic Pendlebury and a great string section.

Matthew Featherstone (Flute 2010)

Matthew has been appointed Principal Flute of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. This follows on from his success in the Royal Over-Seas League earlier this year when he was awarded first prize in the Wind and Percussion Section.

Christian Forshaw (Saxophone 1995)

In July 2009 Christian Forshaw was commissioned to write and perform a piece for the unveiling of the Hyde Park memorial to the London bombing victims of 7 July, 2005. The performance came about as a result of the bond through music that had formed between Christian and Julie Nicholson, whose daughter Jenny was killed in the bombings. The relationship has led to Songs of Solace, an album and musical response to Julie Nicholson’s book A Song for Jenny, published by Harper Collins.

The instrumental track Remembrance, which was commissioned by the Department of Sport and Culture and performed at the remembrance ceremony by

Class Notes

Vashti Hunter (Cello 2009)

My piano trio, Trio Gaspard, won 1st prize at the 5th International Joseph Haydn Music Competition in Vienna (24 February-3 March). Additionally, we won the special prize for the best interpretation of a work by Haydn.

I have also just got back from Prague, where I won 3rd prize at the International Cello Competition Prague Spring (8-15 May) playing the Dvořák Cello Concerto at the Rudolfinum Hall in the final. I believe I am the only British person to have been awarded a prize at this cello competition!

Mark Llewelyn Evans (Baritone 1994)

In March, Mark released a single with the Band of the Welsh Guards for the Welsh Guards Afghanistan Appeal called Tell My Father – with support track Men of Harlech, the regimental slow march of the Guards. It was made with the generous support of many artists and technicians, all of whom gave their time and talents for free. Tell My Father reached Number 1 in the Singles and Military charts.

Mark has successfully raised more than £35,000 to date for the appeal fund to help soldiers and their families who are suffering as a result of the conflict in Afghanistan and is currently busy working on his new album, out next year.

Forshaw, is included on the album in its original version for organ and saxophone. Songs of Solace was released on 7 July 2012. Despite the subject of the album, Forshaw didn’t want the spirit of the album to be dark and morbid (although there are elements of the uglier side of grief) but full of light, beauty and hope.www.christianforshaw.com

Georg Gädker (Baritone 2008)

Georg has won 2nd prize at the 16th International Robert Schumann Competition for Pianists and Singers 2012. The competition, which is held every four years, takes place in Zwickau, the birthplace of Robert Schumann.

Gary Griffiths (Baritone 2010) and Hannah Stone (Harp 2010)

Congratulations to Gary and Hannah on their marriage earlier this summer.

Further congratulations go to Gary for winning the Welsh Singers Competition 2012, which means he will represent Wales in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2013.

GUILDHALL SCHOOL NEWS •AUTUMN / WINTER 201224

Class Notes

Carlos Lopez-Real (Jazz Saxophone 1995)

The E17 Jazz Collective, founded by saxophonist and Guildhall School professor of contemporary jazz Carlos Lopez-Real, has won the Arts and Culture award in the third Waltham Forest ‘Love your Borough’ Awards, which draw attention to community groups doing good work in the borough. E17 Jazz, which has been going since 2007, was the pick of around 200 nominations. Vocal professor Brigitte Beraha is also a key member of the collective and was at the ceremony with Carlos to receive the award.

www.e17jazz.com

Neville Mackinder (Bassoon/Double Bass/Conducting 1958)

Congratulations to Neville, who won the prize draw in the Spring/Summer 2012 edition of Guildhall School News, receiving a copy of Marian McPartland’s documentary In Good Time on DVD.

Andrew O’Brien (Tenor 2008)

Andrew has led the Music Department at Heath Mount School in Hertfordshire for the past three years and this year, he led a choir from the school to win the Songs of Praise Junior School Choir of the Year Competition 2012.

This was the fourth occasion that Heath Mount had made it through to the finals of the BBC show, and so Andrew

and the children were delighted to have secured the coveted title at last. Andrew said, “Last year the Choir were amazing. This year they are extraordinary! These children have all worked so hard. They have put their hearts and souls into this performance, and you can really hear it in the music.”

Lucy Parham (Piano 1989) and Dominic West (Acting 1995)

I have created four words and music evenings about the complex love lives of these composers: Chopin and George Sand, Schumann and Brahms with Clara Schumann, Debussy – and Liszt (with his many women!).

Actors that have joined me in over 100 performances to date include Edward Fox, Alex Jennings, Juliet Stevenson, Martin Jarvis, Joanna David, Samuel West, Timothy West, Harriet Walter, Brendan Coyle, Gabrielle Drake, Charles Dance, Henry Goodman and, of course, Dominic West.

I am performing Reverie – the life and loves of Claude Debussy with Dominic at the Wigmore Hall on 30 December (part of the London Piano Series) and at the Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford on 25 November, plus more dates in 2013.

www.lucyparham.com

Kendra Preston Leonard (Cello 1996)

Musicologist Kendra Preston Leonard’s recently published and forthcoming articles include ‘The Lady Vanishes: Vocality and Agency in Cinematic Ophelias,’ in The Afterlife of Ophelia, ed. Deanne Williams and Kaara L. Peterson; ‘A Great Desire: Autobiography in Louise Talma’s Early Vocal Works,’ Current Musicology, Issue 94/Fall 2012; and ‘Guides to Writing about Music,’ Journal of Music History Pedagogy, Vol. 2, No. 1.

Kendra has recently presented research at the 2012 Society for American Music conference, the 2012 South Central Society for 18th Century Studies conference and the 2011 American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars conference. She has also recently been appointed to the Membership and Professional Development committee of the American Musicological Society and serves as the Managing Editor of the Journal of Music History Pedagogy.

www.kendraprestonleonard.com

Toby Spence (Tenor 1995)

Toby won the Singer category at this year’s prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for his ‘vocal beauty and dramatic maturity’ in a range of operatic and concert repertoire, including the role of Lensky in ENO’s Eugene Onegin.

DramaSimon Baker (SMTT 1992)

Simon won Best Sound Design in the 2012 Laurence Olivier Awards for Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre. He is pictured centre celebrating with fellow alumna Jodie Whittaker.

Jemma Churchill, Elizabeth Heery and Sally Millest (Acting 1982)

Three alumnae from the 1982 Acting course have won the Southend Short Film Festival Award for their debut film collaboration, Beached. The trio have since set up their own production company, Two Three Island Films.

Jemma wrote: “Since leaving Guildhall, one of us [Sally Millest] became a director, one a script writer [Elizabeth Heery] and the other [Jemma Churchill] continued as an actor. It seemed obvious that we should pool our talents. Our children all work alongside us in the movie. Our partners appear in it, assisted with the edit and one composed the score.”

http://beached.twotreeislandfilms.com

PRIZE DRAW

For a chance to win a copy of Benjamin Ellin’s debut album Three States at Play on CD, send your full name and address to [email protected] by 31 October, quoting ‘Three States at Play’ in the subject line.


Johannes Johansson (1951 – 2012)

Johannes Johansson was born 1951 in in Karlskrona, Sweden. He studied Philosophy, History of Science and Musicology at Lund University, and Church Music, Choir Conducting and Composition at the Malmö Academy of Music. As a composer, he won international recognition for his works, which often combine voices, instruments and loudspeakers.

From 1999-2005 Johansson was one of two Directors at the Malmö Academy of Music and in 2011 he finished a successful six-year term as President of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC). He was also a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music and an Honorary Member both of the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

At the time of his death, Johannes Johansson was strongly committed to the development of the emerging field of artistic research at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm as well as both nationally and internationally. This work has also included the development of the reflective elements within programmes at all levels, particularly as part of artistic degree projects.

Ivan Lane (1915 – 2012)

Ivan Lane, an arranger, composer, conductor, songwriter and pianist has died aged 97.

Born Ivan Leventhal in New York City, the son of Russian immigrant parents, he studied Music at New York University and the Guildhall School. During the Second World War he served as a

In MemoriamClass Notes

PLEASE NOTE: These listings are collated from information sent in to us. They reflect only a tiny proportion of the exciting and varied things that our alumni do.

If you would like further information about any of the above, or are planning or thinking about planning a reunion that is not listed, please contact the Alumni Office ([email protected], 020 7382 2325).

Coming up3 November 2012 Hong Kong alumni lunch

21 January 2013 Annual New York Reunion

Reunions

Recent26 June 2012 Annual Musical Reunion (Recent graduates of Acting and Technical Theatre)

Amy Holland (SMTT 2005)

Amy is excited to be starting a new arts venture: her own branch of Make Believe Theatre School in Leytonstone. The school, which launched on 4 September, will offer lessons in drama, dance and singing for 3-18 year olds on Tuesdays and Sundays. You can follow Amy’s progress and get more information on Twitter where her username is @Amy_Lou_Holland.

Timothy Hulse (Acting 1997)

I own and run a Helen O’Grady Drama Academy in the south of Johannesburg, South Africa, teaching drama to children from 3-18 years – it is very rewarding and puts my Guildhall training to good use!

James Nelis (SMTT 1998)

Jim Nelis has just completed his teacher training at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus and finished top of the class.

Jim is the recipient of this year’s prestigious Biggar Award, which is presented each year to the student attaining the highest marks in the PCGE courses across all campuses. He was awarded Distinction in both the CIT and PGCE (FE) (Certificate in Teaching and Postgraduate Certificate in Education) at Ulster’s summer graduation ceremonies.

Jim now lectures in Lighting Design and Stage Management at Ulster’s Magee campus and in Theatre Production at the Northern Regional College.

PLACEYOURADVERTHEREIn future editions, it will be possible to advertise in Guildhall School News.

An advert in Guildhall School News magazine will reach over 7,000 named alumni of the Guildhall School and provide an opportunity to reach out directly to this high calibre, targeted audience. In addition to our alumni, Guildhall School staff, friends and supporters also receive the magazine and it is available in our foyer for students, audience members and other visitors to the School.

For more information, email [email protected]


staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps stationed in England, Germany and France.

Ivan was an arranger and pianist with the Guy Lombardo, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron and Freddy Martin orchestras. He went on to compose and arrange music for numerous international productions, film, ice shows and Las Vegas Strip productions.

During the 1960s and ‘70s, Lane was the orchestra leader at two LA nightspots, Ben Blue’s and the Top of the Hillcrest. He was then named entertainment director at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

His popular-song compositions include Long May We Love and Qu’est que c’est l’amour.

Jean Morton (1921-2012)

Former television presenter Jean Morton, known as Auntie Jean to fans of the popular 1960s ITV children’s programme Tingha and Tucker, has died aged 91.

Jean Morton trained as an actress at the Guildhall School, graduating just after the outbreak of the Second World War. She appeared in rep across Britain and entertained British troops with ENSA. After the war, she joined the Welsh Home Service as a continuity announcer, moving to ATV (the ITV franchise holder for the Midlands) in 1956.

She was particularly associated with Tingha and Tucker, the ATV programme for children, which ran from 1962 to 1970. She hosted the show as Auntie Jean. The show’s fan club was so successful that ATV couldn’t cope with the volume of mail and it had to be closed down. She later took on an executive role before retiring to Ibiza in 1985.

She was married to the late Bobbie Daniel.

Daphne Newington (d. 2012)

We are sad to report that Daphne Newington, the Guildhall School’s first ever Costume Mistress, has died after a short period of illness. Daphne died peacefully with her family around her at Patcham Nursing Home, Brighton.

James O’Brien (1947 – 2012)

Film and television director Jim O’Brien has died, aged 64.

Jim O’Brien won universal acclaim for the fourteen-part television series The Jewel in the Crown which he co-directed with Charles Morahan. The series won numerous awards and made stars of Geraldine James, Charles Dance and (fellow Guildhall alumnus) Art Malik.

Born in Dundee in 1947, the family moved to south London when he was two and he left school without any qualifications. At the age of seventeen, Jim enrolled at the Guildhall School to train as an actor after which he went to Nottingham Playhouse, where his performance in Barry Reckord’s Skivers earned him a Critics’ Nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to the English Stage.

Jim went on to train further as a director at the newly-founded National Film and Television School (NFTS) and began a successful career as a television director with the documentary Black Future (1977) for BBC Films. His last major work was a two-part television version adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1996) starring Charles Dance, Emilia Fox and Diana Rigg.

Away from production, Jim taught at the NFTS for a number of years, and later became Head of Direction at the Metropolitan Film School. He also played an active role in the Directors’ Guild of Great Britain.

Roy Ratnage (1942 – 2012)

Roy Ratnage was born in 1942 in Woodford, Essex. On leaving school he became a gardener like his father, before moving on to Fleet Street. He worked as a proof-reader for the Stratford Express, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Evening Standard. After leaving Fleet Street, he worked as a hallkeeper – first for a solicitors’ office and then for the Guildhall School from 1988.

After retiring to Grays, Essex, in 2004, he helped out at the Grays Athletic and Goodmayes Medics Football Clubs and was a member of Maylands Golf Club. Sadly, Roy was ill for the last three years of his life and lost a leg in November 2011.

I’m sure those of you who knew him will have fond memories of his time here at the School.

v Nicholas Hirst Facilities assistant

In Memoriam


Stay in touch

Stay in touch!In 2006 the Guildhall School set up a dedicated Alumni Office to contact and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with former students, staff and fellows. We are gradually reconnecting with more of our alumni community and are now in contact with approximately 7,500 in over 50 countries worldwide.

Given the sometimes nomadic nature of the industries that many of you work in, it is all too easy for us to lose touch with our alumni and friends. We rely on you to keep us informed of your address (either post or email) changes. Please do keep in touch.

We currently have over 10,000 ‘lost alumni’ on our database for whom we do not have current contact details and, wherever possible, we would like to find them. If you are in touch with or meet alumni of the Guildhall School, and you are not certain that they hear from us, please email their details to us ([email protected]) or ask them to contact us directly.

See below for Alumni Office contact details.

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Silk Street, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DT

Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 2571 Fax: +44 (0)20 7256 9438

www.gsmd.ac.uk

Guildhall School News Email: [email protected]

Alumni Office Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 2325

Development Office Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 7179

Photo Credits

Lorenzo Agius, Mark Allan, Jonathan Ang, Clive Barda, Ian Dingle, Kate Eberwein, Jo Hutchinson, Helen Maybanks, Alastair Muir, Robert Piwko, Rosie Reed Gold, Amanda Stephen, Clive Totman, James Wilson, Jonathan Woolf

CORRECTION

The caption on page 18 of Spring/Summer 2012 edition should have read “Christopher Dunn at the Lutine Prize 2011”, not Richard Rayner as published. Apologies to all concerned for this error.

Carl Sutton (1959 – 2012)

Carl Sutton’s career at the Guildhall School spanned almost thirty years. Although he will probably be best remembered as half of the Audio-Visual team, he began in the School’s theatre. He became John Roffey’s assistant in lighting and sound in February 1980, following a spell as a sound operator in the West End.

A few years later, a post arose in the AV department, and Carl saw an opportunity to expand his skills into the recording studio. He quickly became an integral part of the two-man team, and we were amused to find that he and I were known to the students as Batman and Robin as we rushed around setting up equipment. His willingness to embrace new challenges was rewarded with a Principal’s Bonus for work on a computer marking moderation system for the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition, and his best work for the School was done in the radio drama studio, where he could combine his passion for theatre with his recording expertise.

Carl’s health suffered as time went on, from his serious cancer in 2002 to the circulatory problems which forced his departure from the School seven years later and eventually resulted in his death in May at the age of 52. He will be remembered as part of the Guildhall furniture, and remains one of the longest-serving staff members the School has ever had.

v David Foister head of audio-Visual

In Memoriam

David Foister and Carl Sutton

Want to know what’s happening at the Guildhall School before anyone else?

Join the Guildhall CircleFor a donation of £30 a year or more you will receive:

• Advance copies of the Guildhall School events guides detailing all operas, plays, musicals, concerts and recitals

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In addition, your donation will provide vital support for students at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. For further information pick up a leaflet in the School, visit our website at www.gsmd.ac.uk, email us at [email protected] or call Elise Farmer in the Development Office on 020 7382 7179.

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Guildhall School News Autumn 2012

Documents

Transcript of Guildhall School News Autumn 2012