Royal College of Music premieres new operas in summer season
Wednesday 4 April 2018
In its upcoming summer season, the Royal College of Music marks 200 years since the publication of Frankenstein – The Modern Prometheus with five brand new mini-operas produced by RCM composers in association with Tête à Tête. Based on the themes of monstrosity and scientific idealism that permeate Mary Shelley’s literary masterpiece, the operas are performed by RCM singers on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 May.
This year’s RCM Festival of Percussion on Sunday 6 May features one of the world’s leading drummers, Mark Giuliana. Admired across the spectrum from jazz to rock to electronic music, Guiliana has appeared on many acclaimed recordings including David Bowie’s Blackstar. The festival features appearances from West End percussionists Damien Manning and James Powell, players from The Royal Opera House, the Coldstream Guards, O Duo and Ensemble Bash amongst many others.
There is an opera double-bill with RCM alumnus Huw Watkins' one act opera In the Locked Room, based on a work by Thomas Hardy, and Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse. Renowned theatre director Stephen Unwin joins conductor Michael Rosewell for these two thrilling and mysterious productions, taking the audience from a remote Scottish Isle to the dramatic inner workings of the human mind on Wednesday 27 and Friday 29 June, and Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 July.
This season’s Orchestral Masterworks series includes a performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello by RCM Concerto Competition winners Yume Fujise and Jamal Aliyev. They perform under the baton of Martin André on Thursday 3 May. Howard Williams leads the RCM Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite on Tuesday 26 June.
The string-based activity continues on Sunday 13 May with the RCM’s annual Super String Sunday, with repertoire ranging from JS Bach to Eugene Ysaye. On Thursday 28 June Polonsky Visiting Professor of Violin Maxim Vengerov returns to lead an orchestral masterclass on Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Vengerov tops an impressive list of world-renowned musicians giving masterclasses at the RCM this season, including virtuoso violinist Vasco Vassilev and celebrated harpist Marisa Robles.
Royal College of Music musicians perform this season in some of London’s most prestigious musical venues. Premiere performer Pinchas Zukerman gives an unmissable workshop with RCM performers at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 27 June. At Wigmore Hall on Sunday 1 July the RCM Junior Department presents their Young Artists Concert and the Strings Faculty presents the RCM String Showcase. From Friday 11 - Sunday 13 May RCM musicians and professors feature in three events at a festival devoted to Ligeti at Southbank Centre.
General booking for the Royal College of Music’s Summer Season opens on Wednesday 11 April 2018. For full details of what’s on this summer visit www.rcm.ac.uk/events, call the RCM Box Office on 020 7591 4314, or visit the RCM in person on Prince Consort Road, SW7.
