Leading international musicians join Royal College of Music as professors

Thursday 16 January 2020

The Royal College of Music is delighted to welcome a roster of leading international musicians who join the College as professors this year. The College’s dedicated and experienced professors come from all over the world and include musicians at the forefront of their fields.  

Acclaimed composer Dr Dimitri Scarlato joins the College as Area Leader in Composition for Screen. Dimitri completed his Doctorate at the RCM in 2015 under the supervision of William Mival. He is an active film composer whose credits include City in the Sky directed by Giacomo Cimini, selected for the 2009 Venice Film Festival. He also worked on pre-production of the music for Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd and was the conducting coach for actor Michael Caine in Paolo Sorrentino’s 2015 film Youth. As well as composing for film, Dimitri is active as a conductor, arranger and composer of concert music and opera.

Joining the RCM as Head of Conducting is conductor Toby Purser. Toby was an ENO Mackerras Conducting Fellow 2016-18 and is Musical Director of the Vienna Opera Festival and Academy, where he mentors young singers and conductors. He was appointed Musical Director of New Sussex Opera in 2018 and has also worked with Grange Park Opera, Lyric Opera Ireland and Opéra National de Paris, among others. In 2005 Toby founded the Orion Orchestra, of which he remains Principal Guest Conductor. He teaches as director of the summer conducting course at Aberystwyth MusicFest and is Artistic Director of the Peace and Prosperity Trust, which seeks to raise funds for charities in the Middle East. 

Acclaimed British soprano Sarah Tynan joins the Vocal and Opera Faculty, having previously visited the College to examine and adjudicate vocal competitions and performances. Sarah has been lauded for her performances in the UK and internationally and works regularly with leading orchestras, opera companies and ensembles across the globe. She was awarded the Welsh Theatre Award for Best Female in an Opera Production for her portrayal of Manon Lescaut in Henze’s Boulevard Solitude at Welsh National Opera in 2015. Sarah was recently named in the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 list of London’s most influential people.

Other recent appointments include Ilya Kondratiev, Mengyang Pan, Caterina Grewe and Dinara Klinton in the Keyboard Faculty; violinist Alexander Gilman as Visiting Professor in the Strings Faculty; bassoonists Emily Hultmark and Roberto Giaccaglia in the Woodwind Faculty; and double bass and violone player Carina Cosgrave in Historical Performance.

Find out more about the RCM’s faculties and professors here.