Governance & organisation

Colin read music at Oxford and was subsequently awarded an MA at Birmingham University for his work on the eighteenth-century clarinet. His subsequent doctoral research into the chalumeau in eighteenth-century music (1976; published by UMI in 1981) remains the most extensive study of the instrument and its repertoire. He taught at Aberdeen, Sheffield and London Universities before moving to Thames Valley University as Pro Vice-Chancellor (2001-5). At TVU he was Dean of an arts faculty that contained some 8,000 students, with a curriculum ranging over a wide creative and technological spectrum. In July 2005 he became Director of the Royal College of Music, London, where he holds a Personal Chair in Historical Performance.

Colin has an international profile as a period clarinettist and has played principal in most of Britain's leading period orchestras, notably The Hanover Band, The English Concert and the London Classical Players, with whom he has recorded extensively and toured world-wide. Described recently as 'a brilliant, absolutely world-class player' (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) and ‘the doyen of period clarinettists’ (BBC Music Magazine), he has appeared as soloist in many international venues, including London's major concert halls and New York's Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. His discography comprises concertos by Fasch, Hook, Mahon, Mozart, Spohr, Telemann, Vivaldi and Weber, as well as a considerable variety of chamber music. Among his most recent recordings are two highly-acclaimed discs of basset horn trios by Mozart and Stadler, and a CD of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and associated fragments which reached the top 20 in the classical charts.

Colin has published widely on historical performance practice, especially for Cambridge University Press. He is editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet and author of Cambridge Handbooks to Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet. He is co-editor of a series of Cambridge Handbooks to the Historical Performance of Music, for which he has co-authored an introductory volume (1999) and a book on the early clarinet (2000). He is also editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra (2003). Most recently he co-edited The Cambridge History of Musical Performance, which appeared in February, 2012.

Colin holds an honorary doctorate in music from the University of Sheffield. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2016 for services to music and music education.

Kevin Porter is Deputy Director of the Royal College of Music, where he has worked since 1994, leading the administration of the College, with a particular focus on international initiatives, governance and strategy.

His early career was in quality assurance, first at the University of East London and then for the Council for National Academic Awards. He then moved to London Guildhall University where he worked in governance and academic policy, as well as Quality Assurance. Kevin was a Specialist Assessor for the Association of University Administrators, Chairman of the Conservatoires UK Academic Administration Committee and he also chaired the CUK initiative to develop a new admissions service, UCAS Conservatoires.

He is currently a member of the Royal Albert Hall Council and he chaired the Board of KCG internal audit consortium until 2022, among an involvement in a range of HE sector organisations. His article ‘Management in the Conservatoire of the Future: administering or leading?’ was published in journal Studies in Higher Education in 1998 and, with Jeffrey Weeks OBE, he co-edited the oral history ‘Between the acts : lives of homosexual men, 1885-1967’.

Aida joined the Royal College of Music in January 2017 and brings a wealth of experience advising high-profile complex organisations on business-focused strategic estate planning and delivery of high-quality customer-focused facilities and services.

As a leader in corporate real estate, she has worked within established consultancy practices and client-side organisations, managing estates, operations and design of a diverse range of complex projects in the UK and overseas.

Aida is a former British Airports Authority (BAA) portfolio leader. As a part of a four billion pound capital transformation programme she led the BAA Capital transformation team, setting strategic vision and delivering a range of capital projects and services for Heathrow‘s Western and Eastern Campus. Her other achievements include successful implementation of innovative evidence-based strategies that improved space utilisation, increased retail revenue and enhanced customer experience for the BAA departure lounges of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton.

In her early career, Aida held positions with Miller, Gensler and Fitzroy Robinson, where she was responsible for a number of high-profile projects, leveraging construction and design to help her clients achieve their strategic goals. She successfully led multidisciplinary teams of architects, engineers and branding specialists to foster design excellence and advise a range of clients including Canary Wharf Group, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Clifford Chance and Polo Ralph Lauren. Aida’s in-depth understanding of design and its role within the building development process, combined with her collaborative team approach, made her highly sought after by colleagues and clients.

Aida is a Chartered Architect and holds a Master of Arts from Central Saint Martins - University of the Arts London.

Lily Harriss has an impressive track record in fund raising and high performance team development.

The wealth of experience and history of accomplishments that Lily brings to the role include the establishment and leadership of the Development and Communications Team for Picture our Future: The Campaign for Dulwich Picture Gallery. During the campaign, which had a total goal of £20 million, Lily personally managed the completion of over £18.5 million in gifts and pledges.

Her other achievements at Dulwich Picture Gallery include the overseeing of multi-million pound gift agreements (including a pacesetting £13 million family contribution and a £6 million corporate bank strategy), leading strategic planning exercises, writing business cases, and aligning funding practices with strategic goals. Lily has also trained staff in a variety of fundraising and management practices with a focus on good business practice.

Lily’s most recent roles have included Director of Development at English Heritage (Interim), Director of University Fundraising at King’s College London and King’s Health Partners, and Strategic Counsel for LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre).

Originally from Canada, Lily was previously Director of Development, Corporations and Foundations at Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario), accountable for more than $11 million in receipted gifts in one year. She managed the restructuring and building of her Development team and is credited with establishing a corporate and foundation partnership programme with the various units across campus. She also worked on two major campaigns at Queen’s University and was the author of a comprehensive End of Campaign Report. During her tenure, Queen’s endowment grew to become one of the largest post-secondary funds in Canada.

In her early career, Lily worked as a fundraising and communications professional at various organisations including the Downtown Toronto Jazz Festival, the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, the Edmonton Symphony, and the Art Gallery of Ontario. She began her career in volunteer management.

Talia Hull has joined the RCM as Director of Communications and brings a wealth of experience advising high-profile, complex organisations, specialising in strategic communications, issues management and brand repositioning. She has led successful external campaigns for the BBC, Warner Music and National Magazines (now Hearst).

She was previously Communications Director for littledesk pr advising a range of clients including the Incorporated Society of Musicians, The Space (a digital arts platform from Arts Council England in partnership with the BBC) and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Talia is a former Head of Communications for BBC Radio 3 & Classical Music TV and spent a number of years managing the public profile of Warner Classics’ four international record labels – Erato, Teldec, Nonesuch and Finlandia.

Stephen Johns read music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was organ scholar. Trained at Abbey Road Studios, he has spent nearly 30 years in the recording industry as a classical record producer for a wide range of companies. He worked for EMI Classics from 1998, taking the role of Vice-President, Artists and Repertoire, in 2008. Stephen has worked with artists including Sir Simon Rattle, the late Bernard Haitink, Sir Antonio Pappano, Evgeny Kissin, Msitslav Rostropovich, Kyung Wha Chung, Emmanuel Pahud, and ensembles around the world including the Berliner Philharmoniker and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

During his career recordings he has produced have received numerous international accolades including four Grammy Awards and five Gramophone Awards, the latter most recently for the Warner Classics studio recording of Verdi Aida.

Stephen joined the Royal College of Music in 2010 in the newly created role of Artistic Director.

Rachel Harris joined the RCM as Director of Finance in November 2019 after seven years in the Higher Education sector at the University of Surrey, most recently as Director of Research & Strategic Finance. She also brings a wealth of experience from the commercial sector, having worked at the international telecommunications company O2 for twelve years in a broad variety of Senior Finance roles including Commercial Controller, Group Head of Analysis, Group Chief Accountant and Group Financial Controller. In her early career she worked in the audit and business advisory practice at Arthur Andersen, then at Universal Music and Thorn EMI.

Rachel read Mathematics and Management Studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.