Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent
musicThe term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
and
dramatic arts schoolA drama school or theatre school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution ; which specialises in the pre-professional training in drama and theatre arts, such as acting, design and technical theatre, arts administration, and...
which was founded in 1880 in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.
History
The first Guildhall School was housed in an old warehouse in Aldermanbury, but these premises soon proved too small. A new purpose-built building in John Carpenter Street was designed by City
ArchitectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Sir Horace Jones and opened in December 1886. It is owned by the City of London Corporation and takes its name from the Corporation's historic headquarters at the
GuildhallThe Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
, though it was never based there. Before 1935 it was known as the
Guildhall School of Music. Since 1977 it has been situated next to the Barbican Arts Centre in the Barbican Complex.
In 2004, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's external examinations department merged with the performing arts examinations division of
Trinity College LondonTrinity College London is an international examinations board based in London, England. TCL offers qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and arts education and English language learning and teaching...
to form Trinity Guildhall Examinations. Today, Trinity Guildhall offers qualifications in performing and teaching in areas such as music, speech and drama, and
danceDance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
to external students.
Present day
The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as the Junior Guildhall, a Saturday school serving students from 4 to 18 years of age.
The school's outreach activities won the
Queen's Anniversary PrizeThe Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education is a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to Universities and Colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom...
in 2005. The school was awarded a consecutive
Queen's Anniversary PrizeThe Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education is a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to Universities and Colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom...
in 2007 in recognition of the outstanding achievements and work of the Opera Programme.
The school's performance facilities include a 308-seat drama and opera theatre, concert hall, lecture/recital hall and a small studio theatre. In addition, students of the school regularly perform in other London venues, including the
Barbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
, the Bridewell Theatre (off Fleet Street), the Soho Theatre, the Swan (Stratford) and the Royal Court.
Future
In 2008 work began to redevelop the Milton Court complex, which is near to the School's main building and part of which has been used by the School for several years. The new 48-floor building, funded by the
City of LondonThe City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
and developed by
Heron InternationalHeron International is a United Kingdom based property development company. Founded by the Ronson family as a furniture retailer, it came to prominence in the 1980s as the UK's largest operator of self-service petrol stations...
, will house a 650-seat concert hall, a 220-seat theatre and a 90-seat studio theatre, as well as studios for television, radio, teaching, rehearsal, office and support services. The extension to the School is estimated to cost around £90million.
Notable alumni
- For a list of alumni see :Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- See also the list of winners of the Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, is awarded in April of each year to the winner of the school's music competition.-List of winners of the Gold Medal:*1910: Myra Hess *1924: Isidore Godfrey *1933: Max Jaffa...
Notable staff
- Richard Baker
Richard Baker is a British composer and conductor, known equally for his own highly charged and distinctive music and for his performances of contemporary music, especially the music of his contemporaries in the UK.-Life:...
- Nelly Ben-Or
Nelly Nechama Ben-Or, also known as Nelly Ben-Or Clynes, was born in 1933 in Lwow in Poland. She is an international concert pianist and a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she has taught the piano and the Alexander Technique since 1975. She is also a Holocaust...
- Neil Black
Neil Black OBE is an internationally known oboist and a professor at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Starting on the oboe at age 11, Black did not initially consider music as a career. He attended Oxford University and earned a degree in History. Three years after finishing at Oxford,...
, oboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
- Aylmer Buesst
Aylmer Buesst was an Australian conductor, teacher and scholar, who spent his career in the United Kingdom. He was mainly associated with opera and vocal music...
- Tony Church
- William Cummings
William Hayman Cummings , born in Sidbury in Devon, was an English musician, tenor and organist at Waltham Abbey....
- Norman Del Mar
Norman Del Mar CBE was a British conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialized in the music of late romantic composers; including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He left a great legacy of recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Vaughan Williams,...
- Liam Garrigan
Liam Garrigan is an English theatre and television actor. As a youth he attended classes at Kingston upon Hull's Northern Stage Company and was a student at Wyke College, Kingston upon Hull.Garrigan trained as a professional actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the City of London...
star of film and TV drama
- Julian Gavin
Julian Gavin is an Australian-born operatic tenor who has sung leading roles both in the United Kingdom and internationally. His full-length opera recordings include Don José in Carmen and the title roles in Ernani and Don Carlos for Chandos Records.-Biography:Julian Gavin was born in Melbourne to...
, opera singer
- Eli Goren
The Allegri Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1953 by Eli Goren and William Pleeth.It is Britain's longest-running chamber music ensemble, sustained over six decades by successive generations of performers....
, violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Harry Gregson-Williams
Harry Gregson-Williams is a prolific British composer, orchestrator, conductor, and music producer. He is best known for his film scores, of which he has composed over sixty using electronic music and orchestral pieces...
- Walter Grüner
- John Hosier
John Hosier CBE, was a musical educator. He was born with stunted fingers so was unable to play a musical instrument himself, but nonetheless he devoted his life to music and music education...
(Principal 1978-89)
- Max Jaffa
Max Jaffa O.B.E. was a British light orchestral violinist and bandleader. He established a reputation in the field of light music which was unparalleled in Britain....
violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Graham Johnson
- Gwynn Parry Jones
Parry Jones , known early in his career as Gwynn Jones, was a Welsh tenor of the mid-twentieth century.-Life and career:...
- Yvonne Kenny
Yvonne Kenny AM is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel and Mozart roles.Born in Sydney, she first studied at the University of Sydney in science, hoping to become a biochemist, but decided to pursue a career in music instead...
, opera singer
- Matthew King (composer)
Matthew King is a British composer and pianist. His works include opera, piano and chamber music, choral and orchestral pieces.-Career:...
- Thea King
Dame Thea King DBE FRCM FGSM was a British clarinettist.Thea King was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Henry Walter Mayer King, the manager of a family engineering business, George. W. King Ltd., based in Hitchin then Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and his wife, Dorothea...
clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
- Yfrah Neaman
Yfrah Neaman OBE was a violinist and an eminent pedagogue.He was born in Sidon, Lebanon to Jewish parents from Palestine. He studied in Paris with Jaques Thibaud, and then settled in London where he continued his studies with Carl Flesch and Max Rostal....
- Paul Newland
Paul Newland is a British composer of contemporary classical music. He has won numerous prizes, including the RPS Composition Prize 1990, a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 1993, and in 1995 he was awarded the Royal Academy of Music's Josiah Parker Prize by György Ligeti...
- William Pleeth
William Pleeth OBE was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré.- Early years :...
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Rachel Podger
Rachel Podger is an English violinist specialising in the performance of baroque music. She often conducts baroque orchestras from the violin, and in 2004 took up a guest directorship with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, having previously been leader of The English Concert from 1997 to...
- Don Rendell
Donald Percy 'Don' Rendell is an English jazz musician and arranger, specialising on tenor saxophone, but also playing soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet....
- David Pollard
- Patsy Rodenburg
Patsy Rodenburg, OBE is a British voice coach and theatre director. She is the Director of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre....
- Max Rostal
Max Rostal was a violinist and a viola player. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship.-Biography:Max Rostal was born in Cieszyn and studied with Carl Flesch. He won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1925...
, violinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, violaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
, composer
- David Takeno
- Vilém Tauský
Vilém Tauský CBE was a Czech conductor and composer.-Life:Vilém Tauský was from a musical family: his Viennese mother had sung Mozart at the Vienna State Opera under Gustav Mahler, and her cousin was the operetta composer Leo Fall.Tauský studied with Leoš Janáček and later became a repetiteur at...
, conductorConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
- Pamela Thorby
- Sarah Walker, singer
External links