Monday
Early Monday morning is always a good moment to catch up with the weekend’s correspondence and to set priorities for the forthcoming week before the inevitable schedule of meetings begins. First up is a regular catch-up with Dr Diana Salazar, the Royal College of Music’s Director of Programmes, where our main topic of conversation is preparations for this year’s review of our BMus undergraduate degree.
It’s an exciting opportunity to review our programmes considering the constantly evolving industry landscape. This ensures we are equipping our students with the requisite skills not only to be the finest quality musicians but also to acquire entrepreneurship and creative skills that will propel their future careers forward. It’s then straight into a meeting to select the student winners of the Great Exhibitionist Festival, a commission project we stage annually showcasing imaginative interdisciplinary performances. There are some breathtakingly creative entries and it’s a challenge to narrow down the finalists. I’m then off to welcome His Excellency The Ambassador of Japan, who is attending a student seminar given by Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi. We enjoy a post-seminar reception before I leave for another, welcoming guests attending our opera premiere performance in our Britten Theatre featuring music by Britten, Weill and Ravel.
Tuesday
The day begins with a diary review and guest list discussion with my assistant for a forthcoming Royal College of Music Gala Dinner. One of the joys of the director role is that I have the honour of sitting on the boards for several charitable trusts and today marks the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation’s annual meeting to offer grants to talented young musicians.
We then have our weekly Directorate meetings, where senior Royal College of Music colleagues share news of departmental priorities. We also discuss key strategic matters for the college which in turn is followed by an online meeting with fellow principals from the three other Royal Schools of Music [the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland]. Whilst we are competitors, we are also great colleagues, and I really value the support and friendship they’ve extended to me during my first few weeks in this post. Lord Black, Royal College of Music Chairman, and I meet to discuss the agenda for the forthcoming Council meeting before I take a new donor on a tour of the college and out to dinner. The Royal College of Music has a wonderful community of supporters, and their generosity plays a vital role in helping us to fulfil
our mission.
Wednesday
Alongside my role as Director, I’m also filling in as Artistic Director until our new colleague Andrew Moore begins in March. My day starts with a meeting with the Head of Performance, Programming & Faculties to review our summer 2025 artistic programmes and discuss key visiting artist invitations. We run over 550 public performances annually, including a rich diversity of music, and I’m always in awe of our staff’s capacity to deliver this unique programme.
I welcome another new donor to the college including a tour and coffee. After a brief spot of lunch, I enjoy a glorious three hours adjudicating concerto auditions, our students competing for a place in the finals. The standard is incredibly impressive and it’s fantastic to hear lesser-known works by Coleridge-Taylor, Dubois and Horovitz. I seamlessly slip into a meeting with a Council member who wishes to discuss future philanthropic support ahead of the Royal College of Music opera. The audience adores the beautiful sets and costumes, and our Opera Studio vocalists perform beautifully!
Thursday
It’s a morning of administration, getting to grips with our new finance system and meeting our Director of Estates to map out our capital expenditure plans to ensure we can continue to maintain and develop our beautiful buildings and facilities.
I host in my office a “Boston Tea Party” for our visiting cohort of 13 students from Boston University, with whom the RCM runs an experience programme. I then hot foot it across town to attend the board meeting of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM), of whom the Royal College of Music is a founding member, and I am now a trustee. It’s great to see ABRSM colleagues and hear about the pioneering work they are undertaking to further music education across the world. With a fellow trustee, it’s a dash on the tube back to the college to attend our own Council and Board meeting where we sign off our annual accounts and host our AGM. Council members make such a valued contribution to the Royal College of Music’s success, and I’m constantly inspired by their knowledge and passion for the college. I quickly grab a sandwich as I settle into an evening concert performance by the RCM New Perspectives Ensemble which includes a fantastic world premiere by a student composer.
Friday
The day starts early with a visit to the Royal College of Music’s Prince Consort Village, a purpose-built halls of residence for 400 students, complete with music rooms and state-of-the-art facilities.
I meet two orchestra directors later in the morning (one from London and one from Canada) and then review with our Director of Communications a first draft of our Annual Report 2023-24. It reminds me quite how much performance, teaching and research takes place annually at the college! After quickly reviewing next week’s seating plan for the Gala Dinner, I head to our Performance Studio to hear a performance of new compositions from Year 1 undergraduate composers, inspired and performed against the glorious projected backdrop of images from the National History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The project is repeated on Saturday at the museum, but my weekend diary is already full attending the performance of our Junior Department’s Symphony Orchestra and the final performance of our opera.
A week at the Royal College of Music as Director requires stamina, but I’m rewarded daily by the exceptional music-making I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by and the inspirational colleagues and students I work with. I feel extremely lucky.
