Going to university in another country is like journeying to a different world. Excitement and discovery await, but you do miss home and family a lot.
When Midia Kalou first moved from her home in Paphos, Cyprus, to Manchester, England, to attend the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), she was homesick. Not only was she far away from loved ones, but she also felt disconnected from Greek and Cypriot traditional music. To reconnect with her culture, she came up with the idea of the “Ventis Vocal Ensemble.”
“I wanted to find a way to stay in contact with the Greek and Cypriot repertoire but also practise, explore, and educate myself in other musical styles of other cultures,” she says.
The birth of the Ventis Vocal Ensemble sings the harmony of culture and identity, of which five female vocalists from RNCM continue to experiment with. In June this year, they held their first solo spotlight concert, where they took charge in creating their own performance.
“It was a great opportunity for us to learn how to artistically manage such an event as an ensemble, but also how to listen more effectively to each other and work better as a group,” says Kalou.
The vocal ensemble is an embodiment of the RNCM community. Home to over 900 students from more than 60 countries, this is a global conservatoire that welcomes all backgrounds and aspirations. Based in a city that lives and breathes music, RNCM is where students have all the support and resources they need to achieve amazing things both on and off stage.
In 2023, RNCM was rated Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework. Source: Royal Northern College of Music
Programmes that are right for you
For over 50 years, the college has been at the forefront of music education globally. It was rated Gold in all areas of the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework and #5 for music in the 2024 QS University World Rankings (alongside The Juilliard School in New York). These are the latest additions to its multiple Times Higher Education and Greater China Awards, as well as a Global Teaching Excellence Award.
These awards are a reflection of RNCM’s world-class programmes. They include the Bachelor of Music with Honours and the UK’s only Bachelor of Music with Honours in Popular Music. The Graduate Diploma is a course paired with The University of Manchester’s Bachelor of Music programme.
Postgraduate programmes include the Master of Music, the Master of Performance, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Studies. For musicians under 18, RNCM runs several programmes to grow a new generation of creative youths, including the Junior RNCM, RNCM Young programmes, RNCM Young Projects, as well as public performance opportunities.
Each student has the flexibility to build a curriculum that fits the future they want. It’s a bare music sheet that you can fill with your interests and take advantage of the many performance and professional opportunities at RNCM.
“I’ve felt immensely supported by the college in my development,” says student Nia Edwards. “Even though my audition process was online due to Covid, I could feel the warmth and openness that RNCM held towards supporting its students and their individual interests.”
Edwards is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Performance (Classical Voice) at RNCM. As a member of the Ventis Vocal Ensemble, she has been able to expand her versatility through performing Bulgarian and West African singing styles. As a mezzo-soprano on her own, she was able to collaborate with the Norwegian acapella ensemble Edvard Grieg Kor in Chamber Choir, perform with musicians across different instrumental schools through cross-school Masterclasses, and more.
Edwards is proud of the progress she’s made in the last three years, crediting RNCM for playing a role in shaping her into the artist she is today. “I feel more technically confident in my singing, brave in my acting, and most importantly, more understanding of who I am as a person and as a singer,” she says. “I’ve learned about how I work most effectively, what my voice needs to function at its best, and how to take care of my mental health in such a strenuous vocation, despite it being my passion.”
The Ventis Vocal Ensemble takes a cross-cultural approach to their music performance, while still remaining true and respectful to different identities. Source: Royal Northern College of Music
Unrivalled set of partnerships within the music and creative industries
RNCM has professional partnerships with a broad music network, providing access to many performance and professional opportunities with orchestras, ensembles, and organisations — think the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, and Opera North.
Alongside the ensemble, Edwards took the Creative Innovators Strand last year, which involved a series of lectures and a placement, which she did with The Hallé. “Taking that module has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” she says. “Having learned and developed pitching and presenting skills, and taking an idea from its brainstorming phase to full realisation, it truly opened my eyes to the world of entrepreneurship. It was an industry never thought I had the guts or drive to go into, and how I could make a difference in this world through pursuing a project which I was passionate about.”
The college takes professional development seriously. Like Kalou and Edwards, students here undertake professional placements, design and lead their own creative projects, and receive expert tuition in industry-relevant skills, like conducting, teaching, recording and multimedia, and musicians’ health. These offer pathways into various areas of the profession – with a third of their degrees turned over to enterprise and entrepreneurship. The college’s efforts won it the Outstanding Entrepreneurial University title at the 2023 Times Higher Education Awards.
“We need to develop our students’ employability and freelance skills,” says Dr. Michelle Phillips, head of enterprise. “The industry has changed in exciting ways that require musicians to be more innovative. We have a responsibility to equip the students with the ability to go out and make a difference in the world with their music.”
And a difference, they have made indeed.
As an RNCM graduate, you are part of a creative, thriving network of alumni. It’s grown to a global group comprising conductors from France to Singapore, electric guitarists and drummers who set the rhythm for pop music today, a new leader to the Orchestra of the Opera North, and many more success stories, including those shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.
