London Conducting Workshop Details

The London Conducting Workshop is held at the Royal College of Music, Prince Consort Road, London, which is situated close to the Royal Albert Hall and adjacent to Imperial College, London (for details of the local area, click here). It takes place during the BBC Proms season so that participants have the opportunity to enjoy some of the events on offer at the Royal Albert Hall. Many of the Pre-Prom talks will be held at the Royal College this year so participants will be ideally placed to take part in these. We have also arranged this year for our participants to have a private tour of the RCM's Museum of Musical Instruments, which is a fascinating museum not always open to the public.

In order to ensure each participant has time with the orchestra the Workshop is limited to a maximum of 16 places. This not only gives you sufficient time with our professional orchestra, but gives the tutors time to speak with you through the week on a one-to-one basis should you have any particular questions that you wish to discuss with them. There are two sessions per day, and each participant has one 20-minute time slot per work. There is the opportunity to have each session recorded on DVD (DVDs are charged at cost) that you can take away with you and study. The New Professionals orchestra is a professional orchestra, and as such their performance is of the highest quality. Of equal importance to you the conductor, their attitude is helpful and supportive, and we are proud to have them as our Workshop orchestra. A further important aspect of the course is the facility to “network” with other conductors, and with the members of the orchestra. It is an intensive week of study, but participants gain greatly from the experience and many past participants have formed lasting friendships with other conductors from around the world. We are always delighted to welcome back conductors year after year.

All full applicants are required to have some conducting experience (though not necessarily orchestral). We regret that applications from people without some experience cannot as a rule be accepted. We would, however, be delighted to accept applications from inexperienced conductors as auditors for the week. The course for 2008 takes place over five days (Monday to Friday), with a welcome and orientation session on the Sunday afternoon, the Monday with piano, and the rest of the week with orchestra. The workshop fee for 2008 will be £725 sterling plus £40 sterling application fee and will cover the following:

Participants are required to provide their own scores and make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. No meals are included. There will be various opportunities during the week for socialising with other participants and orchestra members, and to facilitate this no formal evening sessions are held, although there will be some early evening discussion sessions during the week.

We will endeavour to process applications within 4 weeks of the deadline and successful applicants will be notified individually by email shortly afterwards. All applicants will be contacted by email, so please get in touch if you haven't heard from us within 4 weeks of the deadline. Once this stage is reached a non-refundable deposit will become payable to guarantee your place on the Workshop. As no refunds can be given once a place has been accepted it is strongly recommended that you take out insurance to cover any unforeseen circumstances that might cause you to cancel your place. Should you be accepted on to the Workshop it is vital that you study and prepare the scheduled pieces in advance of the course; this will enable you to gain the most out of the sessions, and will also ensure that no time is wasted during the week. If you have difficulty in obtaining the scores we recommend Chappell of Bond Street in the UK (www.chappellofbondstreet.co.uk) or Edwin Kalmus in the USA (www.kalmus-music.com).