We are still accepting applications for the BMus (Hons) Music (for the vocal, instrumental & composition pathways) and BMus (Hons) Jazz courses. Places are subject to availability. Please get in touch with our Admissions Team before submitting an application.
Our postgraduate programme in conducting allows musicians to specialise in either orchestral, choral or brass band conducting, to develop your conducting style, technique and leadership strategies.
Collaboration with RWCMD students and ensembles is enhanced by partnerships and professional placement opportunities according to your specialism, including BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Welsh National Opera, National Youth Ensembles of Wales and Cory Band.
You will develop a confident and distinctive personal conducting style through specialist training covering the full range of conducting techniques of a professional conductor whist immersing yourself in opportunities to perform, gain hands-on industry experience and collaborate across the full range of disciplines offered at RWCMD.
Why study conducting at RWCMD?
- Our small, supportive department means that your training can be tailored to your individual needs, supporting and inspiring you to find your personal conducting style.
- Orchestral conducting students benefit from in-house rehearsal and performance opportunities with various College ensembles, including the RWCMD Symphony Orchestra under the guidance of the College’s Conductor in Residence, David Jones.
- The Brass Band Conducting programme is led by Dr Robert Childs, one of the most recognised and accomplished figures in the field and former director of Cory Band, the College’s Brass Band in Residence, ranked the world’s number one brass band.
- Choral Conducting students, led by British conductor and artistic director Andrea Brown, work with amateur and professional choirs in a range of contexts and genres.
- Choral Conductors work closely with staff and students from RWCMD’s Vocal and Opera departments
- You’ll be taught by internationally renowned artists, collaborators and educators, all with contemporary careers performing at the highest level.
- There are opportunities to observe and work with internationally acclaimed visiting conductors to analyse, discuss and practise your core repertoire.
- Collaboration forms a huge part of what we do. Students develop their imagination and unique skillsets, as well as their employability, through staff and student-led collaboration across genres and departments – jazz, folk, composition, musical theatre, opera, design and drama.
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Find out more about RWCMD
- Our thriving, multicultural institution welcomes 800 students from more than 40 countries. You’ll train side-by-side with other instrumentalists, actors, singers, composers and performance designers and will work with them on projects throughout the year.
- Collaboration forms a huge part of what we do, allowing you to immerse yourself in new experiences with a broad range of disciplines and skills from across the college. Our unique student-led company REPCo, encourages students to work together to be bold, imaginative and entrepreneurial.
- Our industry partnerships provide real-world, enhanced learning experiences with leading arts organisations and professional musicians, also offering you opportunities to build your future professional networks.
- RWCMD is a vibrant arts centre staging 500 performances a year (many of which are free) which are a combination of world-leading artists and student work, often side by side. Regular major events at RWCMD include BBC Young Musician of the Year, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and standalone events such as the World Harp Congress in July 2022.
- The College is the first UK conservatoire to achieve a gold standard level of quality assurance across Music, Drama and Under 18s in the recent international MusiQuE, Music Quality Enhancement review. Reviewers were particularly impressed with the College's approach to the individual student experience, multidisciplinary collaboration, and overall ambition, citing RWCMD as a shining example of best practice across European conservatoires, and reflecting the College's exceptional people and unique community.
- As the world’s only Steinway-exclusive conservatoire the College now has a world-leading fleet of pianos, and every acoustic piano at the College is a Steinway.
- We fundamentally believe in the power of music to transform and enrich society, developing skills in teaching, coaching and co-creating projects to create musicians of the future who will make an impact as performers, teachers and enablers within the broader community. Fundamental questions - ‘How can we shape the industry of the future’, ‘How can we use art to make a difference’ - help us to produce musicians who are truly relevant to a 21st Century world.
- You’ll practice, study and perform in a beautiful, inspiring setting, bordering Bute Park, one of the largest green spaces in the city. We have a chamber music hall with extraordinary acoustics, a glass-lined foyer and performance space, the Richard Burton Theatre, as well as state-of-the-art studios and rehearsal spaces.
- Our campus is right in the centre of Cardiff, the UK’s first Music City, and the thriving, compact capital of Wales, which is only two hours by train to central London.
- Cardiff was named as the most cost-effective city in the UK for students, according to the NatWest Student Living Index 2022.
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