Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music has announced a new professional partnership with Peking University Academy of Opera (PKU).
Lasting three years, the exciting partnership will focus specifically on vocal and opera training opportunities for students and staff in Manchester and PKU’s home in Beijing, China.
Professor Linda Merrick, RNCM Principal, said: ‘The RNCM is delighted to be forming a formal partnership with PKU, one of China’s leading universities.
‘The College prides itself on the unrivalled training opportunities it offers to students and staff through partnerships such as this, recognising the vital need for young musicians and singers to gain professional experience in the UK and internationally. We are all very much looking forward to working together over the next three years.’
The RNCM’s relationship with PKU started in 2015 when the university requested permission to stage the College’s 2014 production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (pictured below). Stefan Janski, who retired as RNCM Head of Opera this summer, was invited to direct the work and three PKU postgraduate students came to Manchester to learn their roles with RNCM tutors.
Stefan said: ‘The experience of working together on L’elisir was very rewarding for both institutions. The commitment and quality of singers at PKU was exceptional and I am thrilled it has developed into a formal partnership.
‘Opera and vocal training at the RNCM has always been outstanding – a fact highlighted by the number of alumni now working in the industry throughout the world – and the education offered can only be enhanced further through partnerships such as this.’
In 2012 the RNCM launched The Platform, its international centre for ensemble and vocal training which provides over 400 opportunities each year for students to participate in auditions, education projects and public performances in the UK, Mainland Europe and China. No other UK conservatoire offers this number and breadth of professional experiences to its students.
The addition of PKU, the second highest ranked university in China, means that the RNCM continues to pave the way for professional student development and real world experience.
