Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Established	1993 - granted degree-awarding powers 1845 - Glasgow Educational Association
Type	Conservatoire
Principal	Professor John Wallace
Students	690
Undergraduates	575
Postgraduates	115
Location	Glasgow, Scotland
Colours
Affiliations	Conservatoires UK, Association of European Conservatoires, Conference of Drama Schools
Website	http://www.rsamd.ac.uk

The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) is a conservatoire of music, drama and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, today it acts as one of the leading cultural institutions in the United Kingdom, and is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland.

The current principal is Professor John Wallace, a trumpet player, the president is Sir Cameron Mackintosh, and the Patron is HRH Prince Charles

History

RSAMD has been located in its current purpose-built building on Renfrew Street in Glasgow since 1988. However, its roots lie in several different organisations, and it primarily began with the establishment of the Glasgow Educational Association in 1845, which was formed to provide courses in competition with the University of Glasgow. The Association later became the Glasgow Commercial College, and this in turn became part of the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1847. The Glasgow Athenaeum provided training in commercial skills, literature, languages, sciences, mathematics and music. Its inaugural speech was given by Charles Dickens, in which he stated that he regarded the Glasgow Athenaeum as "an educational example and encouragement to the rest of Scotland".

In 1888, the commercial teaching of the Glasgow Athenaeum separated to form the Athenaeum Commercial College which, after several rebrandings and a merger, became the University of Strathclyde in 1964. In 1890 the non-commercial teaching side of the Glasgow Athenaeum became the Glasgow Athenaeum School of Music, which in turn became the Scottish National Academy of Music in 1929, which in 1944 became the Royal Scottish Academy of Music.

In 1950 the Royal Scottish Academy of Music established a drama department called the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art. It became the first UK drama school to contain a full, broadcast-specification television studio in 1962. In 1968 the Royal Scottish Academy of Music changed its name to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and introduced its first degree courses, which were validated by the University of Glasgow. In 1993 RSAMD became the first conservatoire in the United Kingdom to be granted its own degree-awarding powers.

Research degrees undertaken at RSAMD are validated and awarded by the University of St Andrews in Fife. RSAMD is a member of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Facilities

RSAMD has a range of facilities, including several performance spaces: the Guinness Room, the Academy Concert Hall, the Chandler Studio Theatre, the New Athenaeum Theatre and the Alexander Gibson Opera Studio (built in 1998). The Academy also houses a professional recording studio.

In 2008 the RSAMD fitted part of its main performing space, the New Athenaeum Theatre, with a Stage Technologies automated flying system. RSAMD became the first educational establishment in the UK to offer Stage Automation Training as part of the curriculum.

Schools

Front facade of RSAMD

School of Music

• Keyboard
• Vocal Studies
• Opera
• Strings
• Woodwind
• Brass
• Timpani and Percussion
• Scottish Music
• Composition
• Academic Studies
• Conducting
• Jazz

School of Drama

• Acting
• Contemporary Performance Practice
• Digital Film and Television
• Technical and Production Arts
• Musical Theatre
• Modern Ballet
• Directing

Junior Academy

• Junior School of Music
• Drama Works

Alumni

• Ani Batikian
• Billy Boyd
• Robert Carlyle
• Tom Conti
• Nicholas Cowell
• Alan Cumming
• Louise Delamere
• Valerie Edmond
• James Fleet
• Michelle Gomez
• Stella Gonet
• John Hannah
• Denis Lawson
• Angela Lonsdale
• James McAvoy
• Daniela Nardini
• Bill Paterson
• Elaine C Smith
• Dawn Steele
• David Tennant
• Ruby Wax
• Richard Wilson
• Jayne Wisener
• Colin Morgan

See also

• Music Schools in Scotland
• List of further and higher education colleges in Scotland
• Conservatoires UK
• Music of Scotland
• Culture in Glasgow
• Culture of Scotland
• Academy of Music (disambiguation page)

References

• Scottish Higher Education Archives
• Glasgow University Archive Service

External links

• Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama website