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Choral Conducting (continued)

Patrick Russill MA, Hon RAM, Hon FRCO

(Picture: Photo of Patrick Russill at St. Marylebone Parish Church)

Organ Scholar at New College, Oxford, studying with David Lumsden and Nicholas Danby. Director of Music at the London Oratory since 1999. He has conducted in Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and Asia as well as the UK.Work as a choir trainer on DG Archiv, Hyperion, Herald and EMI labels. Musical Editor of ‘The Catholic Hymn Book‘ (1998). Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting, Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater. Chief Examiner (Organ and Choral Direction), Royal College of Organists. Head of Church Music 1987–97, and Head of Choral Conducting since 1997.

The Course

The Academy’s distinctive postgraduate Choral Conducting course has been developed from its pioneering Church Music programme. Established in 1997, the two-year course embraces a comprehensive range of sacred music for concert and service plus selected secular repertoire, culminating in the award of an MMus or Diploma of Postgraduate Studies. Choral Conducting is offered at undergraduate level as an optional choir training class, not as a Principal Study.

The modern British choral tradition (both English and Latin) is taken as the practical and stylistic basis for exploration of a broad sweep of European sacred repertoire, related secular music and historically informed performance practices.

Studies include conducting and rehearsal techniques, repertoire, performance practice and interpretation, editing, and vocal technique. These are complemented by contextual studies which examine the repertoire (chant, chorale and hymn, as well as art-music) and its relationship to the liturgy.

Students observe and work with a variety of choral groups, taking advantage of the outstandingly diverse range of opportunities that London offers. There are opportunities to work with members of the Academy’s Chamber Choir, and the course has close working relationships with the BBC Singers and the adult professional and children’s choirs of the London Oratory.

Your Audition (see p.56 for general details)

Entrance auditions are held in early March 2008. You will rehearse a small unaccompanied choir in one specified Renaissance work and a later piece of your own choice. You will be required to sight-sing and aural ability will be tested. Keyboard skills are not required. The closing date for the receipt of applications is 7th January 2008. Auditions take place in London only.

Audition requirements are available at www.ram.ac.uk or from the Registry.

The Teachers

Paul Brough MA (Baton Technique)
Julie Kennard BA, ARCM, Hon ARAM (Vocal Technique)
David Lowe Hon ARAM, MA, ARCM (Vocal Technique)
David Pettit MA, BMus, FRCO, Hon ARAM (Aural Skills)
Patrick Russill MA, Hon RAM, Hon FRCO (Head of Choral Conducting)
Jeremy Summerly MA, MMus, Hon RAM

Visiting Professor
Professor Roland Börger (Head of Choral Conducting, Leipzig Hochschule)

Consultants
David Hill Hon DMus, MA, FRCO, Hon FGCM
James O’Donnell MA, FRCO, Hon RAM, KCSG

2006–2007 Highlights

Masterclasses with Joseph Cullen (LSO Chorus), Andrew Carwood (Cardinall’s Musick), David Hill (St John’s Cambridge and The Bach Choir), Roland Börger (Leipzig Hochschule), and James O’Donnell (Westminster Abbey).
Week-long programme of classes and seminars on major German repertory with Visiting Professor Roland Börger.
Broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and Radio Magyar (Hungary) of the department’s CD recording of Lassus and Mozart masses with historic instruments in Neresheim Abbey, southern Germany.
A week’s residency together with the Academy Chamber Choir and period instrumentalists at Neresheim Abbey in southern Germany, including liturgical services and a concert featuring works by Buxtehude, Purcell and their European contemporaries.


‘The Royal Academy of Music’s ensemble offers an attractive alternative to the Tallis Scholars’
account… one with freshness and vitality’
Gramophone, February 2003, on In Gloria Dei Patris

(Picture: Photo of a master class with David Hill)