Read the success stories

RNCM alumni can be found all over the world, working in the music industry..... 

The Finzi Quartet - Sarah Wolstenholme (2007) and Natalie Dick (2007) (violins), Ruth Gibson (2009, viola) and Lydia Shelley (2007, cello)

The Finzi Quartet has been awarded first prize in the Ensemble category (keyboard and strings) of this year’s Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition. The final of the Competition was held on 9 March at Over-Seas House in London and, as this is ROSL’s centenary year, the prize money for first prize has been doubled to £10,000. The Quartet will be performing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 2 June after the final round of the solo categories of the Competition, and will be presented with their prize by ROSL Vice-Patron, HRH Princess Alexandra.

The Finzi Quartet was formed at the RNCM under the guidance of Dr Christopher Rowland. Recently selected by the Tillett Trust and the Park Lane Group, 2009/2010 sees the Quartet’s debut at both the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room in London.  Winner of 2nd Prize in the 2009 Trondheim International String Quartet Competition in Norway, the Quartet is also a laureate of the 31st London International String Quartet Competition and was a finalist in the Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award for Chamber Music in Switzerland. In 2008 the Quartet was invited to take part in the Tunnell Trust’s Blair Atholl Showcase in Scotland, to which it returned early last year, and recently undertook a two-week residency in Aldeburgh, following visits to the Britten-Pears International Academy of String Quartets in 2006 and 2008. It has given numerous recitals for music societies throughout the United Kingdom, the Schubert Institute, the Bridgewater Hall’s ‘Lite Bites’ Series, and at St James’s Church Piccadilly in London, and recently took part in a collaboration with the Medici Quartet in the premiere of ‘Towards Silence’ by Sir John Tavener in London and Winchester.

After working with Günter Pichler of the Alban Berg Quartett in Aldeburgh and Siena, Italy, the Quartet was invited to study in his 2008/2009 chamber music class at the Instituto Internacional de Música de Cámara de Madrid, where it attended on a monthly visiting basis. This was made possible by a full scholarship from the Albeniz Foundation in Madrid. The Quartet has benefited hugely from the support and mentorship of Günter Pichler and will make several visits to continue its work with him in Madrid in 2010. The Quartet has also participated in masterclasses with Alasdair Tait, Isabel Charisius, the Endellion Quartet, Valentin Erben, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Hugh Maguire and Thomas Riebl, and in 2008 was selected for Andras Keller’s class at the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove.

Future projects include an Artsreach Residency in Dorset, the closing concert of an exciting new series at the Louise Blouin Institute in London and a concert for the Patrons of Lake District Summer Music in their New Generation Artists Series.  The Quartet is also a recipient of last year's Tunnell Trust Award and as a result undertook a concert tour of Scotland in November 2009. The Quartet is passionate about outreach work and has recently begun working with CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust giving concerts in schools around London.

Having a strong desire to promote the music of English composers, the Quartet feels extremely honoured that the Finzi Trust supports their use of Gerald Finzi’s name.

Joel Cooper (trumpet, 2007) and Tritone Brass

Since leaving the RNCM in the summer of 2007, Joel Cooper (pictured here on the right) has pursued a ‘portfolio’ musical career, offering some exciting and varied experiences. In the summer of 2007 he was recruited as a cornet/trumpet soloist and assistant musical arranger for the new musical King Cotton at the Lowry Theatre, Salford, a show which marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Shortly afterwards he formed Inspired Music, an agency managing a wide range of different types of ensemble for weddings and corporate events. From the outset of his career, Joel has built up a rich network of contacts which have brought him plenty of freelance work, and he performs frequently with the BBC Philharmonic (with whom he secured a trial for Assistant Principal Trumpet) as well as with the Hallé, the RLPO, Opera North and Manchester Camerata. He has also picked up some brass band and session work with pop and rock bands (involving both composing and performing) and since September 2009 he has worked part-time on the house staff of Chetham’s School of Music as well as giving a number of private lessons to aspiring young musicians.

After a tour of South Africa in November 2007, Joel was truly bitten by the travel bug and, following his official graduation from RNCM in December and a series of Christmas concerts, he joined a theatre band for a three-month tour on P & O’s luxury world cruise liner, the Oriana, which took him to Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Africa and the Canary Islands.

The idea of combining the joys of foreign travel with the experience of street busking grew from playing at the Manchester Christmas Markets and in Chester. The challenge to survive solely on money earned on the streets of Europe was one that he put to John Wood (tuba) and Paul Strachan (trombone), two talented friends from the RNCM. They jumped at the idea, and the Tritone Brass ensemble was born. Last summer, the group planned a three-week tour of ten European cities, taking in London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Venice and Rome and booked a hostel in each city, hoping to earn enough money to pay the bills! Before embarking on the tour, music was specially composed, and a folder of entertaining pieces was put together ranging in style from folk tunes and popular classics to jazz and funky numbers, a selection of which was chosen for the CD to sell during their travels. With roughly four hours playing per day it was a truly crazy but amazing adventure and there was still plenty of time was left over to enjoy discovering the different cities. The group has plans to repeat the experience in the future - watch this space!  For more information, visit http://www.inspiredmusic.org.uk/.

Carol Jarvis (trombone, 2001)

Since graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2001 with the highest qualifications possible, Carol has been in constant demand in all genres of trombone playing and has won many awards, including first prize in the prestigious Royal Over-Seas League Competition as a chamber musician, and major scholarships in the UK and USA. Carol often plays guest principal trombone with major symphony orchestras throughout the UK and internationally, from the London Symphony Orchestra to the Symphony Orchestra of India, and features on a number of commercial soundtracks to feature films, adverts, jingles and albums, including Badly Drawn Boy’s The Hour of Bewilderbeast, which won the coveted Technics Mercury Music Prize, a Q Award and the title of Album of the Year.

Carol has played with the likes of Bon Jovi, Lulu, Victoria Beckham, James Blunt and Brian May. She recently toured and recorded with Sting on his DVD If on a Winter’s Night, for which she contracted the orchestra, and which was broadcast on television internationally. She is currently on tour around the world playing trombone and singing backing vocals with Seal, for whom she has written orchestral arrangements for performances with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Carol has also recently co-orchestrated tracks for Corinne Bailey Rae’s upcoming album.

Carol can often be found performing on TV, from recording a BBC TV Doctor Who series soundtrack, to the prestigious Royal Variety Performance, and she has just recorded her debut solo album at the famous Pinewood Studios. Carol is on the Board of Advisors of the British Trombone Society, has judged many international trombone competitions around the globe and writes articles for various publications. Her trombone arrangements are published by Warwick Music. Carol is a professor of trombone at Trinity College of Music in London, and gives masterclasses and clinics across the world. For more information, visit  http://www.caroljarvis.com/

Carol's new CD, Smile, was launched at The Forge in London (run by alumni Adam and Charlotte Caird) on 25 February.  The CD was co produced by Roderick Dunk, who also conducted the orchestra, and artist Rolf Harris painted the front cover design for the album. At least £1.50 from each CD will go towards helping Macmillan Cancer Support.