Top music promoter SJM Concerts announces funding boost for RNCM students

Leading Manchester promoter SJM Concerts has partnered with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) to provide essential bursaries for music students at the prestigious conservatoire.

The SJM Concerts Bursary is a three-year scheme that will contribute £8,000 a year towards fees and living costs for two RNCM students in its Classical music schools and groundbreaking Popular Music department. SJM will also bring star names into the conservatoire to lead masterclasses for the students.

© Blackham Image

The first two recipients of the bursary are Claire Cope, who is studying for a PG Diploma in Composition, and vocalist Deni Davidescu, who is now in the third year of a four-year BMus (Hons) Popular Music degree.

SJM Concerts Founder and Managing Director Simon Moran has been an Honorary Member of the RNCM since 2015 and has a long history of championing talent from the region on international stages.

Speaking about the bursary, SJM General Manager and Director Katy Grimwood said: ‘SJM Concerts is proud to support RNCM students and to provide them with the opportunity to achieve their goals and successes. SJM has worked with some of the biggest and most diverse names in live music since the company formed in Manchester in the late 1980s – the city has always been an important part of our story, a place where musical talent can grow and thrive. We are excited to work with such a prestigious conservatoire to be part of the journey that the next generation of emerging talent will take.’

Recording artist and bandleader Claire Cope is winner of the 2022 Marvin Hamlisch International Music Award (Jazz Composition) and was selected as a fellow on the 2023-24 Let’s Bespoken Mentorship programme for female and non-binary musicians. Her work has been performed in the UK and USA.

© Natalie Argent

She said: ‘This support has allowed me to take an important step forward in my career, studying composition formally – for the first time – with some very inspiring teachers, and I am very excited about the year to come.’

Singer-songwriter Deni Davidescu (20) came to Manchester from Romania to study music and has already established herself as a performing artist on the local scene. A Student Ambassador at the College, Deni is also a member of the RNCM Gospel Choir and performs with the RNCM Session Orchestra and in the annual RNCM Children’s Opera.

Deni added: ‘I want to take this time to thank SJM Concerts for believing in me and my dreams, as I would not be where I am without you,’

14 November 2024