Richard Collins

Head of Programming

Email: [email protected]

I joined the Programming team at the RNCM in 2008 and became Head of Programming in 2017, a role which has overall responsibility for the public-facing programme across three public venues and leadership of a team of 10 across four distinct areas – Programming, Events (Hires), RNCM Artist Agency and Box Office. I work 4 days a week at the RNCM, and 1 day a week as a freelance Executive Coach.

Enabling the growth and development of individuals on their unique journeys is at the heart of all my work. At the RNCM, I have the privilege of creating performance projects that support the learning and self-discovery of young musicians as they develop their craft, grow in skill, test new ideas, and forge new pathways. As an Executive Coach, I have the privilege of working alongside individuals as they explore what’s happening now, what they want to change, and how to go about it.

All the projects we plan at the RNCM have an inherent value, but my personal favourites are the ones which connect our musicians with new experiences outside of their day to day, or which bring them alongside others who are further along on their journeys. These kinds of projects are inevitably more complex, require more time, more care and involve more people – but they are also the ones that have the most impact for those who take part and for the audiences who experience them.

Some recent examples of these kinds of collaborations include:
Nature’s Music at Manchester Museum
The Silent Planet – Stevens & Pound, Force of Nature, RNCM, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Jasdeep Singh Degun (sitar): RNCM Innovate Fellowship (2003-2005, ongoing)
Anna Meredith and the RNCM Festival Orchestra (part of Manchester International Festival)
Protest Music – RNCM, Manchester Histories, Streetwise Opera
Alice Zawadzki and RNCM students
Mother Tongue Other Tongue – MMU, RNCM, Psappha
I Hear the Rain at Victoria Baths
Paris-Manchester 2018 (in partnership with Paris Conservatoire)
New Order/Liam Gillick: And So It Goes (a Manchester International Festival project)
After the Silence at Imperial War Museum North

As an Executive Coach, I am accredited at ACC level (Associate Certified Coach) by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), having qualified with the Academy of Executive Coaching in 2023. In 2020/21, I took part in the Association of British Orchestras 1 year ‘Find Your Way’ leadership programme, and in 2023, Clore Leadership’s Inclusive Cultures programme. In 2020, I co-founded Underrepresented – an initiative that brought together students and staff and sparked a shift change in the RNCM’s Belonging, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Prior to the RNCM, I handled PR and communications for a range of high profile clients across the music industry including Wigmore Hall, London Philharmonic Orchestra, George Enescu Festival Bucharest, Minnesota Orchestra and Joyce DiDonato. I was also UK manager for the Skampa Quartet and began my career as an Assistant in the vocal/opera division at IMG Artists.

I have a First Class BMus (Hons) degree in Music from King’s College London, where I specialised in singing and composition and was a choral scholar in King’s College Chapel Choir. I studied singing with the tenor Ian Partridge at the Royal Academy of Music and was a baritone lay clerk in the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. And even longer ago, I was Head Chorister of Winchester Cathedral Choir conducted by David Hill.