Northern Ballet

Our Professional Experience Scheme with Northern Ballet is, we believe, the only such partnership between a professional ballet company and a major conservatoire anywhere in the world.

Young conductors tend to aspire to a career in symphonic conducting or opera, but there is a lot of professional work in ballet. Recognising this, we established a partnership with Northern Ballet in 2021 designed to give our conducting students an insight into the particular techniques required to conduct dance.

Working with notable ballet conductors such as Barry Wordsworth and Jonathan Lo, the students participate in studio rehearsals with dancers and choreographers and conduct the Northern Ballet Sinfonia in orchestral sessions.

Some students are then selected to act as cover conductor for subsequent productions, during which they will conduct some stage and piano rehearsals and potentially take over a show if required.

This project has been made possible by the generous support of the Thistle Trust, the Thriplow Charitable Trust and the RNCM Principal’s Circle.