The Academy is thrilled to have current and former students working with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2020/21 season.

The Foyle Future Firsts scheme is aimed at aspiring orchestra players, bridging the gap between college and professional performance. Academy students and alumni featured on this programme include violinist Claudia Tarrant-Matthews, violist Abby Bowen, cellist Pedro Silva, bassoonist Emily Newman, flutist Jagoda Krzemińska and percussionist Luke Taylor.

LPO Young Composers this year include alumnus Robin Haigh, and postgraduate students Geoffrey King and Sun Keting. This programme offers emerging composers the opportunity to workshop a new piece with the orchestra’s musicians across a year, leading to a public performance. This time the brief has been set by Brett Dean, an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, who invites the composers to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in their new works.

From our Junior Academy, students Danya Rushton and Kitan Oyetunde will join the LPO Junior Artists scheme which takes eight talented young musicians aged 15-19 from backgrounds underrepresented in professional UK orchestras and gives them an insight into the life of a professional musician.

Artist Development is central to the education that students receive at the Academy, with courses that prepare young musicians practically, creatively and strategically for a sustainable career in the music profession.

Image: Roscoe Rutter