• Academy students perform with world class musicians such as Edward Gardner, Susanna Mälkki, Rachel Podger and Ryan Wigglesworth.
• BBC Music Magazine Rising Star Olivia Clarke makes her Academy debut conducting Die Zauberflöte for Royal Academy Opera.
• The Academy presents several concerts to mark 100 years since the birth of Boulez, including a rare performance of Sur Incises.
• Online booking opens to the public on Thursday 12 December
• View the full diary of events here
• Images available to download here

The Royal Academy of Music announces its season of events for spring 2025, featuring a plethora of concerts, a new opera production, two festivals and public masterclasses. A vast range of genres and disciplines are represented in this season’s programme and as ever, many of the events are free to attend.

Academy students work alongside prominent conductors on orchestral and chamber music projects. On 15 January, students join forces with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert led by alum Edward Gardner at Royal Festival Hall. Later in the term, Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the Academy Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Bruckner’s seventh symphony (31 January). John Wilson returns to the Academy on Valentine’s Day (14 February) to conduct a suitably romantic pairing of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D and Prokofiev’s suite from Romeo and Juliet. Rounding off this term’s orchestral performances, Rachel Podger directs the Academy Chamber Orchestra in an all-Haydn programme (21 March).

The annual Students’ Create Festival returns in January, in which students take over performance venues at the Academy from lunchtime into the evening over the course of three days. This year’s programme embraces jazz-Baroque fusion, a fully staged new opera, a concert of music by Berio using text by Beckett, a techno night and 13 events featuring world premieres by students (13-15 January).

For its spring production, Royal Academy Opera (RAO) presents Mozart’s masterpiece Die Zauberflöte (18-21 March), directed by Jamie Manton and conducted by Olivia Clarke. RAO has been a launchpad for some of the most exciting, young opera singers gracing stages around the world, such as Freddie De Tommaso, Lucy Crowe and Iestyn Davies. These productions give audiences opportunity to see opera’s future stars as they embark on international careers.

26 March 2025 marks 100 years since the birth of Pierre Boulez and the Academy celebrates this milestone with a series of events. Tamara Stefanovich returns to the Academy to curate two performances honouring the centenary through the lens of key solo and chamber works (13 and 14 March). On the anniversary itself, alum Susanna Mälkki (who by invitation of Boulez was Music Director of the Ensemble intercontemporain) conducts the Manson Ensemble in a concert of his repertoire, concluding with the seldom heard Sur Incises, one of Boulez’s most distinctive works (26 March). The three pianists for this performance are Academy pianist Junyan Chen, who was awarded second prize at this year’s Leeds International Piano Competition. She is joined by a student from The Juilliard School and Emanuil Ivanov, who is studying for an Advanced Diploma at the Academy.

There is also opportunity to hear the Academy’s Jazz Department this spring. Celebrating its 11th year, the annual Academy Jazz Festival returns on 12- 13 February. This year, the Academy welcomes debuts from the highly praised Trinidadian steelpan virtuoso Leon Foster Thomas and two stars of the European jazz scene, singer soundscaper Lynn Cassiers and bassist/ vocalist Sarah Murcia, as well as award winning saxophonist Xhosa Cole and young ECM star and Academy alumnus Rob Luft. Saxophone legend Will Vinson also returns to the Academy for this year’s festival.

The Academy’s ongoing partnership with Wigmore Hall continues, starting with the Academy Song Circle’s performance of works by Brahms, Barber and Mahler (26 January). Further to that, Academy students perform alongside members of the Nash Ensemble (Wigmore Hall’s Chamber Ensemble in Residence) in a programme including two new works by Yan Ee Toh and Alex Papp (18 March). Adding special significance to this concert, the ensemble celebrates 60 years since it was formed by Artistic Director Amelia Freedman and Rodney Slatford while they were students at the Academy.

Rounding off performances at this iconic venue, the Academy’s Piano Series offers the most gifted young pianists the opportunity to showcase their talent and virtuosity on one of London’s famous stages; Noah Zhou performs pieces by Rachmaninov, Liszt and Clementi (15 January), Eden Agranat Meged combines Shostakovich’s epic Prelude and Fugue in D minor with works by Schumann and Scriabin (5 February) and Tomos Boyles performs Gubaidulina, Scriabin and Brahms (12 March).

Finally, the Academy looks forward to a range of public masterclasses, where audiences can see great artists sharing their musical expertise and knowledge with students. Notable masterclasses include the BBC Singers (17 February), Iestyn Davies (18 February) and Roderick Williams (26 March).

Find out more at ram.ac.uk

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The Royal Academy of Music moves music forward by inspiring successive generations of musicians to connect, collaborate and create. It is the meeting point between the traditions of the past and the talent of the future.

The Academy has had an inestimable impact on British and international musical life by training outstandingly talented musicians for fulfilling careers for over 200 years. From its outset, Britain’s oldest conservatoire has been associated with some of the greatest names in music including Mendelssohn, Liszt and Sir Henry Wood. More recent alumni include Sir Elton John, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Edward Gardner, Max Richter, Lucy Crowe, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Jacob Collier. Today 800 students from over 50 countries are enrolled on undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes.

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