INDEPENDENT OPERA Vocal Scholarship at the Royal College of Music
The current recipient of INDEPENDENT OPERA Vocal Scholarship at the Royal College of Music is Monica Bancos
During the course of auditions for the RCM's prestigious Benjamin Britten International Opera School, highly talented vocal students are regularly identified who lack the financial resources to embark upon a course of specialised study. The Royal College of Music has always been committed to an admissions policy based entirely upon musical ability and the INDEPENDENT OPERA Vocal Scholarship at the RCM will provide wonderful new opportunities for access to professional training of the highest quality.
To qualify, students must be in the second year of the Opera School, having successfully completed the first year.
About the Royal College of Music
Founded in 1882, the Royal College of Music enjoys a reputation as one of the world's leading conservatoires, providing specialised musical education and professional training at the highest international level for performers, conductors and composers. Enabling students to develop musical skills, knowledge, understanding and resourcefulness which will enable them to contribute significantly to musical life in this country and internationally.
Since its foundation by the Prince of Wales, later Edward Vll, the College has been linked with the Royal family. Its patron is currently Her Majesty The Queen. For 40 years, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was President; in 1993 HRH The Prince of Wales became President, Her Majesty The Queen Mother becoming President Emerita.The College's influence on the development of music in the last 100 years is incalculable. Through its doors have passed some of the most distinguished and influential figures in British music history. The College's influence is not merely historical, however: it continues to grow, year by year attracting some of the finest talent of each generation.
About the Benjamin Britten International Opera School
Located at the heart of the Royal College of Music, the Benjamin Britten International Opera School provides intensive training for postgraduate singers and is reputed to be among the best in the international conservatoire world. Its two-year specialist course focuses on each singer's individual development with a timetable of classes designed to cultivate fully rounded performers. Students perform in three fully staged operas each year in addition to a number of opera scenes. Recent graduates of the RCM Benjamin Britten International Opera School include: bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu who has a recording contract with EMI and has appeared in principal roles for the Royal Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne and the New York Metropolitan Opera; soprano Elizabeth Watts who made her debut at English National Opera in 2005, won the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2006 and the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize in 2007; tenor Andrew Kennedy who won the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2007 and sang solo in the last night of this year’s BBC Proms; and tenor Alfie Boe whose first two CDs have both been best-sellers.
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