“We are delighted to announce our new summer programme, with the jewel in the crown being our celebrations of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee,” says Andrew Miller, Head of Creative Programming. “We believe ours to be one of the most extensive artistic celebrations of the Jubilee in the UK, featuring the Royal Harpist, 6 concerts and a free Indoor Street Party!
We’re extremely proud of the College’s connections with HM The Queen, that go back to 1977 when Her Majesty opened the Bute Theatre during her Silver Jubilee visit to Cardiff. 25 years later she conferred our Royal status to mark her Golden Jubilee. So it’s fitting that ten years on again, by way of saying thank you for such long term support, we celebrate this glittering milestone in Elizabeth II’s reign.
We are also thrilled to announce that we fully expect, by the time of the first birthday of our new venues in June, to have grown our audience tenfold from 6,000 to 60,000 in the space of a year. An incredible achievement we are especially proud of given the ongoing difficult economic climate. There is an audience out there for interesting and challenging events and we look forward to welcoming a wider audience again for this new Summer programme. “
- Our Diamond Jubilee weekend begins on Friday 1 June with a celebration of the Royal Masters of Music and Poets Laureate through the ages with Royal Music and Words. Great instrumental and vocal works will sit side-by-side with magnificent poetry, showcasing both music and drama.
- The Diamond Jubilee Concert on Saturday 2 June features the RWCMD Chamber Orchestra celebrating the pomp and ceremony of great British royal occasions which is the envy of the world, works such as Let the Bright Seraphim (with internationally renowned trumpeter, Crispian Steele-Perkins), Eternal Source of Light Divine and Zadok the Priest.
- We end our weekend celebrations with a Sunday afternoon Elizabethan Serenade with the RWCMD Concert Orchestra featuring Eric Coates’s rarely performed The Three Elizabeths (a celebration of Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II and Queen Elizabeth – The Queen Mother) and William Walton’s majestic Orb & Sceptre composed for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.
- Join us ahead of the concerts for a FREE weatherproof 1950’s family Indoor Street Party on Saturday 2 June at 5pm and Sunday 3 June at 12pm, with bunting, retro games, food stalls and live music
The Royal Harpist Hannah Stone joins us for an evening performance on Friday 8 June. Hannah, who is currently studying at RWCMD, is now half way through her tenure as Royal Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales, and also played for HM The Queen on her Golden Jubilee Tour of Wales 2022.
We also celebrate the Jubilee in two Lunchtime concerts: Queens of Song on Wednesday 30 May presents well known queens and kings from opera, in a selection of arias from works by Handel, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bellini and Britten.
Brass and Diamonds rounds off our Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Wednesday 13 June, a regal lunchtime musical treat from the RWCMD Symphonic Brass, with music composed for the Royal Courts of Europe including Bliss’s Homage to Shakespeare, Dowland’s Airs and Dances and Byrd’s The Earle of Oxford’s March.
There are many other events to look out for this season including our First Birthday Party on 23 June, to celebrate the launch of our new buildings last year, with a specially baked cake – not to be missed!
Download the full summer programme here: http://bit.ly/I0KhGQ
Box Office 029 2039 1391
www.rwcmd.ac.uk
