Royal Northern College of Music to Partner with Manchester Collective

The new RNCM Manchester Collective Studio will offer postgraduate string players a unique course in contemporary music

The UK's Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) has announced a suite of new partnerships with significant English cultural institutions, including the English National Opera (ENO), BBC Radio 3, and the contemporary-music chamber ensemble Manchester Collective.

Of particular note is the brand-new RNCM Manchester Collective Studio, a one-year pathway for postgraduate string students that will offer students a rounded approach to performing and composing new music. The culmination of the program will be a public project with Manchester Collective. 

Formed in 2016, Manchester Collective performs new music in spaces ranging from concert halls to warehouses, nightclubs, and festivals. The group often collaborates with artists from other genres, including cellist Abel Selaocoe and jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie.

The Collective has commissioned works from composers including Edmund Finnis, Ben Nobuto, Hannah Peel, Oliver Leith, Kelly Moran, Moor Mother, Lyra Pramuk, Laurence Osborn, Isobel Waller-Bridge, and Alice Zawadzki.

They are currently artists-in-residence at the Southbank Centre in London and hold a creative residency at the RNCM. In 2021, the ensemble made its Royal Albert Hall debut as part of the BBC Proms.

"It is a privilege to be able to work with three of the region’s most important cultural organizations to offer RNCM students and alumni these essential professional experiences," said Manus Carey, RNCM's Deputy Principal for Performance and Programs.

"We want our students to not just become fantastic, rounded, contemporary musicians, but to have great ideas about the future of the music world. We’re creating a culture where innovation can happen, where students are bringing through ideas supported by the teaching staff, where we allow them to experiment in the first place, and where students are thinking creatively about how they want to engage with their music. In that atmosphere, anything can happen."