Royal college of music - london

[franzliszt2]

Hi, I'm just looking for some advice, I have been offered a place at royal college and start in september, but need some advice on choosing a teacher. I have posted a list of the teachers below, any opinions would be greatly appreciated.


HEAD OF KEYBOARD STUDIESVanessa Latarche
Hon ARAM, FTCL, ARCM, LRAM
   
PRINCE CONSORT PROFESSOR OF PIANOBarry Douglas
FRCM, OBE
   
PRINCE CONSORT PROFESSOR OF PIANO ACCOMPANIMENTRoger Vignoles
BA, MusB, ARCM, FRCM, HonRAM
   
VISITING PROFESSOR OF PIANOJohn Lill
OBE, HonDMus, HonDSc, FRCM, FTCL, FLCM
   
PIANONelly Akopian-Tamarina

   
Dmitri Alexeev
Postgrad Dip. Moscow Conservatoire
   
Andrew Ball
BA, ARCM
   
John Barstow
FRCM
   
Charles Beale
MA(Cantab.), PhD, LGSM, PGCE, Jazz piano
   
John Blakely
BA (Oxon), HonRCM, ARAM, ARCO
   
John Byrne
Dip Moscow Conservatoire, ARCM, ARAM, DipRAM, GRNCM, PPRNCM
   
Nigel Clayton
BMus, ARCM
   
Gordon Fergus-Thompson
GRSM, ARMCM
   
Niel Immelman
FRCM
   
Julian Jacobson
MA, GRSM, ARCM
   
Noriko Kawai
Noriko Kawai ARCM (Hons)
   
Kevin Kenner
BMus, MMus, Artist Diploma, Konzertexam
   
Vanessa Latarche
Hon ARAM, FTCL, ARCM, LRAM
   
Ruth Nye
Perf.Dip.Melbourne
   
Yonty Solomon
BMus, FRCM
   
Kathron Sturrock
ARCM
   
David Ward
ARCM, LRAM
   
Huw Watkins
MMus, MA
 
Thanks

[rohansahai]

I don't know about her teaching ....but Nelly Akopian is an amazing pianist. My teacher once played me a recording of the Chopin preludes by Akopian (on melodiya, i think) and it was AMAZING (especially no. 16).

[eduard]

Nelly Akopian- Tamarina studied under Anaida Sumbatian at the Moscow Central Music School, and with Alexander Goldenweiser and Dmitri Bashkirow at the Moscow Conservatoire.

[haarmonika]

i recommend Andrew Ball.
had a master class with him this summer, and I had a wonderful time (thumbs up).
he is an extraordinary sight reader, and gives a lot of helpful/interesting musical advice.
Andrew Ball has a caring personality, and i hope i can see him again in the near future.

[tompilk]

I had Vanessa Latarche for a master class and she was nice... and Barry Douglas I saw playing Rach 3 the other weekend... WOW!!! That's all i can say...

[gruffalo]

I live in london, and i had Vanessa Latarche as a teacher for a while (she also lives near me). I can tell you that she is a fantastic teacher, though i had to leave her because she was rather pricy, but if i had the money she would have been worth it  . i dont know much about the others, so i cant do comparisons.

[yamaha]

Hi 

I attended a summer school this year at Chethams in Manchester and got to observe many great teachers ( all lessons were open for all to observe)  I observed Yonty Solomon many times and he also performed the opening concert (pictures at an exhibition if memory serves me correctly plus other piecs)  He is awesome as teacher and performer.  Very detailed, great for advanced students.  I got the feeling from him that he makes his students work hard  :oe

[franzliszt2]

I've heard lots of great things about yonty solomon, so I think I shall have a consultation lesson with him. Andrew ball is a very nice man, I spoke with him before my audition for a while, then it turned out he was on the panel,and he was very friendly. I also seen him at the open day about 6 months ago doing a lesson on prokofievs 3rd concerto, and janacek's in the mists, and I was impressed by his ideas and style of teaching. Only problem is they are very hard to getas they are very busy  and very popular.

[princessdecadence]

I trust anything with Oxon and Cantab (typical)

[jchurch1]

I live in london, and i had Vanessa Latarche as a teacher for a while (she also lives near me). I

I've had a lesson with Vanessa Latarche once, had a really good time and she's wonderful.

I saw her perform Earl Wild's 'Fascinating Rhythm' on the ABRSM Diploma video, which was so inspiring I'm now learning 5 of the 7 Gershwin Transcriptions for my dissertaion in March 

She's just great. Although, all of the teachers at RCM are great I imagine 

[dansemacabre79]

Hey Franzliszt, I'm going to RCM this September too! Have you decided on your teacher? I hope to have consultation lessons with both Niel Immelman and Gordon Fergus-Thompson when I visit London in June.. 

[franzliszt2]

I put:

1) Yonty Solomon
2) Andrew Ball
3) John Barstow
 
as my 3 choices. I would be happy with any of them.

I dunno if I'm having a consultation lesson, but I might if I find time. When do we find out who our teachers actually are? any ideas?

I really hope I get Solomon, my teacher says he's good, but I've been told that its really unlikely to get him  . And Andrew Ball is amazing, I got him for my second audition, with Vanessa Latarche, and they were both really nice. Most my interview was with Andrew outside the room lol. Some other person was auditioning, and he was waiting to go in after and so was I, so we had a long chat.

Actually, all the teachers look amazing!!! Really excited about going!!

[dansemacabre79]

Hm, no idea when we'll get a confirmed answer for our teachers, but the admissions director told me sometime very near before term starts. However I emailed Ms Latarche to ask her if I could get my choices (because I had my teachers for the US conservatories I applied to already but I still wanted to consider RCM) and she said it is possible, so you might want to check with her..
Yeah she's really nice =P she auditioned me too! and yep, I'm SUPER excited!!

[rohansahai]

I would like to add that Dmitry Alexeev is the best Rachmaninov player I have heard in recent times IMO.

[franzliszt2]

Actually I am going to e mail Vannesa, I'm sure she'll be able to help. I'm also going to try and get a consultation lesson with someone.

I was also offered teachers at other conservatoires in UK, but I felt that RCM was the place I should go. Facitlities and everything are great.

Are you from UK or USA? I'm just curious because you applied to Conservatoires in US, so I was wondering if you from UK and applied abroad, or from USA and applied to RCM. If that makes any sense lol