Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

In 2009 I was part of a topical panel show that was broadcast on BBC Radio Wales. The show was pre-​recorded on a weekly basis in front of a live audience in The Bute Theatre at The Royal Welsh College of music and drama. It’s a fabulous little intimate venue and if you ever get a chance to see a decent production here then its worth going.
I am not sure if business is as usual at the moment because it is under going a £22.5 million building re-​design. The new buildings are due to open in the Spring of 2011 but the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is Wales’ leading music and drama conservatoire and this new addition to the College’s professional training and performance facilities comprises The Richard Burton Theatre. It was recently named at a gala evening at Buckingham Palace, along with the 450-​seat Concert Hall, four Acting & Movement Studios and an Exhibition Gallery. So it held in high regard.

A unique treasure of such a place, for such a city like Cardiff city! The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama: is mainly a performing specialist training college of music and drama, of which it is a leading UK provider. It is also the National Conservatoire of Wales.
The college makes sure that their students can discover and develop their own artistic craft. This should therefore help them look into their own way of understanding music theatre and other professions that are similarly linked; this is so that they can shape the future of those professions.
They have sometimes been known to do classes for Junior aged children that would be around the ages of seven years old and that possibly went up to the ages of eleven year olds. I know this because my brother used to take part in them and every now and then we would see him do some kind of small performance with the rest of the group or just on his own.
Those classes took place on a Saturday morning, where the main campus for this college is. This place is based within the Capital town centre, not far from the train and bus station and the underground tunnel. The class that I have referred to above may not exist any more.
Royal Welsh college only has around six hundred students and I hear that, that is because they are very strict about who they let into the University. So if you’re really clever and talented in music, drama and singing then I recommend this place for you.

Known originally as The College in the Castle — The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama opened in 1949. It is the National Conservatoire of Wales, providing specialist practical and performance-​based training that enables students to enter and influence the music, theatre and related professions. The training focus is not only in practical specialism but also in the development of artistic individuality that will shape the future of the professional arts. The student numbers are kept low (600) to ensure a friendly, down-​to-​earth community environment.
As well as visiting tutors the College events calendar is a busy one, comprising of over 300 outstanding public performances every year including orchestral concerts, recitals, drama, opera and musical theatre. Graduates have gone on to be big names in their fields — Sir Antony Hopkins, Ruth Jones — and can be found working in theatres, opera houses, concert halls, film, TV and radio all around the world. The College also maintains strong working partnerships with Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre, BBC Wales, the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and Brecon Jazz Festival.
Students get to learn in the best professional environment, with some amazing facilities at their disposal including theatres, recital and practice rooms, design studios, an S4C Studio Theatre and professional recording studio. The College has also recently acquired loads of dosh — a further £22.5 million towards redevelopment, modernising performance spaces for the digital age.

The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama is not only a place to train, but also a place for Cardiff’s residents to enjoy all sorts of different cultural productions, with the work produced there open for everyone to enjoy.
Every year the college puts on around 300 public performances, ranging from orchestral concerts and recitals to drama, opera and musical theatre. Students at the college often get the chance to work alongside leading artists from all over the world, and there are excellent facilities on site at the college to cater for their training. Last time I drove past, the college buildings themselves were undergoing something of a revamp, and it looked like they were building a huge extension — after a bit of research it turns out it’s a new £22.5 million development, which will include building a suite of world-​class training and performance facilities for musicians, actors, theatre designers and stage managers (due to be opened in Spring 2011)!
It’s well worth checking out the website’s public events calendar if you enjoy going to the theatre or to concerts.

This is the première place to study drama or music in Wales with a world wide reputation and graduates including Sir Antony Hopkins, Rob Byrdon, Ruth Jones, Dougray Scott and many more.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with students from here as well as visiting many of the shows and exhibitions they put on. I can honestly say they are a very talented bunch of people and it must be a great place to learn.
Its currently undoing a big of a revamp to make the college look as good as the performances and provide new facilitates. This a real institution that all of Wales should be proud of.