Latest news with #RoyalConservatoire
Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The reign of Tommy Smith as the king of jazz is over — what now?
Tommy Smith is no longer the leader of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. But the saxophonist is still very much its face. Last week the musician stepped down as the band's artistic director after he was dismissed from Scotland's premier music and drama university, the Royal Conservatoire, over allegations he had a relationship with a student. Yet Smith's picture remains plastered all over the website of the publicly funded orchestra he founded 30 years ago. Its youth wing is even named after the musician. For decades, insiders say, the former teenage prodigy has been the king of Scottish jazz. His reign is now over. Some lament the loss of a genuine talent. Others last week were celebrating what they see as an opportunity for musicians to come out from under his shadow.
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Cathkin High pupil Rose hit the high notes as she won national competition
She won the Solo Performer of the Year category at the Scottish Young Musicians awards in Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire. A highly-gifted Cathkin High pupil certainly hit the high notes when she flew the flag for South Lanarkshire at a prestigious national event. Rose Murray was the finalist for the region in the Solo Performer of the Year category at the Scottish Young Musicians awards in Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire. This year there were 33 finalists, one representing every local authority in Scotland and one from the independent schools. And Rose won her award for performances of Song to the Seals by Granville Bantock and Taylor The Latte Boy by Zina Goldrich. As well as her award, to support her musical journey, Rose also gets to spend a day with Scottish Opera where she will meet with the production team and the cast of outstanding singers of their autumn production La Boheme. And she will also secure tickets to one of the performances. Scottish Young Musicians Solo Performer of the Year is Scotland's leading music festival for soloists and ensembles. Young musicians can compete to win big prizes, perform live on a national stage and push their skills like never before. Elaine Duffy, the council's instrumental music co-ordinator, said: 'We are delighted that Rose has been recognised at this most prestigious event. 'It is a real testament to her hard work and dedication over the years, supported by her singing teacher Sandra Hawkins.' Her performing career to date includes the council's annual Instrumental Music Service showcase in Hamilton Town House and soloist at the annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations. Rose has also performed with the South Lanarkshire Orchestral Society (SLOT) Senior Concert Band and has been invited to sing with Stewarton Winds Concert Band.
The Guardian
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
David Watkin obituary
In 2013 David Watkin, who has died aged 60 from complications caused by the autoimmune disease schleroderma, recorded the six Suites for solo cello by JS Bach. The following year his illness compelled him to step back from a distinguished performing career to become head of strings, and later professor of chamber music, at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. When the CD set of the Suites was released in 2015, it proved to be an instant success, winning awards from Gramophone – which this year rated it as one of the 50 greatest Bach recordings – and BBC Music Magazine. His rhythmically alive, tonally beautiful and scholarly playing was realised by using a baroque bow by John Waterhouse and two historic cellos, one by Francesco Rugeri from around 1670 for the first five Suites, and a five-stringed instrument by the Amati brothers, Antonio and Girolamo, for the Sixth Suite. As well as teaching, he continued to conduct such ensembles as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, Swedish Baroque Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Born in Crowthorne, Berkshire, David came from a musical family. His parents, Christine (nee Horney) and Ken Watkin, were violin teachers, and his elder brother, Simon, gravitated to the viola. When the family were living in Beckenham, Kent, he began taking cello lessons with a local teacher, eventually enabling the family to play quartets by Haydn and Mozart. When David was nine, the Watkin family moved again, to Pembrokeshire, where his mentors were Bridget Jenkins and the recitalist Sharon McKinley. He became the star cellist of the West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra, and went on to be a member of the National Youth Orchestra, and its principal cellist for two years. At 15 he won a scholarship to Wells Cathedral school, where he studied the cello with Margaret Moncrieff and Amaryllis Fleming. There he encountered historically informed recordings directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Frans Brüggen, and a friend's father made him a baroque cello. Vocal lessons from the tenor Kenneth Bowen led to his seriously considering a career as a singer. His gap year was spent as a lay clerk, singing in the choir at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he went on to take a music degree (1984-87). He continued cello studies with William Pleeth and played in the Cambridge Baroque Camerata. As a full-time performer he led the cello sections of the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, English Baroque Soloists, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonia Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Other ensembles he conducted included the Malta Philharmonic and Manchester Consort, and he had a stint as assistant conductor at Glyndebourne. While working with John Eliot Gardiner in the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, he and three colleagues – Peter Hanson, Lucy Howard and Gustav Clarkson – felt they should adapt the orchestra's authentic styles for Romantic music to quartet playing. Thus in 1993 the Eroica Quartet was born. Watkin adopted a transitional approach with this ensemble, playing with an endpin: until the mid-19th century cellists had held the instrument unsupported between their legs. The quartet's recordings of Beethoven, Mendelssohn (the quartets and the original version of the Octet), Schumann, Debussy and Ravel brought fresh perspectives to listeners. Characteristic of their approach for the Mendelssohn quartets was studying the bowings and fingerings adopted by Ferdinand David, the first performer of the composer's Violin Concerto, for his own ensemble, and the selective application of vibrato for expressive effect. Tours took them to France and the US, and they gave Beethoven cycles in the UK and abroad. With various colleagues, Watkin recorded concertos and sonatas by Vivaldi and sonatas by Boccherini. He and the fortepianist Howard Moody recorded three sonatas by Beethoven (1996), and to the book Performing Beethoven (2011) he contributed an essay on those works. In an article in the journal Early Music (1996) Watkin pointed to how Corelli allowed for the possibility of violin sonatas being accompanied by a string bass without a keyboard, by filling out the chords indicated by the numbers of the figured bass, and extended the principle to recitative passages in opera. As a teacher he aimed to lead students to think for themselves. An extract from a masterclass on Bach given at Kings Place, London, in 2017 can be seen on YouTube. In choosing Watkins' Bach recordings for its 50 best, Gramophone commented on the 'warm, expansive, generous and friendly' character of the playing, and many found the same qualities in him as a colleague. In 2002 Watkin married Sara Burton, and they had two sons, Noah and Sandy. They separated, and he is survived by his partner, Lisi Stockton, his sons, his parents and Simon. David Watkin, cellist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, born 8 May 1965; died 13 May 2025
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jazz star Tommy Smith sacked from Conservatoire role
Leading Scottish jazz musician Tommy Smith has been dismissed from his senior role at the Royal Conservatoire of follows reports in the Mail on Sunday that the 58-year-old saxophonist had started a relationship with a studentSmith had held the Head of Jazz position at the prestigious Glasgow music school for the last 16 Conservatoire confirmed that he had been dismissed "following a disciplinary investigation and hearing". A spokesperson added: "RCS has robust policies in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff."Smith has had a prolific and successful music career and in 2009 was appointed as the inaugural head of the first-ever full-time jazz course at the has been approached for comment. Who is Tommy Smith? Tommy Smith has been a star of the jazz world since his was born and brought up in the Wester Hailes housing scheme in Edinburgh and began playing while a pupil at the local secondary. He recorded his first album - Giant Strides - when he was just won a scholarship to study in the United States and was signed to the Blue Note jazz label at went on to found the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and has worked with many jazz greats including Johnny Dankworth, Cleo Laine and Miles Davis.A noted composer and arranger as well as a performer, Tommy Smith was awarded the OBE in 2019 and holds honorary doctorates from Heriot Watt University and the University of Edinburgh.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jazz professor sacked from role at Royal college amid concerns over relationship with female student
One of the UK's leading jazz musicians has been sacked from his teaching post at a royal college amid concerns over his relationship with a female student. Professor Tommy Smith was told to stay away from classes at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow after the issue was raised with bosses. Now, following an investigation by the famous institute - of which King Charles is patron - he's been dismissed from the RCS. Saxophonist Smith, 58 – who was awarded an OBE in 2019 - was head of jazz at the Conservatoire for 16 years and established the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra. He's credited with inspiring generations of young musicians, has toured the world with the Gary Burton Quintet and has 30 solo albums and a record label to his name. Former Conservatoire students include Doctor Who stars Ncuti Gatwa and David Tennant, Hollywood actor James McAvoy, as well as Richard Madden, Alan Cumming and Jack Lowden. Violinist Nicola Benedetti was made its honorary president in 2022. A Conservatoire spokesman confirmed: 'Following a disciplinary investigation and hearing, Tommy Smith has been dismissed. 'RCS has robust policies in place to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff.' A source close the Conservatoire confirmed that the allegations related to his relationship with a female student who was over the age of 18. A source revealed: 'Tommy is a very self-confident man which, coupled with his reputation, gives him a definite magnetism in jazz circles. 'But it came as a shock when somebody with such standing ended up being suspended from what is a very prestigious post. 'The tip-off to the Royal Conservatoire came from a third party and, given the nature of the allegations, they had little option other than to suspend Tommy. 'We all hoped a brilliant musician and tutor could get back to work as soon as possible. 'It's hard to overestimate what he has done for jazz in Scotland. He's a generational talent. 'But the Conservatoire clearly couldn't see a way back for him.' Mr Smith was a teenage prodigy, raised in the working-class Wester Hailes district of Edinburgh. First picking up the tenor saxophone at the age of twelve, within two years he was winning awards for his playing. At 16, he won a place at Berklee College of Music in Boston, US, with his fees covered by the Scottish International Education Trust, endowed by Sean Connery with the £1.2 million he was paid for starring in the Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. During his career, he campaigned for the genre to be available to study in his home country. Mr Smith told the Scottish Parliament in 2007: 'Jazz is a serious music and is the passport to understanding all musical art forms. 'When young musicians open their imaginations to jazz music they then have a skeleton key to open the door of any musical genre. 'It takes talent, dedication and a country's foresight.' His plea was heard and he himself became head of jazz at the RCS in 2009, being made a professor a year later. In an interview in 2023, Mr Smith was asked what advice he would give his younger self, and answered: 'Don't get married, ever!' In another interview he recounted meeting Queen Elizabeth II to receive his OBE and said he was keen to quiz her on a story he'd heard. It concerned jazz legend Duke Ellington, who wrote and recorded a suite after meeting The Queen in 1958. Ellington was said to have only made one gold disc which he posted to Buckingham Palace, before destroying the written music. Mr Smith said he had asked the Queen if she remembered the recording, and recounted 'her eyes lit up, and I could see it was true'. The RCS is one of the most prestigious academies for the performing arts in the world and boasts King Charles as its patron. The monarch, who was first appointed Patron of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2003, retained his patronage in 2024. Established in the 19th century as the Glasgow Athenaeum, the Royal college has evolved through multiple changes of title. In 2011, it was renamed the RCS after several decades as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. It counts Hollywood stars, cultural leaders, arts advocates, and more among its alumni. Former students include Doctor Who stars Ncuti Gatwa and David Tennant, Hollywood actor James McAvoy, as well as Richard Madden, Alan Cumming and Jack Lowden. Violinist Nicola Benedetti was made its honorary president in 2022. Apart from specialist teaching for full-time students, the RCS also offers short courses for primary and secondary-age children.
