|
Wales may soon have music and drama training facilities to match those to be found in conservatoires all over the world. The Welsh College of Music & Drama has submitted an application for planning permission to build a new 400-seat recital hall, and, to replace existing performance spaces with a state-of-the-art theatre with fly tower and two studio theatres. Principal Edmond Fivet said: ‘Our students have produced some excellent work in our current venues, but we need to keep apace with the competition in both the UK and overseas, and with the changing demands of the profession. The new facilities will provide excellent teaching and learning opportunities and will not only benefit those choosing to study in Wales but will also allow the College to compete effectively across the UK and on the international stage’. ‘I am particularly pleased that the recital hall has the potential to become an important venue in the life of Wales. With a concert hall-size platform, but with a small auditorium, it is an ideal venue for many small-scale events, from chamber choirs and ensembles, to solo artists and social occasions’. The £30m scheme will be led by Scottish-born architect John McAslan of John McAslan & Partners, whose previous schemes include the restoration of a Grade I facility at the Royal Academy of Music and the sensitive conversion of the King Charles Building at the historic former Royal Naval College at Greenwich for Trinity College of Music. Cardiff-based ChandlerKBS will provide WCMD with project management and cost consultancy expertise. Developmental work has been underway for over eighteen months and a major fundraising campaign is in place to raise £17m for phase one. This WCMD initiative comes mid-way through an accelerated five-year period of development, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales who, in May 1999, announced a 64% increase in funding for WCMD. WCMD.offers a unique range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in music, music therapy, acting, theatre design, stage management and arts management. Successful alumni include Sir Anthony Hopkins, Rob Brydon, Dougray Scott, Rosemary Joshua, Lyndsey Marshal, Fazliddin Husanov, Eve Myles, Lee Warburton, Anthony Stuart Lloyd and Iris Williams. |
| Welsh College of Music and Drama web site: www.wcmd.ac.uk |
| e-mail: |
Wednesday, May 29, 2002 |
Older news
stories have been carefully archived.
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999