Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatory in London where young people can study music.  It was founded in 1882.  Many musicians who became famous studied music at the Royal College of Music.

The Royal College of Music was founded by Royal charter.  The president was the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII).  The president has always been a member of the royal family.  The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry.  The first building was opposite the west side to the Royal Albert Hall, but in 1894 the RCM moved to a larger building south of the Royal Albert Hall on Prince Consort Road.  The College is still there, but there have been many extensions and improvements to the building since then.

There are about 520 students at the RCM.  About 170 of these are post-graduate students.  The college can award degrees and diplomas in music.  Composers and performing musicians can study there.  There is a large museum of musical instruments.  Next to the main building is a 400-seater opera house, the Britten Theatre, opened in 1986.  There are now over 600 students from about 50 countries.

The director of the Royal College of Music is Dr Colin Lawson.

Some famous people who studied at the Royal College of Music 
Thomas Allen (born 1944), singer
Julian Anderson (born 1967), composer
Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006), composer
Arthur Bliss (1891 - 1975), composer
Rutland Boughton (1878 - 1960),  composer
Julian Bream (born 1933), guitarist and lutenist
Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), composer
George Butterworth (1885 - 1916), composer 
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor  (1875 - 1912), composer
Thurston Dart (1921 - 1971), performer and musicologist
 Andrew Davis (born 1944), conductor
Colin Davis (born 1927), conductor
James Galway (born 1939), flautist
Eugène Goossens (1893 - 1962), conductor
Charles Groves (1915 - 1992), conductor
David Helfgott (born 1947), pianist
Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), composer
Herbert Howells (1892-1983), composer
 John Ireland (1879 - 1962), composer and pianist
Dame Gwyneth Jones (born 1936), Wagnerian soprano
Thea King (1925-2007), clarinetist
Constant Lambert (1905 - 1951), composer and critic
John Lill (born 1944), pianist
Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916), composer and conductor
Neville Marriner (born 1924), conductor
Francis Monkman (born 1949), rock, classical and film score composer
Peter Pears (1910 - 1986), singer
Trevor Pinnock (born 1946), harpsichordist and conductor
Edmundo Ros (1910—2011), band leader
Cyril Smith (1909 - 1974), pianist
Leopold Stokowski (1882 - 1977), conductor
Joan Sutherland (born 1926), singer
Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998), composer
Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 1960), composer
Fanny Waterman (born 1920), founder, chairman and artistic director of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition musician
Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), composer
Julian Lloyd Webber (born 1951), cellist
William Lloyd Webber (1914 - 1982), composer
Gillian Weir (born 1941), internationally-renowned organist
John Williams (born 1941), guitarist
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), composer

Other websites
 Royal College of Music website 

Music schools
Colleges and universities in London