Royal Manchester College of Music
The Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) was a tertiary level conservatoire in Manchester, north-west England. It was founded in 1893 by the German-born conductor Sir Charles Hallé in 1893. In 1972, the Royal Manchester College of Music amalgamated with the Northern School of Music to form the Royal Northern College of Music. History. The Royal Manchester College of Music was founded in 1893 by Sir Charles Hallé who assumed the role as Principal. For a long period of time Hallé had argued for Manchester's need for a "conservatoire" to properly train  the local talent. The RMCM opened in 1893 in a former club building on the corner of Ducie Grove and Ducie Street, near Oxford Road. The building was adapted for use as a college by the architects Salomons and Steinthal, and contained a 400-seat concert hall lined with walnut wood panelling, classrooms, a library and offices. According to the "Manchester Guardian", instead of a formal opening ceremony, donors were invited to a "conversazione" with Sir Charles Hallé and other musicians on Saturday October 7, 1893. Students were admitted in October 1893. In 1888 German violinist Willy Hess became leader  of The Hallé Orchestra, a role he held until 1895. From its opening in 1893 he was also the principal professor of violin at the Royal Manchester College of Music. In 1954 the Principal of the RMCM, Frederic Cox, started to explore the issue of amalgamation with the Northern School of Music. This took until 1972 when the amalgamation resulted in the founding of the Royal Northern College of Music.