Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Music and dance conservatoire based in London, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dancemap
Remove ads

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trinity Laban provides training in all aspects of classical music, jazz, popular music, composition, musical theatre, contemporary dance, dance science, choreography, and music education. The conservatoire has 1,250 undergraduate and postgraduate students based at three campuses in Greenwich, Deptford and New Cross.

Quick Facts Former name, Motto ...

Trinity Laban also runs a Centre for Advanced Training programme for young dancers aged 12 to 17 and a junior music department (Junior Trinity), designed for young musicians aged 3 to 19.[4]

The conservatoire has formed academic partnerships with institutions including Beijing Dance Academy,[5] KM Music Conservatory,[6] and the University of Melbourne[7] and industry partnerships include Trinity College London,[8] Studio Wayne McGregor,[9] and the Philharmonia Orchestra.[10] Trinity Laban is a Member of Conservatoires UK and the European Association of Conservatoires.[11] The principal of Trinity Laban is Professor Anthony Bowne[12] and A. R. Rahman was announced as the conservatoire's Honorary President in 2024.[13]

Remove ads

History

Summarize
Perspective

Trinity College of Music

Thumb
Old Royal Naval College, Queen Mary building

Trinity college of music was founded in central London on 1 June 1872 by Henry George Bonavia Hunt, an ordained priest and musician whose qualifications included a doctorate in music from Trinity College, Dublin.[14] Initially named the Church Choral Society, the organisation’s principal aim was to improve the teaching of church music. A year later, in 1873, the college became the College of Church Music, and subsequently in 1876 was incorporated as the Trinity College London. Initially, only male students could attend and they had to be members of the Church of England. The college’s diverse activities in the early years included choral singing classes and teaching instruction in church music.

In 1880, the college moved to 13 Mandeville Place off Wigmore Street in central London, which remained its home for over a hundred years.[15] Following acquisition of the neighbouring 11 Mandeville Place in 1917, the two buildings were united in 1922 through extensive structural alterations, including the addition of a Grecian portico, a first floor concert hall and an impressive staircase.[16] The building is now occupied by the School of Philosophy and Economic Science.

The college moved to Greenwich in 2001, taking up residence in King Charles Court in the Old Royal Naval College.[17] The east wing of King Charles Court was constructed by John Webb as part of a rebuilding of Greenwich Palace; it was subsequently absorbed into the Royal Naval Hospital complex, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren, which had later become part of the Royal Naval College (RNC). To make the buildings suitable for Trinity's use and remove the accretions of a century of RNC occupation required a substantial refurbishment programme. Work to provide new recital rooms revealed that the building's core incorporates masonry from the Tudor palace.

Thumb
Library at Trinity College of Music, Mandeville Place, 1922

Trinity College London

Trinity College London was founded in 1877 as the external examinations board of Trinity College of Music, and administered examinations and diplomas until 1992, when the two organisations separated.[18][19] Trinity College London validated Trinity College of Music's Graduate Diploma (the GTCL) before it was replaced by the BMus model in 1997. Today, the TCL’s examinations are taken by students in over 60 countries, giving external students the opportunity to attain qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and arts education and English language learning and teaching.[20] Trinity College London and Trinity Laban maintain a partnership, with Trinity College London funding scholarships.[21]

Trinity College of Music's historical association with the Masonic Order

Trinity College of Music has a historical association with Freemasonry, with the Trinity College Lodge No 1765 being founded in 1878[22] by seven early teaching members of the college who were freemasons, including Henry George Bonavia Hunt. Trinity College Lodge is no longer associated with Trinity Laban. However, by co-incidence, the College's patron, the Duke of Kent, has been Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England since 1967.[23]

Thumb
The Old Royal Naval College, on the south bank of the river Thames in Greenwich, London, viewed from the north side. The Queen's House is in the middle of the picture. The Royal Observatory is visible in the background. King Charles Court is the building in the right foreground.

Trinity Laban: The Merger

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance was formed by a merger in 2005 between then Trinity College of Music and then Laban Dance Centre, both organisations having moved to new sites close to each other, Greenwich and Deptford, since 2000.[24] Trinity Laban became the first UK higher education institution focusing of music and dance.[25] Initially led by two principals, Derek Aviss and Anthony Bowne, in 2010 Bowne took sole leadership of the conservatoire.[26]

Remove ads

Art of Movement Studio and the Laban Centre

Summarize
Perspective

Establishment and Early Purpose (1945-1953)

Thumb
Front of the Laban Building, Deptford
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laban Dance Centre.

The Art of Movement Studio was established in November 1945, beginning with four students in Palatine Road, Manchester. By January 1946, it had relocated to 183/5 Oxford Road. Personal memoirs suggest between 8 and 17 initial students.[27] Instruction was provided by Lisa Ullmann, Sylvia Bodmer, and Rudolf Laban.

The founding purpose of the Studio was to serve as a teacher training institution. For the next three decades, this remained its dominant focus. However, correspondence from Lisa Ullmann suggests that the students’ interests may have leaned more towards performance than education.[28]

In 1954, the institution was renamed Laban: The Art of Movement Centre.[29]

Relocation to Addlestone and Institutional Expansion (1953-1976)

In July 1953, the Art of Movement Studio relocated from Manchester to Addlestone in Surrey.[30] During the 1960s and 1970s, the number of full-time students averaged just under 80 per year.[31] A wider impact was made through short and summer courses, with participation reaching into the thousands.

The Studio offered a three-year professional training course and an additional supplementary course.[32]

Transition to Goldsmiths' College and the Move to New Cross

According to Willson, the integration of the Art of Movement Studio into Goldsmiths’ College was facilitated by political negotiations and financial backing, notably a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation.[33] Goldsmiths committed to relocating the Studio to newly renovated premises at Laurie Grove, New Cross, London, culminating in the move in September 1976.

The role of Dr. Marion North

Dr. Marion North played a significant role in the Studio’s later development. She began her association with the Art of Movement Studio in 1951 as a student and assistant to Rudolf Laban and Lisa Ullmann.[34] After leaving in 1958 to apply Laban’s methods in industrial and community contexts, she returned to academia in the mid-1960s as Head of Movement and Dance at Sidney Webb College. In 1972, she was appointed Head of the Movement Department at Goldsmiths’ College and, in 1973, succeeded Ullmann as the Director of the Art of Movement Studio.[35]

Remove ads

Notable alumni

Thumb
Professor John Warriner, chairman 1930–34. Taken in 1933
For a more comprehensive list, see Category:Alumni of Trinity College of Music.

Music

Dance

Notable staff

Summarize
Perspective

Current and former staff include:

Remove ads

References

External links

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads