Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

conservatoire A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

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 Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

, composition,

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

, dance science,

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

, and

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...

. The conservatoire has

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

students based at three campuses in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

and

New Cross New Cross is an area in south-east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the London_postal_district#List_of_London_postal_districts, SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, London, St Jo ...

. 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. The conservatoire has formed academic partnerships with institutions including

Beijing Dance Academy The Beijing Dance Academy (BDA, ) is a municipal public professional dance college at Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing. The academy is the highest institution for dance education and assessment in the People's Republic of China, conducting the ...

, KM Music Conservatory, and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

and industry partnerships include

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

, Studio Wayne McGregor, and the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

. Trinity Laban is a Member of Conservatoires UK and the European Association of Conservatoires. The principal of Trinity Laban is Professor Anthony Bowne and

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

was announced as the conservatoire's Honorary

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in 2024.

History

Trinity College of Music

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 Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. 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 Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. 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 Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named af ...

in central London, which remained its home for over a hundred years. 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. The building is now occupied by the School of Philosophy and Economic Science. The College moved to

in 2001, taking up residence in King Charles Court in the

Old Royal Naval College The Old Royal Naval College are buildings that serve as the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) ...

. 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 A Royal Naval Hospital (RNH) was a hospital operated by the British Royal Navy for the care and treatment of sick and injured naval personnel. A network of these establishments were situated across the globe to suit British interests. They were p ...

complex, designed in part by Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...

, 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.

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. 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 The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

and arts education and English language learning and teaching. Trinity College London and Trinity Laban maintain a partnership, with Trinity College London funding scholarships.

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

Trinity College of Music has a historical association with

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, with the Trinity College Lodge No 1765 being founded in 1878 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 Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, most recently as a royal dukedom for the fourth son of King George V. Since 1942, the title has been held by Prince Edwa ...

, has been Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England since 1967. 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. Trinity Laban became the first UK higher education institution focusing of music and dance. Initially led by two principals, Derek Aviss and Anthony Bowne, in 2010 Bowne took sole leadership of the conservatoire.

Laban Building

History

Laban Dance Centre was founded in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

as the Art of Movement Studio by Rudolf Laban, an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

dancer, choreographer and a dance/movement theoretician. In 1958, the school moved from Manchester to

Addlestone Addlestone ( or ) is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Runnymede (borough), Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement. Geography Addlesto ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and then in 1975 to

in London, where it was renamed the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance. In 1997, it was renamed the Laban Centre London. In 2002, the centre moved to newly built premises in Deptford and was renamed Laban.

The faculty today

Laban offers undergraduate, postgraduate, among other courses. The Faculty of Dance also provides classes for adults and young people on the local community, including the Centre for Advanced Training. In 2019, the London International Screen Dance Festival was introduced by the institution. Laban Creekside (Deptford) includes 13 purpose-built dance studios; eight with ballet barres, the 300-seat Bonnie Bird Theatre, a smaller studio theatre, and a dance library. Laban Laurie Grove (New Cross) also has a number of studios and performance laboratories.

Architecture award

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

in 2001 and who also designed the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

and the National Stadium in Beijing for the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

), the centre's building in Deptford won the

Stirling Prize The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The ...

for Architecture in 2003.RIBA Stirling Prize Winner 2003
Herzog and de Meuron collaborated with visual artist Michael Craig-Martin to create the building. The building includes an eco-technological roof known as a "brown roof". After parts of the building's cladding were damaged by

Storm Eunice Storm Eunice () (known as Storm Zeynep in Germany and Storm Nora in Denmark) was an extremely powerful extratropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds that was part of the 2021–2022 European windstorm season. Storm Eunice was named by the U ...

in February 2022, The Twentieth Century Society repeated 2020 calls for the Deptford building to be listed, so that any repairs respected the building's design quality. If it was added to the Heritage List for England it would become its first 21st century building.

Notable alumni

Music

* Robert Brydges Addison (composer) * Howard Arman (conductor) * Peter Arnold (pianist) * Sir Granville Bantock (composer) * Sir John Barbirolli (conductor) * Helen Bower (violinist) * Thomas Bowes (violinist) * Mairead Carlin (singer) * Edith Coates (mezzo-soprano) * Avril Coleridge-Taylor (pianist, conductor, composer) *

Deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...

(composer, singer) * Corrie Dick, drummer, composer * Wilberforce Echezona, musicologist * Predrag Gosta (conductor, harpsichordist) * Gavin Greenaway (composer) * Heather Harper (soprano) *

Stjepan Hauser Stjepan Hauser (; born 15 June 1986), known professionally as HAUSER, is a Croatian cellist. He was a member of 2Cellos, 2CELLOS, along with Luka Šulić, and continues to perform solo. Early life and musical training Hauser was born in Pula, ...

( 2Cellos) (cellist) *

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

(composer, singer, songwriter) * Laura Jurd (trumpeter, composer) * Albert Ketèlbey (composer) *

Fela Kuti Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997) was a Nigerians, Nigerian musician and political activist. He is regarded as the principal innovator of Afrobeat, a Nigerian music genre t ...

(musician, activist) * Made Kuti (musician) * Sunny Li (pianist) * Amaal Mallik (composer, singer) * Mantovani * Andrew Matthews-Owen (pianist/accompanist) * Cecilia McDowall (composer) *

Salim Merchant Salim, Saleem or Selim may refer to: People *Salim (name), or Saleem or Salem or Selim, a name of Arabic origin **Salim (poet) (1800–1866), Kurdish poet **Saleem (playwright), Palestinian-American gay Muslim playwright, actor, DJ, and dancer * ...

(composer) * Mickey J. Meyer (composer) * Tom Misch (producer, composer, singer, guitarist) * Eric Parkin (pianist) * Margaret Price (soprano) * Marcella Puppini (singer) * Anirudh Ravichander (composer, music director, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, instrumentalist, conductor) * Amy Shuard (soprano) * Iyad Sughayer (pianist) * Lana Trotovšek (violinist) * Philip Turbett (bassoonist) *

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948) is a British conductor. Biography Wordsworth was appointed assistant conductor to the touring orchestra of The Royal Ballet in 1972. In 1973, he became principal conductor of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ba ...

(conductor)

Dance

* Lea Anderson (choreographer, artistic director, MBE) *

Radhika Apte Radhika Apte () (born 7 September 1985) is an Indian film and television actress. She began acting in theatre and made her film debut with a brief role in the fantasy drama ''Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!'' (2005). Her first lead role was in the 2009 ...

(actress) * Cressida Bonas (actress) * Sir

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is a British choreographer. His productions contain many classic cinema and popular culture references and draw thematic inspiration from musicals, film noir and popular culture. Popular ...

(choreographer, KBE ) * Bilinda Butcher (vocalist/guitarist of My Bloody Valentine) * Nighat Chaudhry (Kathak dancer) * Anjali Jay (actress and dancer) * Chisato Minamimura (Japanese dancer and choreographer)

Notable staff

Current and former staff include: * Richard Arnellformer Professor of Composition * Peter ArnoldProfessor of Piano *

Mulatu Astatke Mulatu Astatke (; French pronunciation: Astatqé; born 19 December 1943) is an Ethiopian musician and arranger considered as the father of "Ethio-jazz". Born in Jimma, Mulatu was musically trained in London, New York City, and Boston where he ...

conga drums * Issie Barrattcomposer * Gabriele Baldoccipianist * Andrew Bernardiviolinist * Oliver Butterworthformer Professor of Violin * Nicholas Claptonsinger (former Professor of Singing) * Natalie Cleincellist * Christine CroshawProfessor of Piano, Chamber Music and Accompaniment * Alison CrumProfessor of

Viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

, member of the Rose Consort of Viols * Meredith DaviesPrincipal 1979–88 * Graham Anthony Devineclassical guitarist * Terry Edwardsconductor * Myers FogginPrincipal * Philip Fowkepianist * Harry Gabborgan professor * Henry Geehlconductor, composer, pianist * Rivka Golaniviola * Philip Jonesformer Professor of Trumpet (founder of the

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, founded in 1951 by trumpeter Philip Jones (musician), Philip Jones, was one of the first modern classical brass ensembles to be formed. The group played either as a quintet or as a ten-piece, for larger halls. It ...

) * Mark Lockheartjazz saxophonist * Joanna MacGregorpianist (honorary Professor) * Andrew Matthews-Owenpianist and coach * Stephen Montaguecomposer * Joan Rodgerssoprano * Daryl Runswickcomposer * Yonty Solomonpianist (Professor of Piano) * Stephen Stirlinghorn player *

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious music, religious works. Among his best known works are ''The Lamb (Tavener), The Lamb'' (1982), ''The ...

composer (former Professor of Composition) * David Thomassinger (bass) * Philip Turbettbassoonist (modern and historical) * John WebsterProfessor of the Organ * Jan Van Dykedancer * Vasko Vassilevviolinist * Marguerite Wolffpianist

References

External links

Official website of Trinity Laban

on WhatUni {{authority control 2005 establishments in England Contemporary dance in London Dance schools in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 2005 Herzog & de Meuron buildings Music schools in London Performing arts education in London Universities UK