RNCM 2014 Fellows and Honorary Members

The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is pleased to announce its 2014 Fellows and Honorary Members.

At the RNCM’s Congregation of Awards, held in the newly refurbished Concert Hall on Friday 12 December, Fellowships (FRNCM) were awarded to conductor and Music Director of Opera North Richard Farnes and Russian cellist Karine Georgian, and an Honorary Membership (HonRNCM) to Jean Oglesby, one of the RNCM’s loyal advocates and supporters.

In the presence of RNCM President Sir Willard White, Richard Farnes’ Fellowship was presented by Stefan Janski, RNCM Head of Opera, Karine Georgian’s by fellow cellist and Head of the School of Strings Chris Hoyle, and Jean Oglesby’s by Susan Baines, the College’s Vice-Principal (Operations).

2014 fellowships were also awarded to Japanese composer and marimba player Keiko Abe and Polish conductor and composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and an Honorary Membership to Sir Nicholas Hytner, Director of London’s National Theatre, all of which will be presented during visits to the College in 2015.

Since 1974, the RNCM has awarded numerous Fellowships and Honorary Memberships to world-renowned musicians, conductors, composers, educators, and advocates, including Placido Domingo, Sir John Dankworth, András Schiff, Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Janet Baker, Sir Mark Elder, Hans Werner Henze and Sir Bernard Lovell.

To learn more contact Liz Rowley, PR and Media Relations Officer, on 0161 907 5369 or email [email protected]

Notes to Editors

Richard Farnes Richard Farnes is one of the most sought after conductors of his generation. Richard read Music at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was organ scholar, and went on to study at the National Opera Studio, Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music, where he conducted the first British production of Rossini’s Journey to Reims.

Since 2004 he has been Music Director of Opera North for which he has conducted highly praised productions including Death in Venice, Albert Herring, The Queen of Spades and Wagner’s Ring.

Outside his commitments for Opera North he has also had a close association with Scottish Opera, conducting La bohème, Tosca and The Magic Flute amongst others, and he regularly conducts for Glyndebourne. Other opera engagements have included Simone Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House, The Cunning Little Vixen for English National Opera and his international engagements have taken him to many countries including Israel, Russia and Ireland.

In April 2013 Richard conducted two concert performances of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, replacing the late Sir Colin Davis.

Karine Georgian Born into a family of musicians in Moscow, Karine Georgian is today one of the outstanding exponents of the golden generation of Russian string playing.

Today Karine brings her wealth of performance experience to concert platforms around the world, having appeared with many of the leading orchestras and conductors of our time. Her repertoire encompasses more than forty concertos and a huge range of instrumental and chamber music.

She has been associated with leading composers of our day, several of whom have written works for her including Alfred Schnittke, Tigran Mansurian, Alexander Goehr, Dmitri Smirnov, Howard Skempton and Elena Firsova. Karine gave the US première of Schnittke’s First Cello Concerto in Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian première of Britten’s Cello Symphony with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1980 Karine settled in London and two years later succeeded André Navarra as Professor of Cello at the Musikhochschule in Detmold in Germany, a position she held for 20 years. Currently she teaches at the RNCM and has given masterclasses in England, Italy, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Austria.

Jean Oglesby Jean’s love of music started at school where she enjoyed singing in the choir. She has spent much of her time on charitable activities. She was chair of a local fundraising committee for Christies Hospital and has latterly been administering the family charitable trust. Jean has been extremely generous in support of students at the College, providing substantial financial help through the Oglesby Charitable Trust for three deserving candidates every academic year.

In addition to helping individual students, Jean has used her influence to support other aspects of the College’s work. The recent major capital re-development of the RNCM Concert Hall is due in no small part to a substantial gift from the Oglesby Charitable Trust. Jean has taken an active personal interest in all RNCM students supported through the Trust, visiting the College to meet with them individually and also attending their performances. Jean’s personal interest has created a meaningful relationship between the students and their benefactor, and is an exemplar of best practice in this context.