Centre for Voice in Performance
Professor Ros Steen (MA (Hons), DSD, IPA, FRSAMD) leads the Royal Conservatoire’s
Centre for Voice in
Performance
, the National Centre of Excellence for the teaching, practice and research of Voice in
Performance, established to advance the School of Drama's outstanding national and
international reputation in this field.
Trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD) and the University of Glasgow,
she spent many years studying with Nadine George (Voice Studio International), our first
International Fellow in Voice and pioneered the use of her own voice work, rooted in George’s
technique, as a medium of rehearsal in professional theatre. She is one of the first
accredited teachers with Voice Studio International.
She continues to study her work in professional performance contexts, currently undertaking
practice-based research into the role of the voice work within the director’s creative process in
conjunction with the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse Theatre. She was recently
appointed the first visiting scholar to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard
University where she contributed to the research work of John Tiffany, Associate Director of the
National Theatre of Scotland, currently a Research Fellow of the Institute.
She is an Associate Editor of the International Dialects of English Archive and regularly
guest lectures in Europe, particularly for Athanor Akademie, Germany. She is in regular demand as a
voice consultant for Theatre, Film and TV throughout the country.
Publications include:
Helena, Hitler and the Heartland ,
Seein Oursels As Ithers See Us and
What We May Be: the integration of Lecoq movement and George voice work at the RSAMD with
Joyce Deans for VASTA, USA,
Teaching Voice in the New Millennium, a keynote address for ICV,
Co-Direction: How Creativity is Translated Educationally In a Moment of Rehearsal with
Joyce Deans for ELIA,
Double-hinged Doors: the RSAMD's voice work in Training and
Theatre with Bill Wright, and
Strange Geometrical Hinges for the CDS conference held July 2009. She was awarded
Fellowship of the Academy in 2008.
This is extraordinary work and Ros is an extraordinary practitioner and it was a great
privilege and delight to have her work as a key part of this course.
Lecturer in Voice
A member of The Centre For Voice team since 1996, Hilary taught previously at a number of
major UK drama schools, including Central, RWCMD, Rose Bruford and GSA. Her international
profile includes training for The Singapore Broadcasting Company, Accents and Dialects for Flinders
University and the Sydney Conservatoire in Australia, and workshops in Istanbul and Amsterdam. She
was visiting Voice Professor at The Academy of Film and Theatre in Bucharest and voice coach for
the award winning Teatrro Biuro Podrozy in Poland. Closer to home, she has coached on
productions for The National Theatre of Scotland and The Royal Court, London. Hilary has a
particular research interest in Performance Stress (how not to be!), was a founding member of
ISSTIP and has acted in an advisory capacity for the British association of Performing Arts
Medicine.
Hilary was very experienced….radiated knowledgeability and inspired you to listen
Course participant
Lecturer in Voice and Musical Theatre
Jean Sangster studied piano and singing at the Royal Conservatoire (then RSAMD). She taught
singing in the School of Drama for many years before studying spoken voice with Nadine George.
She took up her current post in the Centre for Voice in Performance as a full-time
Lecturer in Voice and Musical Theatre in 2006. Jean has particular responsibility for
singing, technical spoken voice, production and performance support as well as Scots Language.
She teaches across all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes with particular
responsibilities for Musical Theatre.
Jean has been voice consultant for a number theatre companies, most recently ‘Backbeat’
Act Productions, ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ National Theatre of Scotland, ‘Heer Ranja’ Ankur
Productions and ‘The Steamie’ Neil Laidlaw Productions.
Jean is currently investigating the integration of Nadine George Technique and Musical Theatre
singing styles.
The vocal energy work I have done with Jean …has been my biggest light-bulb moment!
Student
Lecturer in Voice
Bill Wright trained as an actor at the Royal Conservatoire (then RSAMD). After several years
of professional work on stage, screen and radio, he began to teach Performing Arts at Coatbridge
College, where he gained a Teaching Qualification in Further Education. He has undertaken further
training with Nadine George of Voice Studio International, and physical theatre with East 15, Al
Seed and the British Grotowksi Project. Bill joined the Centre for Voice in Performance in
2007 and completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Arts Education in 2008. Bill
directs in a free-lance capacity, most recently with 'The Breathing House' and 'One Good Beating'
for Rekindle, 'Immaculate' for Tabby Cat and 'Little Ulla' and 'Goldilocks and the Enormous Turnip'
for Grinagog. He occasionally performs as an actor, and regularly appears as a singer with
Jericho Hill, a tribute to Johnny Cash.
Breathing work this term with Bill has of course been great and at some times
inspirational.
Student.
