Artist Diploma in Opera

In the UK Philip has worked as a guest on the music staff of the Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and Longborough Opera and he is currently Head of Music for Grange Park Opera.

Mark has directed many sets of opera scenes at the RCS, as well as at the National Opera Studio, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal Academy of Music.

Duncan has had a relationship with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for the last 20 years as both a teacher and visiting coach and has now taken up the post of full-time coach in the Opera Department.

Professor Stephen Robertson is a vocal pedagogue who is much in demand both nationally and internationally. Having partly retired he now devotes his time to voice teaching and research. 

Scott Johnson was previously a tutor at the Conservatoire du Kremlin-Bicetre, Parisandalso at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD), London. He studied voice at the GSMD under David Pollard, graduating in 1997 and subsequently completed a PGCE and MA (graduating with Distinction) at London University, Institute of Education. He taught music in a secondary school for several years, and for 11 years was also organist and Director of Music at a parish church in Essex.

Helen Lawson was born in Northumberland and studied singing at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London. Helen has appeared as soloist in opera houses at home and abroad, including English National Opera; City of Birmingham Touring Opera; English Touring Opera; De Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen and Landestheater Thüringen. Having taught singing in German universities (Bayreuth and Bamberg), Helen moved to Glasgow in 2002 to take up the post of Lecturer in Vocal Studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

Wilma MacDougall is a much sought-after vocal lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she has taught for the last fifteen years. Her students have sung at many of the world’s top opera houses and concert halls. Born in Scotland, Wilma graduated BA (Hons) in Music followed by a PGCE in Music and Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. She has recorded and broadcast on BBC radio and television in repertoire ranging from Bach’s Cantata No.51 Jauchzet Gott through to contemporary repertoire.

Elizabeth McCormack was born in Fife, Scotland and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now RCS) and the National Opera Studio, London. She is a past winner of the Scottish Opera, John Noble Bursary, the Decca-Kathleen Ferrier Prize, the Royal Overseas League Music Competition, the Isobel Baillie Performance Award, Scotland’s representative in Cardiff Singer of the World 1993 and a recipient of the Countess of Munster and Caird Scholarships.

A graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), in both piano and singing, mezzo soprano Kathleen McKellar Ferguson pursued post graduate studies in singing at the Royal College of Music in London. She then pursued a highly successful professional singing career in both opera and on the concert platform before becoming a very sought after singing teacher and vocal coach at home and abroad.

OBE

Linda has an honorary Doctorate of Music from St. Andrews University and was awarded an OBE for her services to opera.

Iain retired from professional singing in 2015 to concentrate on his teaching commitments. Iain has taught with Scottish Opera and Opera North. Worked with the Tokyo National Opera School, coaching in a production of Albert Herring. He has also taught for two years at the Dance School of Scotland’s music theatre department.

Clare’s students have won some of the world’s major singing competitions such as the Cardiff Singer of the World and Neue Stimmen competitions and the Toonkunst Oratorio Prize at the International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch (IVC). Many of her students are Samling Artists and alumni of prestigious Young Artists Programmes such as the National Opera Studio and now work in major European opera houses, including Vienna State Opera.

MA (Oxon), MLitt

Julian has taught at the RCS for more than ten years. His students have won major scholarships to leading conservatories around the world, as well as going on to sign with companies such as the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Scottish Opera, Gothenburg Opera, and National Theater Mannheim.

Julian’s approach to teaching is informed by his own experience as a performer and the need to equip young singers with the technical security and self-knowledge to allow them to achieve their creative potential. In 2018, Julian was invited to lecture and give workshops at the University of Performing Arts and Music in Vienna. He is currently working on a project which explores the musical milieu of Edward Clark and his teacher Arnold Schoenberg.

Jane Irwin studied music at Lancaster University and sang at the Royal Northern College of Music as a mezzo. As a concert and recital singer, she has appeared regularly in Britain, Europe and America. In 2002 she made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Mariss Jansons. She has sung for the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Berlin Festival, the Concertgebouw and the Musikverein.

As well as fulfilling professional engagements, Pat taught singing at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama for over thirty years and she received an Honorary Fellowship in March 2000. She is still very much sought after by students at home and abroad.

Héloïse Bernard is a classically trained soprano and French Language coach. She holds a Masters in French Language and Literature from the Université Paris 7 – Denis Diderot, specialised in the French Enlightenment, and pursued her musical training at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. 

Born in Malta, Geoffrey Tanti studied piano with Cynthia Turner before moving to Glasgow to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he graduated with a Masters in Piano Performance with Distinction and a Masters in Répétiteur Studies. He studied with Jonathan Plowright and Julia Lynch and worked for a year as a Junior Fellow accompanist at the RCS. During his studies, Geoffrey won many solo and accompaniment prizes.

Helen Lawson was born in Northumberland and studied singing at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London. Helen has appeared as soloist in opera houses at home and abroad, including English National Opera; City of Birmingham Touring Opera; English Touring Opera; De Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen and Landestheater Thüringen. Having taught singing in German universities (Bayreuth and Bamberg), Helen moved to Glasgow in 2002 to take up the post of Lecturer in Vocal Studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).