The power of an opera chorus featuring more than 100 singers. A blend of ballet and song where voice meets movement. heartwarming musical and a festival of bold contemporary work … the new year brings an unmissable programme of performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

They’re just a few of the highlights from the January to March season at Scotland’s national conservatoire, one of the world’s top destinations for performing and production arts education.

The January blues are guaranteed to be blown away when the Opera Chorus Showcase raises the roof of RCS’s New Athenaeum Theatre on Monday 17 and Wednesday 21 January.

Presented by alumnus Jamie MacDougall, the concert will bring together more than 100 singers from across the Conservatoire to perform famous choruses from the operatic repertoire, including La Traviata, Fidelio, Nabucco and Die Fledermaus.

We’ll also celebrate the work of our production students and the crucial work undertaken by the lighting and backstage teams.

Expect a battle of wits, bitter rivalry and comic hijinks as acting students stage Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in the Chandler Studio Theatre from Tuesday 17 to Friday 20 March.

There’s also a biting, feminist retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, The Penelopiad, an adaption of Margaret Atwood’s 2005 novel. It’s staged in the Chandler Studio Theatre from Tuesday 3 to Friday 6 March.

The New Athenaeum will be transformed into 1990s Paris for the charming musical Amélie, inspired by the Oscar-nominated film and performed by Musical Theatre and Musical Directing students from Tuesday 17 to Friday 20 March.

And for cutting-edge performance, Emergence returns to the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street for three days of newly devised works by our Classical and Contemporary Text students.

The RCS Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Visiting Professor of Conducting Martyn Brabbins, will tie together works by Weber, Walton and Hindemith on Friday 27 February.

Our annual Strings and Piano festivals in March (Monday 9 to 13 and Monday 16 to 20 respectively) bring week-long celebrations of those instruments, packed with masterclasses, guest performances and more.

Fridays at One features a number of outstanding guest artists, including Scottish Ensemble side by side with RCS Strings (16 January) ARC Ensemble (30 January) and The Brodsky Quartet (13 March), who perform side by side with RCS Strings in dedication to our late friend and wonderful supporter, Leslie Rosin.

Ballet and Vocal Studies students will collaborate on an evening of ballet and song, based around Mahler’s beautiful Rückert-Lieder song cycle, on Monday 2 March.

Bringing our productions to life will be BA Production Arts and Design and BA Production Technology and Management students who create the immersive worlds on stage, from costumes, props and sets to the lighting and sound designs and stage management.

To find out more and to book your tickets, visit rcs.ac.uk/boxoffice, call 0141 332 5057 or visit the Box Office in person.