The curriculum is built around performance. Each year we programme more than 600 performances in each of our five professional venues, as well as in external venues across the country and internationally.

Every performance programme has opportunities for student performances throughout your studies and RCS attracts an audience of more than 56,000 each year. As the national conservatoire, we are renowned for producing the next generation of performers and attract audiences and reviewers from across the country to see the latest productions from RCS.

Find out more about our local performance partnerships, performance opportunities at the Edinburgh Festival, industry showcases, and international opportunities.

Some of our regular performance opportunities across the disciplines include:

Music

  • RCS Symphony Orchestra
  • Plug Festival
  • Piano Festival
  • Rosin Chamber Weekend
  • Mondays and Friday at One lunchtime concert series
  • RCS Big Band
  • RCS Stevenson Winds
  • Blue Mondays Jazz Series
  • Traditional Music Recital Festival

Drama

  • New writing with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland (MA Classical and Contemporary Text)
  • Shakespeare (BA Acting and MA Classical and Contemporary Text)
  • Musical Theatre recent productions include Sunday in the Park with George, Bat Boy and Spring Awakening
  • Christmas at the Conservatoire (MA Musical Theatre)
  • Into the New (Contemporary Performance Practice)
  • Candid Cabaret (MA Classical and Contemporary Text)
  • On the Verge (MA Classical and Contemporary Text)

Dance

  • Graduation Performance
  • Piano and Dance
  • Solos Evening

Opera

  • Opera Scenes
  • A season of large-scale opera productions each year; recent productions include The Day After, Street Scene and Die Fledermaus

See our recent performance photos on our Flickr and visit our YouTube channel to take a peek behind the scenes.