124 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD, UK

+44 161 273 7611

Undergraduate programs

Bachelor of Music (Hons). Four years. Specialisation in performance, composition, popular music. Studies include style and historical periods, theory, aural skills, improvisation, music business, recording and production techniques, website design, musicians' health and wellness, teaching skills, copyright, finance, entrepreneurship.

Graduate programs

Master of Music. In performance, opera performance, orchestral conducting, composition, popular music composition, accompaniment, repetiteur studies. Master of Performance. Master of Philosophy. In musicology, music psychology, music education, performance, conducting, composition. Doctor of Philosophy.

Other programs

Graduate Diploma of the RNCM (GRNCM). Post-graduate Diploma: Advanced Studies in performance, composition. International Artist Diploma. PGCE. One year. A post-graduate certificate of education leading to registration as a teacher of instrumental music in schools.

The Royal Northern College of Music was established in 1973 following the merger of the Royal Manchester College of Music and the Northern School of Music. The College is organised into schools of study: academic, composition and contemporary music, keyboard, strings, wind, brass and percussion, vocal and opera, as well as a graduate school. There is a strong opera program which operates in the School’s well-equipped opera theatre where the School of Vocal and Opera Studies usually presents at least two full-scale productions each year. The European Chamber Music Master (ECMAster) two-year program developed by the European Chamber Music Academy offers training at a professional level with two semesters taken at partner institutions in other European conservatoires. An optional course in Dalcroze Eurhythmics is offered. A Music for Health program is involved with training and professional support for musicians wishing to work with people in health and social care settings. The Hallé/RNCM Strings Leadership Course is designed for outstanding British recently-graduated string players who aspire to be the leading orchestral players of the future and who will work closely with the Hallé Orchestra section leaders. There is an orchestra of modern reproductions of baroque stringed instruments, made by a luthier who was in residence for three years. The College houses the Henry Watson collection of historic and ethnic instruments as well as the Josiah Thomas Chapman collection. The College offers the honorary award of FRNCM (Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music). The Junior School at the RNCM organises Saturday tuition in practical and ensemble music. There is also a Junior Strings Project (with supportive classes in Dalcroze eurhythmics and Kodály musicianship), and a Junior Wind, Brass and Percussion Project. An active member of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen.

September 2022