Reflecting on Summer Schools 2025

Now that Guildhall School's Open Programmes team has had a chance to catch up on some rest, we are reflecting on a brilliant 2025 programme of Summer Schools. We'd like to extend huge thank you to everyone who attended a Summer School with us online and in-person, throughout July and August.

Summer Schools in numbers

From Monday 14 July–Friday 15 August – our longest ever programme – we welcomed 832 participants to 44 courses across music, drama, writing and production arts.

We saw participants travel from across the globe to learn with us from an amazing 43 countries, including Australia, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, China, Croatia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kenya and Malaysia, Oman, Romania, South Korea, Taiwan, USA, Ukraine and Vietnam.

17 participants joined us for more than one course, with one participant joining us for three courses.

Our youngest Summer Schools participant was 9, and the oldest was 76 years old.

Participation Bursaries – offered as part of our Access and Participation Plan – provide financial support to those living in low-income households, enabling participation in selected Short Courses by providing a full or half bursary to cover the course costs. This summer, 25 participants across 12 courses received a participation bursary.

What our participants thought

"It was a lovely course, Scott was an amazing tutor who took time with everyone to help and develop our conducting skills."
Jess, Conducting & Ensemble Direction

"I feel like the course was very intuitive and taught me a lot about sound engineering. Ben was an incredible tutor and explained everything really well until we understood it."
Charlie, Introduction to Theatre Sound Engineering

"I finished the course feeling energised and felt that I had a strong foundation to enter into the world of auditioning. It certainly helped me trust my own instincts and understand that each person has something unique to bring to the table."
Niamh, Audition Technique

"Every day was a brilliant one and I came out at the end of the week feeling amazing and overjoyed with all of the aspects of learning."
Azaelia, Acting in Accent: General American

"It was a wonderful experience, deeply enriching in terms of personal connections, knowledge and control of my own body, voice and breath, and it allowed me to meet many amazing people and work with skilled tutors whom I learned so much from."
Alberto, Acting Summer School for Ages 18+

"The level of teaching and coaching for voice was incredible and specifically tailed to the individual yet very useful to learn and watch others during masterclasses."
Celeste, Vocal Summer School for Classical Singers

"I loved every minute of this course. I learned so much from the teacher and from the ensemble, within which was such a beautiful connection."
Emma, Speaking Shakespeare

"Quite simply the course was superb. Varied content with quality expertise in each tutor. Each tutor being a master of their art form."
Miranda, Acting Summer School for Ages 18+

"The Video Projection Mapping Course at Guildhall School was an inspiring and enriching experience. The combination of expert instruction, hands-on creative projects, and access to state-of-the-art facilities made it both engaging and highly practical. I left the course feeling more confident in my technical skills and creatively motivated to apply projection mapping in future projects."
Benedikt, Introduction to Video Projection Mapping

Thank you again to every single participant who joined us, to all the inspiring tutors, to our brilliant Short Courses Assistants and everyone else who worked behind the scenes to make 2025 a summer to remember!