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Home > Music > Principal study > Historical Performance
Historical Performance musicians

Historical Performance

Keyboard and plucked continuo instruments.

Historical Performance specialism is also available through the Vocal Studies Principal Study. Study of historical string, wind, and brass instruments is available through elective modules.

Programmes

Historical Performance at Guildhall encourages students to inhabit music from the past and explore ways of communicating with a modern audience.

Under the supervision of Head of Historical Performance, Christopher Suckling, the Department provides opportunities for students to critically engage with and challenge current performance practices before entering an evolving profession.

Through a combination of ensemble and project-based learning, supported by individual tuition and studies centred around rhetorical delivery and historical stagecraft, we provide an introduction to different approaches to performing music, giving you the experience necessary to continue your development as you embark on a varied career.

Teaching is primarily through ensemble performance projects supported by individual and group tuition from some of the country’s leading performers and scholars. Recurring projects include Baroque Opera Scenes, the Baroque Orchestra, the Cantata Project, and the Guildhall Consort. These projects are mutually supportive; instrumentalists, for example, might first encounter the 17th century by playing in consort with singers.

Working with Historical Performance

There are several different ways to engage with historical performance at Guildhall.

Postgraduate performers of keyboards and plucked continuo instruments who have an interest in vocal direction, accompaniment, and coaching find their home within the Historical Performance department. Generous scholarships are available in return for their weekly work with Vocal Studies and their support of cross-School ensemble projects. Prospective students may apply for both Guildhall Artist Masters and Advanced Diploma courses.

Postgraduate singers join the Vocal Studies principal study, taking advantage of the breadth of technical and performance training necessary for a singer, whilst being able to choose performance projects and electives that are led by the Historical Performance department.

Players of orchestral instruments opt to develop their skills on historical instruments through the Historical Performance elective modules of the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes; their Principal Study remains within the Strings or Wind, Brass and Percussion departments. The School has a collection of historical instruments to lend to students.

Students are also welcomed into the department through the MPhil/DMus and MPhil/PhD programmes and through the Erasmus programme.

Teaching

Whichever way you choose to work with historical performance at Guildhall, teaching is primarily through ensemble performance projects supported by individual and group tuition from some of the country's leading performers and scholars. Recurring projects include Baroque Opera Scenes, the Baroque Orchestra (including a side-by-side project with the Academy of Ancient Music), the Cantata Project, and the Guildhall Consort. These projects are mutually supportive; instrumentalists, for example, might first encounter the seventeenth century by playing in consort with singers.

An academic elective takes a similar approach; the class is led through a research project that addresses current performance issues and teaches the techniques required to engage with source material before offering students the opportunity to develop their own practice-led research projects.

Associations

Our relationship with the Academy of Ancient Music offers students masterclasses with principal players and side-by-side ensemble workshops and performances. The partnership also allows access to major artists working with the AAM, to AAM open rehearsals and to networking opportunities. 

The Guildhall Consort is directed by Eamonn Dougan, Assistant Conductor of The Sixteen, nd offers excellent opportunities for refining vocal ensemble techniques, performing music from Victoria, Palestrina and Schütz through to Bach, Schumann, Stravinsky and Arvo Pärt. It has also formed the chorus for performances in the Barbican Hall with visiting ensembles such as the Venice Baroque Orchestra and the English Concert.

Applications

Vocal Studies applicants with an interest in Historical Performance should apply as Vocal Training Voice Type. Applicants must also email Music_Applications@gsmd.ac.uk to register their interest in Historical Performance.

Keyboard and plucked continuo instruments should apply as Historical Performance Keyboards, Historical Performance Guitar/Theorbo/Lute, or Historical Performance Harp.

Audition requirements for both Vocal Studies and continuo instruments can be found on our auditions page.

Orchestral Instruments should apply via their principal study department then select the relevant Historical Performance electives during their course.

For further information and to discuss whether Guildhall's approach to historical performance is suited to your developing career, please contact the Head of Department, Christopher Suckling.

See our departmental highlights, successes & alumni.

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