A need for change in conservatoires has long been recognised within the industry. The Musicians’ Union’s The Working Musician report (2020) gathered compelling data on the wide range of activity undertaken by graduates, which spans genres, formats and disciplines. A modern ‘orchestral musician’ may perform in a concert hall one day, a recording studio the next, and a festival the following weekend. The terms ‘orchestral music’ and ‘classical music’ have not been synonymous for some time, and conservatoire training should acknowledge that versatility is more than an advantage – it is a requirement. Yet resistance to change persists, with a focus on a narrow range of canonic orchestral works as a training blueprint for career success.

Training must prepare students for the diverse activities that constitute careers, not by abandoning orchestral skills or downgrading classical music, but by embracing an evolution that meets new demands, perspectives and approaches. This means expanding the range of skills covered in the curriculum and placing a wider range of repertoires at its core, not as an add-on. Professional musicians operate across a varied landscape, and it is not possible to cover all music during the years of training. The answer is to approach repertoire as a vehicle through which skills are developed, including the ability to be curious. Learning repertoire, canonic and non-canonic, is a life-long journey for all of us – an exciting journey that motivates our curiosity and personal development. At Trinity Laban we cherish our classical canon, but we also act relentlessly to expand it.

In debating how conservatoires could evolve their approach, I have often heard the fear that students’ classical foundations might be ‘watered down’, that students must first ‘learn the fundamentals’ of classical training before applying these more broadly to ‘other music’.

My provocation is that as time in training is limited, and as each year a range of wonderful new work is being created across our globally connected art forms, choosing to define ‘classical music’ as a closed tradition does not encourage the development of the mindset that our graduates need to become active participants in the constant reinvention of our cultural heritage. This reinvention requires the development of generative skills such as improvisation and composition, curatorial awareness and confidence in working in interdisciplinary contexts. As artificial intelligence will increasingly produce material that is easily replicated, so will training need to cultivate the skills that enable the creation of that which is not.

The Benefit of Small Groups

The core of conservatoire training should be small-group activity, where all students are actively engaged in every musical decision, developing leadership and creative agency and responding to others. Skills developed in this setting can be applied in larger group contexts, but not the other way around. For developing core skills, classical chamber music and vocal consort activity play the same central role that band settings do within jazz and pop traditions.

Prioritising work in small-group contexts allows more styles of music and performance to be explored, giving students a broader range of experiences that will then support their careers. It is the work done in groups of three to eight players that truly develops the key skills of listening/responding and the continual transference of leadership. This work is more useful than hours spent at the back of a large section; in a small group, there can be no passengers.

At Trinity Laban, small-group collaboration is central to our training, with over 200 chamber groups and small bands across the institution, many in non-standard line-ups that explore underperformed repertoire and commission new works. This focus on small-group work is coupled with side by side projects with our various partners, which include Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras and Welsh National Opera. Our students learn to apply their developing skills in a professional environment, guided by industry professionals.

Embracing a wider range of repertoire

Diversification of repertoire does not diminish classical excellence, rather it extends this excellence across a broader area. Diversification strengthens musicians’ adaptability and extends their frame of reference, making graduates more employable without diluting their artistry.

Innovations and stylistic developments need to find their way into the conservatoire curriculum – and into the teaching of those who educate young people before they reach higher education – as quickly as possible if conservatoires are to remain relevant in leading musical developments as opposed to merely responding to them.

Many orchestras are themselves evolving, responding to audience demand for a broader range of programming, including film scores, musical theatre, pop-classical collaborations, TV and game music, electronic and world music, as well as multi-disciplinary performances.

The BBC Proms has already demonstrated this shift, embracing folk, jazz, pop and electronic music while maintaining its classical roots. Other orchestras, such as the Heritage Orchestra, make a feature of performing non-classical repertoire. Changemakers such as Trinity Laban alum and Mercury Prize- and BRIT Award-winning Femi Koleoso of Ezra Collective demonstrate that exposure to a wider range of musical genres fosters true excellence, recognised commercially and critically.

From my perspective, audiences embraced a broad definition of ‘classical music’ long ago, and this is a good thing which will enable the artform we love to continue to evolve and flourish.

Interdisciplinary Practice

With its core disciplines of music, dance and musical theatre, Trinity Laban is uniquely positioned to embed collaboration across artforms, thus mirroring the increasing fluidity of artistic careers. Our students are actively encouraged to experiment, to develop the ability to move between styles and to think laterally about what a performance career can be. They work with different types of performers, including dancers and actors, as well as a wide range of audiences, including educational and community contexts.

We prove that excellence and innovation go hand in hand. Last year, eight of our postgraduate choreographers worked with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Composers and Tania León to create new works for a concert at QEH – it was wonderful to see our graduates represented in all areas of the performance. We have been collaborating with global partners for many years as part of our annual CoLab Festival, in which the whole institution immerses itself in interdisciplinary work. Through CoLab, our students develop international connections which extend employment opportunities further.

Access

Generations of students have now suffered the erosion of music education in schools, and a narrow definition of ‘classical music’ has left it occupying an ever-diminishing place within a crowded cultural landscape. There is no longer the critical mass of students reaching conservatoires through a relatively homogenous pathway of graded exams, GCSEs, A-levels and youth orchestras – student pathways are now far more multifarious.

Bringing together different artistic languages, cultures and backgrounds at Trinity Laban has created an exciting vitality within our student body and alumni network. A recent example was student Samyuktha Rajagopal’s performance of Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G, which featured Indian-inspired cadenzas. This bold and beautiful interpretation was a direct result of the space we create for cultural identity and creative experimentation to sit alongside technical rigour within the classical tradition; a great example of the balancing that conservatoire training must now achieve.

The future

Most graduates will build careers beyond the concert hall, combining orchestral playing with studio work, theatre pits and composition for film, TV, games and advertising. The future of conservatoire training depends on bold, creative changes – changes that we are already embedding at Trinity Laban. Students must be equipped for the realities of today’s performing arts industry, where versatility, creativity and adaptability are essential, and where a broad spectrum of careers await.