The RCO management team is required to pull together on Conferment day and perform some interesting tasks, outside our usual skillsets. First thing in the morning wicker baskets arrive full of assorted gowns and hoods, and the robing department has to make sure that everyone gets the correct gorgeous garments for the ceremony. We stuff the programmes with appropriate fliers and donation envelopes, and become ushers and usherettes as soon as the audience starts to arrive. And all in amongst the Royal College of Organists holds its Annual General Meeting…

Two young RCO members are carving out careers for themselves as composers, alongside their organ playing. Both Matthew Kelley and Tammas Slater won in the junior category the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers competition in 2015, and for both of them this has been a life-changer, leading to a series of further commissions.

This pre-concert talk was recorded at the world premiere at the Royal Festival Hall of the Legend of Melusine, which was commissioned as part of the RCO’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2014.

The RCO has published a major resource for organ teachers and students involved in or considering the Associated Board of the Royal College of Music’s graded organ examinations.

You can watch the College’s 2016 Conferment of Diplomas ceremony in full or as edited highlights.

RCO members, students and their families filled Southwark Cathedral on Saturday for the 2016 Conferment of Diplomas.

The ability to sight-read is enormously useful, but many teachers find it difficult to include in their lessons. This download from the RCO Academy aims to help teach this subject by suggesting resources, preparation techniques, and how to overcome students’ resistance to sight reading.

The Conferment of Diplomas is the public centrepiece of the Royal College of Organists’ year. In 2015 it was held in Southwark Cathedral, London, and you can watch a video of the proceedings here.

The Conferment of Diplomas is the public centrepiece of the Royal College of Organists’ year. In 2013 it was held in Southwark Cathedral, London.