Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

It's not unusual to hear people say they're dying to get in to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, such is the London-based conservatoire's reputation. But by 2010 they might really mean it: the bulk of the school will be situated in a morgue.

'Until recently we've been storing costumes and props in there,' says Guildhall principal Barry Ife of the building, which neighbours the school's existing site in London's Barbican complex. It's not currently being used as a morgue, of course - although that would make for some very realistic props.

Milton Court, which also incorporates an old fire station, is set to be transformed into an ambitious £10m complex that Ife hopes will help to host 200 extra music and drama students on top of the 800 already enrolled at the school. Much of the surrounding Barbican Estate, including the Barbican Arts Centre and the Museum of London, is Grade II-listed, leaving the building as one of few viable options for expansion.

Ife, who joined the Guildhall in 2004, explains the need for the development: 'When we came to the Barbican in 1977 we came to a brand new, purpose-built centre. The school at that stage had 340 students. Now we've got 800 students and we simply need more performance and rehearsal space, more training rooms. We need to be able to ease congestion.'

'I was at a Gergiev Stravinsky/Debussy concert last week and it was really nice to be able to see one of our students playing in the strings'

Tania Mandzy, a 30-year-old American mezzo-soprano on the Guildhall's prestigious postgraduate opera programme, is satisfied with the existing facilities. 'The theatre itself is great and I've got no complaints about that,' she says of the 308-seat Guildhall School Theatre, the main space currently used for theatre and opera productions. But she concedes that, at present, there are 'more students than the school can cope with'.

The Guildhall takes full advantage of its proximity to the Barbican Centre - just 150 metres from door to door - by regularly occupying its impressive 1,949-seat Barbican Hall, and through collaborations with both the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), which is based there, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Collaborations with the latter take the form of January Composer Weekends held at the Barbican, during which students study the works of a particular composer. Next year's focus, for example, is on Judith Weir.

The school's partnership with the LSO includes the Guildhall Artists scheme, where students precede LSO concerts with free one-hour recitals of related repertoire. 'We're very pleased with the way that that programme is coming along,' continues Ife. 'We're finding that several hundred of the audiences for the evening concerts will come earlier.'

The Guildhall also participates in the LSO's String Experience Scheme, which offers selected students the chance to experience rehearsals, training, mentoring and even performances with the orchestra. 'I was at a Gergiev Stravinsky/Debussy concert last week and it was really nice to be able to see one of our students playing in the strings,' comments Ife. 'It was a wonderful professional experience.'

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