London school praises Chinese students

Barry Ife, principal of London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama. [By Cecily Liu/chinadaily.com.cn]

Barry Ife, principal of London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, says Chinese students at his school have demonstrated great talent and have helped to add diversity to the school.

Guildhall School, which opened in 1880 in the heart of the City of London, is now home to around 900 students including a small number from China.

The school has also just completed a major building project this autumn to expand its teaching and performance space, adding new facilities including a 608-seat concert hall, a 223-seat theatre, a studio theatre, three major rehearsal rooms, and a TV studio suite.

To attract the best talents from China and other Asian countries, Guildhall School started auditions Hong Kong last year, which will run again later this year.

At these auditions, Guildhall School would send about three or four staff members to hear the students, each of whom will play their chosen piece for about 20 minutes.

He said last year 16 students attended the Hong Kong auditions and one student submitted a DVD as he was unable to attend in person. Of the 17, four are enrolling with the Guildhall School in the 2013/14 academic year.

"Chinese students' ability to engage with western musical traditions is unthinkable," says Ife.

One notable Chinese graduate of the school is Li Chenying, who graduated in 2007 and has since become a UK-based pianist who also teaches at Junior Guildhall.

Another is Wei Zhiying, who graduated in 2011 and is now playing second Trombone position at the National Centre for Performing Arts Orchestra in Beijing.

Ife says he is proud of the Chinese graduates from Guildhall School and would like to increase the number of Chinese students based on quality. He adds that Guildhall School champions diversity and has students from about 60 countries already.

Ife says Guildhall School has also been running a reciprocal project with the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing on musical theatre.

A group of Guildhall School's students visited Central Academy of Drama in 2011, during which time students from the two institutions acted Romeo and Juliet together.

"We chose it because it is a universal theme, of two young lovers against war in families," Ife says.

He says the Chinese students spoke in Chinese and the English students spoke in English, and from the perspective of the audience it was an equal meeting of cultures.

In 2012 Central Academy of Drama's students came to the UK in return and brought with them a production of the musical Mama Mia! in Chinese.

Ife says that his team received very positive feedback from the students. "For somebody in their early 20s, it is an incredibly exciting and liberating experience. It is not just about the artistic meeting, but trying out little bits of language and culture and get to know the way people live differently," he says.