Student Experience Partnerships

Industry Partners

Come Play With Me is a non-profit music development organisation that specialises in supporting people from marginalised communities to further their careers in music.

Its mission is to fight for an equitable, inclusive and diverse music industry. Come Play With Me provides tailored career development for individuals through its events, label, mentoring, podcast, magazine and workshops.

Leeds Conservatoire and Come Play With Me have a strong track record of working together, which resulted in a joint recognition of the potential benefits of a more structured, long-term partnership. Read the partnership announcement.

Leeds Conservatoire is a member of Culture Consortium Leeds, a network of cultural organisations. Its purpose is to increase collaboration and resilience and be a cohesive voice for the cultural sector in the Leeds city region.

The Leeds International Piano Competition is one of the world’s foremost music competitions. They seek not only to discover the finest young pianists, but to nurture and equip them for the swiftly changing world we are living in.

Find our more about the Leeds International Piano Competition here.

Leeds Conservatoire and Leeds Playhouse work in partnership to create and deliver collaborative activity of academic and artistic value regionally and nationally. The partnership strengthens the status of Leeds as a centre for artistic excellence, contributes to the training and retention of a diverse talent pool and boosts the resilience of the cultural and higher education sectors in the region.

Students on the MA Dramaturgy programme work closely with the team at Leeds Playhouse, especially the Artistic Planning department and the Furnace Artistic Development programme, to develop their theoretical understanding of theatre-making and the role of the dramaturg in practice.

Find out more about our partnership with Leeds Playhouse here.

Sound City captures the vibrancy of the city with an unforgettable 3-day festival that sees established names perform alongside a constant stream of local, national and international emerging talent. The ongoing partnership with Sound City sees bands and artists performing at the festival alongside opportunities for internships and work placements.

Find out more about out our recent student performers at Sound City here.

Long Division Festival is an award-winning metropolitan festival that places the best emerging grassroots artists alongside legends of Indie and DIY. The Festival is about more than gigs in venues. It celebrates community and are dedicated to supporting the vibrant grassroots in Wakefield and beyond. Leeds Conservatoire works closely with the festival on several exciting initiatives.

Find out more about our recent student performers at Long Division Festival here.

MediaTracks is a long-established independent production label, supplying authentic and innovative music for TV, film and advertising.  They produce high quality tracks covering choral and vocal, pop and dance and world music. Committed to developing diverse talent through their collaborations and mentoring schemes, MediaTracks seeks to promote music and artists currently underrepresented in the music industry.

Already working with students and alumni from the conservatoire through the MT Apprentice scheme, MediaTracks and Leeds Conservatoire share the aim of supporting talent development in this sector and highlighting Library Music as a potential career path for student composers and artists.

Core to this partnership, Leeds Conservatoire are creating an online music library platform for student and alumni music. Utilising MediaTracks’ expertise and experience to support its development, the platform will provide an opportunity for the conservatoire’s composers to gain direct insight into music publishing industry and, for successful submissions, the chance to gain income through commercial release of their music.

Find out more about our partnership with MediaTracks here.

The partnership between Leeds Conservatoire and Opera North began in 2019 in a bid to formalise how the region’s leading opera company could support the next generation of performers in training at Leeds Conservatoire, enhancing the conservatoire’s student experience and contributing to the city’s collaborative cultural activity.

Students on the conservatoire’s Classical programme have the opportunity to work with industry professionals in a number of ways, including performing side-by-side with members of the company; having one-to-one conversations with company members about how to take their careers further; taking part in Opera North’s In Harmony Community Music initiative; and working on a composition project, which has seen third year composers have their pieces workshopped by an ensemble from Opera North.

This partnership with Opera North is part of the conservatoire’s commitment to put student experience at the heart of what we do. The access students have to Opera North and all the team creates a dialogue between the next generation of artists and makers which can help both organisations in supporting the future of Classical music.

Find out more about our partnership with Opera North here.

Orchestras Live believes orchestras are for everyone. They are a national producer and create projects where music and creativity can thrive. The partnership between Leeds Conservatoire and Orchestras Live sets out the shared commitment to promote and support professional orchestral skills development programmes for Leeds Conservatoire students.

Find out more about Orchestras Live here.

Rhodes is an iconic, electro-mechanical, tine piano that has invariably changed the course of musical history, defined genres and given rise to a number of musical icons. 2021 saw the creation of the MK8. This new model, built in a new factory in Leeds, uses the highest quality parts and most advanced manufacturing processes to breath new life into Harold Rhodes’ original vision.

Find out more about Rhodes here.

Leeds Junior Conservatoire Partners

Leeds Conservatoire is part of the Leeds Music Education Partnership, a coherent and comprehensible offer for the children and young people of Leeds, joining up the breadth of first access in all its forms to the diversity of excellence that the city offers.

Find out more about the Leeds Music Education Partnership here.

Music Mark are the UK’s subject association for music education, with a membership made up of organisations and people from across the whole music education sector.

Find out more about Music Mark here.

This innovative scheme provides training for gifted and talented children in the Yorkshire and Humber region. 

Find out more about YYM here.

Local Community Partners

Leeds Conservatoire is a key supporter of the Diocese of Leeds Music programmes. The partnership allows the Conservatoire to fulfil part of its commitment to widening participation in a way that is consistent with its mission for excellence in music education.

Find out more about the Diocese of Leeds Music programmes here.

The Geraldine Connor Foundation was established in 2012 to continue the work and vision of Geraldine Connor by bringing people together through arts and culture. They provide global perspectives across many artforms including music, theatre, dance, spoken word poetry and visual arts, reaching around 800 young people every year through projects that include workshops, performances and mentoring programmes.

Find out more about our partnership with the Geraldine Connor Foundation here.

Leeds Conservatoire runs programmes in partnership with Student Hubs to enhance student experience, develop employability and improve retention through practical volunteering, skilled placements, in-curriculum projects and project incubation.

Find out more about Student Hubs here.

Supporters & Corporate Partners

Leeds Conservatoire is a regional 'Hub' for The Ivors Academy. The Ivors Academy exists to support, protect and celebrate music creators in the UK. They are the independent professional association representing songwriters and composers in all genres, whether they create song, symphony or sync.

The Ivors Academy was previously known as BASCA.

Find out more about the Ivors Academy here.

Leeds Conservatoire is proud to be a Roland Academy in association with Roland UK. Roland is a world leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of musical instruments including pianos, keyboards and synthesizers, guitar products, electronic percussion kits, digital recording equipment, amplifiers and audio processing devices

Find out more about Roland UK here.

In September 2011, Leeds Conservatoire became an All-Steinway School, internationally joining the likes of Yale University's School of Music and the Juilliard School, New York.

As the first English conservatoire to hold the coveted All-Steinway School status – meaning 90% of its pianos are from the Steinway family – Leeds Conservatoire demonstrates a commitment to excellence by providing its students with the best equipment possible for the study of music.

Find out more about Steinway & Sons here.

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