Guildhall School announces summer season of free digital events

Hattie Fisk
Friday, April 23, 2021

From April to June, Guildhall School of Music & Drama will be hosting a mixture of live and pre-recorded events for free on their website, including the final of their prestigious music prize: The Gold Medal.

Guildhall School's production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Guildhall School's production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Mihaela Bodlovic

As part of this year's summer festivities, The Gold Medal final will be streamed on 8 May, featuring live performances from four finalists to a panel of judges. The Gold Medal award this year will be celebrating singers, as it alternates between singers and instrumentalists annually. 

Guildhall School’s Summer Jazz Festival will go ahead virtually this summer, presented by DJ and journalist Tina Edwards. The festival will provide the public with three days of performances led by leading artists in the UK jazz scene, such as Fini Bearman’s quintet, Trish Clowes, Ruth Goller and Brigitte Beraha.

The programme of events includes a live stream of Beginnings: New and Early Opera. This contains five contrasting short operatic works written by composers and librettists on Guildhall School’s MA in Opera Making & Writing programme, delivered in association with the Royal Opera House. 

The school is also presenting three drama productions to watch live, which are free to the public but require registration on their website. The plays are:

  • Pooja Ghai’s new production of Caryl Churchill’s fast-moving drama Love and Information, exploring communication and our capacity for love in contemporary Britain. 
  • Gone Too Far by Bola Agbaje, directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, the winner of the 2019 JMK Young Director award. The performance is set to touch on identity and multiculturalism. 
  • Mr Burns, a post-electric play, focusing on a group of apocalypse survivors recounting an episode of The Simpsons, written by Anne Washburn and directed by award-winning theatre maker Chelsea Walker. 

Guildhall will also be hosting a conversation series, curated and hosted by Paula Varjack on Wednesdays throughout the season on Instagram Live, touching on race, sexuality, class, age, gender, disability and social change. 

Between 21-30 May, Guildhall Live Events, an innovative department within the school that specialises in immersive and interactive digital experiences, will be running Future and Form: Norfolk and Norwich Festival. The festival will collaborate with the University of East Anglia to encourage the use of 360-degree VR imaginariums and immersive forms of creative technology. 

Further events taking place in July will be released closer to the time. To see the full programme, or to watch the events, visit their website. 

www.gsmd.ac.uk/summer_2021