In 2016, the Royal Philharmonic Society joined forces with trailblazing conductor Alice Farnham in her mission to address inequality in conducting, particularly supporting women to further their skills, confidence and aspiration as conductors. Since then, our programme has empowered over 500 individuals, with a significant number proceeding to fruitful conducting careers. Our positive action has been key in changing national perceptions around who gets to conduct. You can read the full story of our progress here.

This issue is far from resolved: in 2025, still 86% of conductors represented by UK artist managers were male, and 87% of titled conducting roles at UK orchestras were held by men. Addressing this remains a priority, and the opportunities we present remain primarily for women, trans and non-binary conductors. Nonetheless, we are pleased to welcome applications from any conductors at a sufficiently high level who can articulate how such experience has not yet been afforded them and why it would duly be transformative to their prospects.

We continue to run our highest-level course for exceptionally promising conductors in partnership with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. While funds are limited to run other courses, we are pleased – with the help of some very kind donors who care about this cause – to be able to offer a new short course in London this August.

If you may like this information in a different format for accessibility reasons, please call us on 020 7287 0019 or email RPS Administrator Emily Porter at admin@philharmonicsociety.uk, and we will do our best to help.

Who can apply?

This is for conductors based in the UK and Ireland. You may be in the relatively early stages of amassing professional engagements, or in a phase of your career where you feel you have reached a plateau in the professional opportunities you are getting. This opportunity is also open to those who have a varied musical career where a significant amount of conducting is a key component of your professional responsibilities. You should ideally have completed any formal studies, though we are willing to consider exceptional conducting students at music college/university, and junior fellows, so long as you are already undertaking some professional engagements. As our programme is about widening access, we are particularly keen to hear, and will likely prioritise applications, from those who have had only limited chance to participate in short courses or assistant/apprentice conducting schemes. In this, you should not have participated in another RPS conducting course in the last three years (since August 2023).

As noted, this programme exists to address imbalance in the conducting profession. As we continue to address stark gender inequality in this field, the opportunity is principally for women, trans and non-binary conductors. Nonetheless, we are pleased to welcome applications from conductors of any gender at a sufficiently high level who – through their lived experience, background or personal characteristics – they have encountered barriers to progress or limited access to an experience like this, and why it would therefore be transformative to their prospects. Indeed, all applicants will be asked to reflect on this within their application.

We do not want to waste your time, so please do not devote time to producing an application if you do not fully match all this criteria.

What is the opportunity?

With coaching throughout from Alice Farnham, the course – for a cohort of likely 6 participants – will take place on the following dates. You should only apply if you are available for all three days in full:

Wednesday 12 August 10:30am to 5:30pm – City of London School, EC4V 3AL

Thursday 13 August 10:30am to 5:30pm – City of London School, EC4V 3AL

Friday 14 August 10:30am to 5:30pm – Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, W14 8BZ

Venues are located within a 10 minute walk of Zone 1 or 2 London Underground stations. Each day will include an hour-long break for lunch at 1:30pm.

Day 1: Alice and the cohort will spend the day working on a range of repertoire with two pianos.

Day 2: In the morning, there will be a further session with two pianos. The afternoon will take the form of a workshop, co-led by other members of the RPS team, on the challenges and opportunities of making your way as a professional conductor in the UK today, with a wealth of insights, tips and encouragement on positively putting yourself forward.

Day 3: We move to a different location so we can accommodate some special guests – a chamber orchestra comprising 32 freelance professional players.

This experience is free for participants but, owing to limited funding, you would need to make your own arrangements for travel to central London and accommodation if needed, as well as bringing or buying your own lunch each day.

The course will entail a small variety of standard orchestral repertoire. We will notify the shortlisted cohort of the repertoire that’s involved, and you will be need to source your own scores, as well as bringing your own baton(s).

In courses like this, participants often like to film themselves on the podium for personal review later. This is permitted so long as this footage is not shared publicly. In addition, we know how important it is for conductors at this stage to have footage they can share for vocational purposes. Therefore, on Day 3, we commit to filming the sessions and ensuring we capture a reasonable portion of footage of each participant, particularly in the afternoon. Then, within agreed MU principles that we’ll share with the cohort, you will be able to use this footage to some extent to help further your career. We will also take photographs throughout for our own promotion, and share these with the cohort for their use. A small number of supporters of the programme and the RPS generally may attend parts of the course to observe from the sidelines.

How to apply

Applicants are required to complete our online application form linked below, or elect another person to do so on their behalf if needed. We encourage you to take time and care in completing the application form to ensure it represents you well.

In your application, you are asked to:

-    Upload a CV of no more than one page detailing your professional conducting experience, and any relevant training. This should conclude with details of two referees who can vouch for your accomplishments: name, role and contact details (ideally email and/or phone) for each. Your CV should be saved as a PDF (not a Word document) and titled: Forename Surname CV

-    Provide links* for up to two filmed excerpts of you conducting contrasting pieces, in concerts or rehearsals. We will only be able to watch ten minutes maximum of your footage so in the application form you should specify particular passages as relevant within each excerpt. These may be filmed on a smartphone (ideally landscape not portrait) and we do not expect high-quality audio. Where possible, the footage should present a clear and close view of your face, arms and upper body, but the ensemble you are conducting should also be visible at some point.

-    A link* to a short film of yourself talking to camera, not exceeding 2 minutes, telling us what you feel you would gain from this experience at this stage in your career, and what aspects of your musical and professional development you feel this opportunity could help you advance. As noted, within the film you should clearly express why – through some aspect of your lived experience, background or personal characteristics – experiences like this have been limited for you or you have encountered barriers to progress. Your film need not be high-quality and we welcome it being filmed on a smartphone.

*Your filmed excerpts and short film should be submitted as a link to YouTube, Vimeo or equivalent platforms, and the footage should remain visible there till August 2026. We regret we cannot accept footage in any other format. You may send links to films that are privately listed online if you prefer, but please ensure to include any passwords with your links in the application form. If you are the standard required for the courses but anticipate you may not be able to supply any of the materials required, please do contact us to discuss your circumstances further.

As you submit your form, our website will invite you to take a moment to answer some standard inclusivity monitoring questions. Doing this is so helpful to us all collectively in classical music. We are committed to working with colleagues sector-wide to ensure we are representing excellence, creativity and innovation in music-making within a diverse, multicultural society. Thank you for playing your part in this. The information you provide in your application will only be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy as found on our website.

The closing date is 10am on Wednesday 17 June 2026. If for access reasons or exceptional personal circumstances, you may not be able to submit an application by the closing date, please be in touch to discuss the possibility of a short extension to make your submission. In the first instance please contact Emily Porter, RPS Administrator, by email at admin@philharmonicsociety.uk or phone on 020 7287 0019.

Next steps

Applications will be reviewed by Alice Farnham and RPS management. We aim to notify all applicants of outcomes for each opportunity by the end of Tuesday 30 June. At this stage, those selected will be given details of the repertoire involved and further course information. Given these experiences are only for a few participants, please do not be too disappointed if your application is not successful.

Our team at the RPS is very small so we are not able to give tailored feedback for opportunities this where we expect a large number of applications, but we do appreciate something of this nature can be useful, so we aim to provide a summary of thoughts and recommendations arising from the applications as a whole to those not shortlisted, in the hope it provides some useful insights.

If you have any queries, please get in touch. In the first instance please contact Emily Porter, RPS Administrator, by email at admin@philharmonicsociety.uk or phone on 020 7287 0019.

Thanks so much for your interest, and for helping us spread the word about this opportunity to anyone you know who may be eligible and benefit from the experience.