A huge congratulations to the winners of our 2024 Innovation Award: Hope O’Brien, Caitlin Howe, Harshita Parekh, Alessandra Felci, Kornélia Nemcová, and Shannon Hill.

The Innovation Award is an exciting opportunity for final-year undergraduates to pitch an idea for an original project. We support successful candidates to turn their idea into a reality by providing funding, mentoring from Trinity Laban alumni, and expert guidance from industry professionals.

Launched in 2019 and open to all final-year undergraduate students at Trinity Laban, the competition provides a unique opportunity for emerging artists to access professional development support as they establish themselves within one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy. Made possible by The Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), each winning project receives an award of up to £4,000 to use on development, and will benefit from a specially tailored mentorship programme.

Find out more about the winners, their projects, and their mentors below.

Winners:

Hope O’Brien and Caitlin Howe (Eye to Eye)

Hope O’Brien and Caitlin Howe are in their final year of the BA in Contemporary Dance and have formed the collective Eye to Eye. It aims to create interdisciplinary art, derived from research around social issues, particularly through a queer feminist lens. Working across dance, textiles, fine art and poetry, the collective believes a multimedia approach can build informative projects that speak to the complexity of human experiences. They want to utilise this range of skills to create safe spaces and open up conversations about challenging topics. Eye to Eye will be utilising the Trinity Laban Innovation Award to build a multimedia collection of research about consent.

Hope and Caitlin say: “We are excited to begin creating our Consent Event, this work is very necessary, and we are incredibly proud to have the support of Trinity Laban to make it happen.”

Harshita Parekh

Harshita Parekh, a British- Indian classical pianist, started her musical journey at the age of 8, under the guidance of Yuriy Chubarenko and is currently under the tutelage of Alexander Ardakov. Harshita is the founder of BM Piano & Music Theory Lessons, a practice which has been running for almost five years. Coming from a background where studying music is not common practice, she continues to introduce students to the journey of piano playing.

Alongside her studies, Harshita’s work focuses on exploring connections between classical piano and Bollywood music. Her project, ‘Bollywood at the Piano’ – Bach, Beethoven and Bollywood!, aims to explore how Bollywood music can be performed in classical settings and provide a new perspective on the piano.

Harshita says: “I feel very honoured and privileged to receive this year’s Innovation Award in a project which has been a vision for many years. I am grateful and excited to receive mentorship and recognition to start this new journey.”

Alessandra Felci

Alessandra Felci is an Italian-Swiss dancer and artist who discovered her passion for dance at the age of 7. She had the opportunity to train at the Accademia Ucraina di Balletto in Milan and later at the Ashkenazy Ballet Centre in Switzerland, where she passionately performed in ballet performances and international competitions. In addition to her dance journey, she also attended the linguistic high school and graduated with top marks. She continued her dance studies at Trinity Laban, where she received a scholarship for admission. Here, she developed and is still developing my technical ability, performance skills, and choreography, and she has begun to grow her artistic voice. In the last three years, she has had the opportunity to share her own creative work and perform on a variety of occasions. Finally, starting in September 2024, she is very enthusiastic about joining the company MA Emergence for which she has been selected. Her project is called Dance Has No Age.

Alessandra says: “Winning the Innovation Award fills me with immense pride and excitement. As a creative, I feel grateful for this opportunity and for the people who believe in me and will help me bring my project to life. This recognition energizes me to continue striving for excellence and pushing for more creativity.”

Kornélia Nemcová

Kornélia Nemcová is a London-based composer and musician from Slovakia. Her work often involves multidisciplinary collaborations, while aiming to bring about awareness of social issues and groups who are otherwise overlooked. The Stories of the Silent Voices project series will highlight music and art for social change, incorporating direct journalism and research from subject matter experts. The first one is premiering soon: A Woman’s War is a performance about the untold stories of Ukrainian women who had to flee Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of 2022, that directly incorporates spoken accounts acquired from interviews.

Kornélia says: “The transition into industry after university is tough for any artist. The Innovation Award smoothens that transition, while allowing me to tackle more ambitious, professional and impactful projects.”

Shannon Hill

Shannon Mairead Hill is a multidisciplinary artist. She has a strong passion for dance, circus, and bringing about constructive change in the larger creative industry. The project Atypical Creative has a specific interest in bridging the gap in the transition, from student to professional life. The main objective will be to help students become more confident, experienced, and educated about the evolving creative industries. While also providing them with the chance to interact in person, exchange knowledge and first-hand experience with one another. She plans to use the innovation award to host multiple events aimed at encouraging students in building their careers whilst still in education.

Shannon says: “I consider myself incredibly blessed to have this opportunity and to provide something that I think will help future generations of creatives. I am very excited, huge thanks to Trinity Laban for your support!”

Mentors

Becky Dell 

Becky Dell is the Conductor and Co-Founder of the Citizens of the World Choir, the UK’s leading refugees and allies choir. The choir has performed at Glastonbury Festival, regularly on the BBC, at Buckingham Palace for the Platinum Party at the Palace (winning a BAFTA for Best Live Event), The Royal Opera House and on the Great British Bake Off. She also runs a Music Academy in Blackheath and Greenwich and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Kate Scanlan

Kate is a Creative Producer working in the cultural sector since 1998. She has a track record of producing pioneering projects and curating transformative events with artists, young people and communities.

She is the Founder of Scanners’ Inc, a creative non-profit that creates connection in public spaces through culture, retail partnerships and the arts. Events like The Bridge, Popin’ Pete’s Pop Shop, Sofa Sessions and Fit Street bring people together and create joy. In a time when we’re lonelier than ever, this work boost mental health, provides positive intergenerational activity and makes a positive economic impact.

Kate is joint Creative Director/CEO of East London Dance with Tia Hassan, and together they have been Creative Directors for MOVE IT for nine years. She has also producer for Breakin’ Convention, Fuel, Sadler’s Wells, Battersea Power Station, Studio Wayne McGregor: Random Dance, EcoWorld London, Rambert, Lendlease Elephant Park, Croydon Council, English National Opera and others. Kate is a Clore Fellow and gives guest lectures at a range of organisations including Goldsmiths, Ravensbourne, UEL, Swindon Dance, Matthew Bournes’ Re:Bourne and for Shechter II.

Roswitha Chesher

Roswitha is an award winning director and film maker and has had many films and installations screened extensively both nationally and internationally, at various venues and film festivals. Her most recent collaboration with choreographer Rosemary Lee, a seven screen installation ‘Orchard Portraits’, was recently on show at Limerick City Art Gallery.

Originally trained as a dancer and choreographer, she enjoys bringing that knowledge to her work in all aspects of film making. Looking, watching and giving contributors time and space, capturing, editing and framing their presence. Roswitha has had the wonderful opportunity of collaborating with a really diverse mix of contributors and artists and enjoys the richness that this brings to her work.

Luke Birch

Luke began training at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and completed his BA Hons degree at Trinity Laban. In 2009, he joined post graduate dance company Edge at London Contemporary Dance School. Professionally, he has performed for a variety of companies (Punchdrunk, Flexer and Sandiland, Janine Harrington) internationally alongside working with visual artists performing in galleries (Tate, Hayward Gallery). His choreographic work has been shown at Canterbury Festival, Saddlers Wells (Damn Fine Dance at Elixir Festival), The Place, Siobhan Davies Studios, Move it 2016 and Arts Depot. His most recent work commissioned by Loop Dance Company is currently touring the UK. Luke also has a passion for teaching and has delivered classes and workshops with Greenwich Dance, The Place, Independent Dance, Laban, London Studio Centre, Salzburg Academy of Experimental Dance, Shobana Jeyasingh and Candoco.

In late March, Principal Anthony Bowne welcomed the Beijing Dance Academy to Trinity Laban to meet with senior colleagues, view work from our current dance and musical theatre students, and sign a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.

The Beijing Dance Academy attended our Master’s Dance Performance, featuring a piece by Wayne McGregor which included music from Head of Strings Nic Pendlebury and musician John Marc. They also watched the BA3 Musical Theatre showcase at Laban Theatre and observed a Dance Science Lab demo, where a BSc Dance Science student, Julie (Chung-Yi Lo) ran a presentation on her current project.

The main areas of cooperation between the two institutions include:

1. Developing joint dance programme collaborations at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels.
2. Developing a mutually beneficial cooperation in teaching and research to further the advancement and dissemination of learning.
3. Establishing an academic exchange, including short-term educational programmes, student exchanges, and mutual visits of faculty and school members to pursue research and to deliver masterclasses, workshops and lectures.
4. Trinity Laban will participate in World Dance Education Alliance which organised by BDA and joined by art institutions across the world.

“I am so glad to welcome Beijing Dance Academy to our campus in London. We have known each other for more than 20 years and we both hope to deepen partnership relationships between us. We believe it’s vital for both leading artistic institutions to connect across the globe, to create, collaborate and enhance our teaching, research and performance excellence.” says Li Yu, our Student Recruitment and International Relations Manager.

During our graduation ceremonies last week, we were delighted to award a number of Honorary Fellowships to outstanding industry professionals and members of the TL community: celebrated Artistic Director Shobana Jeyasingh CBE, TCM alum and President of EMI Records, Rebecca Allen, and Julian Joseph OBE, one of the finest musicians in contemporary British Jazz. TL’s Vice Chair, Dr Geoffrey Copland CBE, was awarded an Honorary Companionship, and a moving posthumous award was made to our former Director of Dance, Mirella Bartrip OBE, received by her husband.

The Honorary Fellows were nominated for outstanding achievements and contributions to the arts throughout their careers. Shobana Jeyasingh CBE founded her dance company in 1989 and has created over 60 critically acclaimed works for stage, screen, and outside and indoor sites, ranging from Palladian monasteries in Venice to contemporary fountains in London. Her works are noted for both their intellectual rigour and visceral physicality, remaining rooted in her experience as a female postcolonial citizen of the world. Many of them form part of the National Curriculum for Dance in the UK. A multi-award winning creative, Shobana was named Asian Woman of Achievement in Art and Culture in 2008 and was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the WOW Women in Creative Industries Awards in 2017. Serving on panels such as Arts Council England and the Royal Opera House, she is also patron of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Her distinguished artistic career extends to working as a researcher and scriptwriter for two pioneering programmes on British Asian Arts for Channel Four. A founding member and research fellow of ResCen at Middlesex University, she was invited to take on the role of Knowledge Producer by the Cultural Institute at Kings College London in 2014 which led to Translocations, a series of films where choreographic narratives met a range of academic disciplines. More recently, Shobana was a judge for BBC Young Dancer in both 2017 and 2019.

Rebecca Allen is one of the most powerful and influential executives in the British music industry today. As President of EMI Records, Rebecca oversees a roster of artists that comprises home-grown talent signed directly to the label, and international superstars who have chosen to make EMI their UK home, ranging from Taylor Swift to Paul McCartney and Metallica. A former student at Trinity College of Music, Rebecca began her career with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and then the BBC Proms. Her tenacity, warmth and eye for a great story quickly saw her get snapped up by Universal Music Group, where she enjoyed a meteoric rise through the legendary Decca label. She started as a press assistant in the Classics and Jazz Division, then as Director of Media, rising to General Manager, then Managing Director, before becoming President of Decca in 2017: the youngest person – and the first woman in its long and distinguished 90-year history – ever to hold this role. Rebecca put UK country music in the spotlight, helped bring jazz to a much wider audience, championed young classical stars, and collaborated with artists including Nicola Benedetti and Rod Stewart. A multi-award winning executive, she was recognised as Businesswoman of the Year at Music Week’s Women in Music Awards in 2017 in addition to being named as one of US Publication Billboard’s Women in Music Awards Power Players. In the same year, she became a board member at Trinity Laban. As Co-Chair of the Classic BRIT Awards, she led the award show to be nominated for a BAFTA for the first time in its history in 2021.

Reflecting on her time at Trinity Laban, Rebecca stated: “I look back at the years I spent studying at Trinity as some of the most important and formative years of my life. It was an incredibly fulfilling experience and helped me discover the characteristics about myself that I could then utilise to start a career within music. Being a professional musician wasn’t something I ever wanted to do but fortunately Trinity understood the bigger picture and helped me focus on other incredibly important areas with music and arts management. Their ethos was so refreshing!”.

Acclaimed as one of today’s finest jazz musicians, Julian Joseph OBE has dedicated his career to championing jazz across the UK and worldwide. He has forged a reputation beyond his formidable skills as a composer and performer, and is universally recognised as a highly knowledgeable and engaging broadcaster, musical ambassador, educator, and cultural advocate. Over the past 35 years, Julian has made ground-breaking advances for jazz in the UK. He was the first Black British jazz musician to host a series at London’s Wigmore Hall, and the first to headline a late-night concert at the BBC Proms with his All Star Big Band. As a composer, Julian has written original works for symphony orchestra, big band and chamber ensemble, and received major commissions from the BBC, the Hackney Music Development Trust, the City of London Festival and the London Jazz Festival. His operas and dance works – Bridgetower, Shadowball, The Brown Bomber, Othello21  – have not only brought key moments in Black history into sharp focus, but given children a rare opportunity to perform in and discover both classical and jazz music. Founding his own Jazz Academy in 2013, it stands as the single most important player for TL’s jazz practice and vision, alongside Tomorrow’s Warriors. Joseph has six albums, one single, and one soundtrack to his credit, and his work has been recognised by multiple major cultural organisations. He published his debut jazz book, Music of Initiative, in 2018.

TL’s Vice Chair, Dr Geoffrey Copland CBE, served as Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of Westminster until 2007, following a series of university posts engaged in research, lecturing in physics, and as a senior manager. He has held several positions in prestigious higher education organisations, including Vice-President of Universities UK and Chair of its England and Northern Ireland Council, as well as Chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association. Geoffrey has been a TL governor since 2008, becoming Vice-Chair in 2013, and Chair since September 2019. He has also been a trustee of Trinity College London since 2012, vice-chair from 2016 and chair in 2019-2020. Other notable positions include chairman of Thomas Wall Trust, president of ASET (the Work Based and Placement Learning Association) and a trustee of the Quintin Hogg Trust and Quintin Hogg Memorial Fund. He has a strong interest in helping young people to achieve to their full potential, by overcoming barriers to progression wherever possible. Since retirement, he has undertaken a number of consultancy projects for higher education including some on university governance.

Mirella Bartrip OBE started her distinguished career at Trinity Laban as a lecturer, teaching classical ballet, dance technique theory, and teaching studies. In 1984, she became Programme Leader for the undergraduate dance programme. Over a period of 20 years, she led a series of reviews that refined and shaped the programme into what is recognised internationally as one of the world’s most prestigious dance degrees. As the first Vice Principal (Academic) and then Deputy Director & Dean of Studies, she oversaw the creation and development of a series of flagship Masters programmes, including the UK’s first Masters programme in Dance Science. She was also an important figure in the merger with Trinity College of Music, leading to the formation of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. In 2010, Mirella became Director of Dance at Trinity Laban. Her numerous achievements have included being part of the team that saw Trinity Laban gain its own Taught Degree Awarding Powers, and successfully enter the Research Excellence Framework for the first time. Mirella gained an international reputation as a dance educator, and was regularly invited to judge competitions and assess dance work across the globe. Having passed away in 2021, she leaves a magnificent creative legacy behind her and her posthumous award in honour of her exceptional service to Trinity Laban was received by her husband.

Fragments of music scores found at Auschwitz were played for the first time two weeks ago after being restored by Junior Trinity alum, conductor, and tutor Leo Geyer.

On 27 November, Leo Geyer’s organisation Constella Music celebrated its tenth anniversary and relaunch with a special concert at Sadler’s Wells, featuring several new premieres and an exceptional team of performers. The concert included four restored pieces from Geyer’s new opera-ballet, The Orchestras of Auschwitz – a project that pays tribute to musicians murdered in Auschwitz and highlights the music written in concentration camps.

Back in 2015, Leo was commissioned to compose a musical score in memory of British historian and holocaust expert Martin Gilbert, who had died earlier that year. To deepen his understanding of the historian’s work, Leo visited Auschwitz and met with an archivist at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum. It was here that he discovered remnants of musical scores arranged and played by orchestras at the camp: 210 pieces of varying completion – original compositions, arrangements, printed music.

“The music had been mostly destroyed so what remains is almost like a broken jigsaw puzzle, except there are several and they are all mixed in together,” said Leo when discussing the subject with CNN. Returning multiple times to Auschwitz, Leo Geyer also carried out extensive research into testimonies from the camp and its history of music. “There were, at one point, as many as six orchestras at Auschwitz and they were all very much sanctioned by the SS and in some cases commissioned by the SS,” Leo explained – often the instrument combinations were small and unconventional. For years, the women’s orchestra of Birkenau had no cellist until Anita Lasker-Wallfisch arrived – a survivor of the holocaust who still lives in Britain today. Her grandson, Simon Wallfisch, a baritone, took part in Constella’s performance.

In an online interview with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Lasker-Wallfisch recalled: “That I survived nearly one year in Auschwitz is without any doubt due to the fact that I became a member of the camp orchestra. As long as the Germans wanted an orchestra, it would have been counter-productive to kill us. Our task consisted of playing every morning and every evening at the gate of the camp so that the outgoing and incoming work commandos would march neatly in step to the marches we played. We also had to be available at all times to play to individual SS staff who would come into our block and wanted to hear some music after sending thousands of people to their death.”

The orchestras sometimes played in private or for prisoners in secret, and rebelled in musical cryptograms, sending messages through music. Leo cites the weaving of the Polish national anthem into marching music as a good example of this. Having gone unnoticed for 80 years, the scores are now being brought back by Leo’s historic project – an important homage to the victims of Auschwitz.

The Orchestras of Auschwitz Research & Development week is taking place at the Laban Studio from Monday 11 – Friday 15 December, and will involve nine students from the TL Music faculty and four from the TL Dance faculty. Reflecting on his time at Trinity Laban, Leo says: “I attended Junior Trinity as a student many moons again, and this was when I first collaborated with dance. It was a lifechanging experience and in addition to teaching [composition and musicianship] at Junior Trinity, I have continued to work in dance ever since, securing my first job as a conductor with The Royal Ballet. It is therefore most fitting to be developing my most significant dance work with Trinity Laban.”

A composer, conductor, presenter, founder and artistic director, Leo Geyer holds a diverse career spanning across opera, dance, film, and concert music. He has established a reputation for his reimaginings, which creatively engage with music of the past, and is currently studying for a doctorate in opera-ballet composition as the Senior Music Scholar at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. His music has been described by The Times as “imaginative and beautifully shaped”, and has received performances by ensembles including the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Rambert Dance Company and Opera North.