The Hampstead Conservatoire was a private college for music and the arts at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London.[1]
The building, previously the Eton Avenue Hall, was reconstructed in 1890.[2] It was equipped with a large pipe organ, built ca. 1887-8 by the London firm of Henry Willis & Sons[3] with forty-three stops spread over four manuals and pedals.
The hey-day of the conservatoire was 1896 - 1905, when its Principal was Cecil Sharp.[4] Arnold Bax was one of its pupils between 1898 and 1900.[5] It was also notable for an early and celebrated production of Dido and Aeneas in 1900 by Martin Shaw and Gordon Craig.[6]
The organ was removed and transferred to St Peter's Parish Church, Brighton in 1910.[7] The conservatoire had closed by 1928 when the building was converted into the Embassy Theatre. The building is now part of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama[8]
References edit
- ^ remotegoat website Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Theatres Trust
- ^ "The National Pipe Organ Register - the Hampstead Conservatoire of Music".
- ^ Heaney, Michael (2004). "Sharp, Cecil James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Foreman, Lewis (2004). "Bax, Sir Arnold Edward Trevor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Innes, Christopher (1998). Edward Gordon Craig: a Vision of Theatre. Taylor & Francis.
- ^ "The National Pipe Organ Register - St Peter's, Brighton: The Willis Organ".
- ^ British History Online: Hampstead Social and Cultural Activities