Conservatorium head elected to global council for music education
Sydney Conservatorium of Music Head of School and Dean Professor Anna Reid has been elected to a global leadership council for music education to promote the exchange and development of music in countries and cultures across the world.
L-R: Elected members of the newly formed Global Music Education League: Professor Jamal Rossi, Professor Anna Reid, Mr Wang Liguang, Professor Anne Walters Robertson and Professor Kaarlo Hildén. Photo: China Conservatory of Music.
Professor Reid is one for five councillors elected in Beijing in September to the Global Music Education League for a five-year term.
She is joined on the new leadership group by Professor Jamal Rossi, Dean of Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York; Professor Anne Walters Robertson, Dean of the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago; and Professor Kaarlo Hildén, Dean of the Sibelius Academy at the University of the Arts Helsinki. Leading the new group is Chairperson Mr Wang Liguang, President of the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing where the League will be administered.
Professor Anna Reid said it is an unprecedented and exciting move to create a global network of music schools. “It will strengthen our knowledge and experience of diverse music, cultures and music education practices, while forging new international ties with music schools, researchers and students from all over the world.
“Our Conservatorium has strong partnerships with music schools in Europe and Asia. However, the new League will expand our connections, cultural outreach and student mobility beyond these two continents, while building on our current international relationships,” said Professor Reid.
The Global Music Education League was established at the inaugural Global Leadership Network on Higher Music Education in Beijing on 12 September. The three-day global exchange drew 45 deans and heads of music schools and conservatories from 16 countries including China, the United States, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovenia, Thailand and South Korea.
Several forums were held during the international exchange focused on three broad priorities for music education: the contribution of music schools to society and civilisation; trends in globalised music education; and music’s role as an ambassador for world peace.
Hosted by the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Global Leadership Network on Higher Music Education was initiated to encourage the sharing of resources in music education, increase cooperation and exchanges between music schools, explore models for cultivating high-calibre musicians, lead trends in international music development, and to establish international competitions. The Global Music Education League is charged with building on these goals of the inaugural exchange in China.
At the beginning of 2016, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music established its own Chinese Music Ensemble following a generous donation from the Tianda Music Fund. Over the last two years the ensemble has attracted a strong following at several Sydney concerts. The ensemble enables students to study and play traditional Chinese instruments including the dizi (transverse bamboo flute), zhongruan and pipa (fretted lutes), erhu (two-string fiddle), guzheng (zither) and yangqin (hammer dulcimer).
