The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Venue: Royal Northern College of Music
Address: Royal Northern College of Music, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RD
Town: Manchester, GB

The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education, the RNCM is a busy and diverse public performance venue. The RNCM has a history dating back to the 19th century and the establishment of the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM). In 1858, Sir Charles Hallé founded the Hallé orchestra in Manchester, and by the early 1890s had raised the idea of a music college in the city. Following an appeal for support, a building on Ducie Street was secured, Hallé was appointed Principal and Queen Victoria conferred the Royal title. The RMCM opened its doors to 80 students in 1893, rising to 117 by the end of the first year. Less than four decades later, in 1920, the Northern School of Music was established (initially as a branch of the Matthay School of Music), and for many years the two institutions coexisted. It wasn't until 1955 that NSM principal Hilda Collins, in recognising the importance of performance in training students, met RMCM principal Frederic Cox to raise the question of merging. Discussions continued until September 1967, when a joint committee was formed to oversee plans to combine the two colleges. The RNCM was formed in 1972, moving to its purpose-built home on Oxford Road in 1973. Its first principal was John Manduell, who had been a music producer and administrator at the BBC; he held the role until 1996, and the Telegraph later wrote "under his energetic direction, it became one of the leading musical academies in Europe, if not the world". The college building was built on the corner of Oxford Road and Booth Street West between 1968 and 1973 by architects Bickerdike, Allen, and Rich. The two-storey rectangular concrete structure is fronted by tall glazed bays recessed behind an array of square concrete pillars. Originally an elevated walkway ran along the Oxford Road si