International Concert Series 2025-26

Event programme

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Billy the Kid Suite
Amy Beach (1867-1944): Maria Stuart: Scena and Aria for alto and orchestra, Op. 18
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1872-1943): Vocalise
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, TH42

About the performers

American mezzo-soprano originally from New York, Hayley Meth, is currently pursuing her second year of postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she studies under the tutelage of Samantha Malk. She is a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, and her studies are generously supported in part by The Leverhulme Trust. In 2023, she was selected as a Voice Fellow at Opernfest Prague, where she performed with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra in the historic Smetana Hall. Most recently, in March 2025, she was named a semifinalist in the Josep Palet International Singing Competition in Martorell, Spain. Her recent engagements include performances as Suor Dolcina in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, as part of both the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms in August 2025. In October, she will sing the role of Maria Aegyptiaca in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with The Bach Choir at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Led by internationally-acclaimed conductor Rebecca Miller, the Royal Holloway Symphony Orchestra meets weekly, giving three concerts per year in the Windsor Auditorium. The orchestra endeavours to create a lively, challenging, and social basis for orchestral life at Royal Holloway and comprises students from across the university. They also participate in side-by-side programmes with professional musicians, and through our unique partnership with the Chiltern Music Academy. For 2020-21, orchestras at Royal Holloway launched a new social action project called Re-Orchestrating Society, where members of orchestras at Royal Holloway work together in small teams to develop a project based around orchestras that aims to benefit society.

California-born conductor Rebecca Miller has earned an international reputation for her compelling, insightful, and energetic presence on the podium and for her ability to communicate with audiences of all ages. Most recently she has guest-conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Mozart Players, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra (at the BBC Proms), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta and Dalarnsinfoniettan in Sweden, and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in Finland. Read more.

Car parking

When you arrive for a College event at our Egham campus, please park in car parks 12 or 4.

Car park 12 can be accessed by turning right as you enter the main College gates and is located next to the tennis courts. If this car park is full, please drive further onto our campus to car park 4, which can be accessed by turning left at the mini-roundabout behind the Students’ Union. We would advise that you bring the College map to campus with you and give yourself plenty of time to park.

Blue Badge holders can find designated parking spaces in Car park 1W, as well as between Gardeners Lodge and the Williams Annexe. You can find these locations by looking at our campus map opposite. If you require any assistance on arrival, please contact our premises team in advance of your visit by emailing: premisesadmin@royalholloway.ac.uk and they will be happy to help.

Please note that we operate an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system on certain parts of our campus, however if you are here for an organised event, parking is unrestricted for event guests in car parks 12, 4 or 14 (or display your blue badge permit if parking in a disabled bay). If you have any questions about parking, please email: premisesadmin@royalholloway.ac.uk

Rebecca Miller