Athenaeum Debating Society

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Scottish Gaelic: Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba
Front facade of the Conservatoire.
Type	Conservatoire
Established	1993 - granted degree-awarding powers 1845 - Glasgow Educational Association
President	Sir Cameron Mackintosh
Principal	Jeffrey Sharkey
Students	1,155 (2016/17)
Undergraduates	845 (2016/17)
Postgraduates	310 (2016/17)
Location	Glasgow, Scotland
Colours
Affiliations	Conservatoires UK, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, University of St Andrews, Association of European Conservatoires, Conference of Drama Schools
Website	rcs.ac.uk

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, (Scottish Gaelic: Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba) formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production and film in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious performing arts schools in the United Kingdom, and ranked third in the world as of 2017. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland with over 500 public performances each year.

The current Principal is American pianist and composer Jeffrey Sharkey, the President is Sir Cameron Mackintosh, and the Patron is HRH The Duke of Rothesay.

The Royal Conservatoire has occupied its current purpose-built building on Renfrew Street in Glasgow since 1988. Its roots lie in several different organisations. It began with the establishment of the Glasgow Educational Association in 1845, which formed to provide courses in competition with the University of Glasgow. The Association later became the Glasgow Commercial College, and this in turn became part of the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1847. The Glasgow Athenaeum provided training in commercial skills, literature, languages, sciences, mathematics and music. Charles Dickens gave its inaugural speech, in which he stated that he regarded the Glasgow Athenaeum as "...an educational example and encouragement to the rest of Scotland".

In 1888, the commercial teaching of the Glasgow Athenaeum separated to form the Athenaeum Commercial College, which, after several rebrandings and a merger, became the University of Strathclyde in 1964. In 1890 the non-commercial teaching side of the Glasgow Athenaeum became the Glasgow Athenaeum School of Music. In 1928 the premises were extended with a gift from the philanthropist Daniel Macaulay Stevenson. In 1929 the school was renamed as the Scottish National Academy of Music to better reflect its scope and purpose. Its first Principal from 1929–1941 was William Gillies Whittaker. In 1944, it became the Royal Scottish Academy of Music.