In 2025, Trinity Laban students recorded at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios. The track was written by and starred the conservatoire’s Honorary President AR Rahman, and paid tribute to legendary Hindi singer Asha Bhosle. Music, Musical Theatre, and Dance students performed on the recording and appeared in the accompanying music video, filmed at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
The learners involved contributed to a global production led by one of the most influential composers of the past three decades. It was professional work under professional conditions, and the expectations were the same: arrive prepared, adapt quickly, listen closely, and deliver under pressure.
This is how Trinity Laban has long viewed performance: the bridge between conservatoire training and industry practice; less of an outcome that arrives at the end of a degree, and more of a medium through which degrees unfold. And for Jai Patel, that bridge between study and profession was built steadily, long before Wembley Stadium entered the picture.
During his studies, the BMus (Hons) Jazz graduate worked as an assistant at Jazz Hang — Trinity Laban’s programme for young musicians delivered in partnership with Tomorrow’s Warriors and Lewisham Music. He observed lead tutors, absorbed teaching approaches, and gradually developed his own ability to guide ensemble sessions. It was a lower-pressure environment, he explains – space to learn how to lead without yet carrying the full weight of direction.
Beyond strengthening his musicianship, the programme connected him to a professional ecosystem. Through Tomorrow’s Warriors, the UK’s leading talent incubator for young jazz musicians, he built relationships that indirectly led to performance opportunities. This includes his appearance at Wembley alongside Femi Kuti and fellow Trinity Laban alumni, bringing Coldplay’s “Arabesque” to life before tens of thousands of fans. This autumn, Patel sets out on tour with Burna Boy — beginning in New Zealand and Australia before moving through London, the US and Canada.
“I reached out to some of my tutors at Trinity Laban to ask for advice,” he says. “They’ve all been so nice about giving me pointers and musical advice about managing the tour, as they’ve been through it all before.”
Patel’s story reflects how music degrees at Trinity Laban are structured. Students combine one-to-one tuition with ensemble rehearsal and regular public performance. They move between small chamber groups and full orchestras. They collaborate across genres. They perform alongside professional musicians — including side-by-side projects with the London Mozart Players — and contribute to large-scale recordings such as the Abbey Road project.
Soon, the Trinity Laban Chamber Choir will perform at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. For International Women’s Day 2026, Jazz students will take part in “Women in the Groove,” directed by Andrea Vicary, performing alongside dancers from the MA/MFA Dance Performance course.
The same principle shapes Musical Theatre training. Molly Osborne pursued the BA (Hons) Musical Theatre Performance programme. Technique was central — vocal work, acting, movement — but so was repetition. Learning how to sustain a role night after night mattered as much as landing the part.
Sessions with seasoned West End performer Verity Quade strengthened her vocals. “She taught me how to observe my discomfort when taking up space and how to move through it to be unapologetically loud and proud,” Osborne says. The lesson was both literal and metaphorical. While a student, she explored characters who demanded presence, such as Hetty in “The Sex Party” and Chana in “Indecent” — women unafraid of voice or conviction. That discipline now travels with her into larger arenas.
“My experience at Trinity Laban not only developed me as a performer but as an individual as well,” says Osborne, who is just as active on film and television sets as she is on the stage. Source: Trinity Laban
Only months after graduating, Osborne made her West End debut as Tzeitel in “Fiddler on the Roof.” In February 2025, she made her Broadway debut as Desdemona in “Othello,” directed by Kenny Leon and starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. “I have loved Shakespeare for a long time, particularly since Trinity Laban’s wonderful Helen Evans led us through the Shakespeare module,” she says. “I actually used a monologue that I prepared for one of her classes in my audition, which feels very special.”
For current Musical Theatre students, productions such as “Jane Eyre: A Musical Drama” at the Laban Theatre provide that same blend of training and performance. Rehearsal discipline, vocal control, character work and live audience response all meet on stage.
Dance follows a similar pattern. Students on the BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance and MA / MFA Dance Performance programmes train intensively in the studio while working directly with established choreographers. They develop new pieces and reinterpret existing works for professional theatre settings.
“Commissioned Works 2026,” for example, brings third-year Contemporary Dance students together with artists including Alesandra Seutin, Andreja Rauch and alumni duo Tough Boys. They created new choreography for the 300-seat Laban Theatre — a purpose-built venue designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.
MA / MFA Dance Performance students have worked with choreographer Bea Bidault on “Considering Clouds,” a reimagining of “Les Nuages.” They have also performed as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, collaborating with Clod Ensemble and Nu Civilisation Orchestra on a reinterpretation of Charles Mingus’s “The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.”
“This was a great opportunity for the TLDC students to develop their performance skills in collaboration with a fantastic creative team, working alongside professional dancers and practitioners,” says programme leader Hilary Stainsby. “We are particularly committed to offering different performative experiences on this programme, and this project is wonderfully unique and interesting.”
Work like this defines the Trinity Laban experience. Students collaborate, test ideas in front of audiences, and refine their practice in real performance contexts. Instead of graduation marking the start of that process, it marks its continuation.
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