When Keith Corprew performed his master’s thesis, “To Quell a Storm,” he wanted the audience to feel like they were a part of the world unfolding on stage. The project details his experience of navigating race in the US, alongside the surge of unrest our society faces today. It transcends just movement, blending voice, speech, song, body percussion, filmmaking, and letter-writing. He used immersive techniques, crowd participation, and call-and-response to get the audience to connect with the inner turmoil of someone wrestling with a storm.
Keith Corprew. Credit: Maya Asha Jeffers. Source: Trinity Laban
This project is a product of Corprew’s pursuit of the MFA in Creative Practice: Transdisciplinary at Trinity Laban, based in southeast London. After falling in love with the fluid and open-ended nature of contemporary dance during his undergraduate studies, he sought to take his practice to the next level in an international context. Corprew had spent five years working in higher education, where he cultivated thoughtful student leaders by guiding them through intellectually stimulating experiences in reading, reflection, and creativity.
To connect is his core. The Fulbright Scholarship became a bridge for Corprew to understand himself as an artist at Trinity Laban. “It was a chance for me to not only go inward, but to go outward as well — to see that this is where my practice is and where it can go,” he says.
Meanwhile, during her final year of pursuing the Master of Music (MMus) in Composition, Eliana Echeverry began thinking about how she could position opera in dialogue with jazz, European classical music, and vocal music from the Pacific Coast of Colombia — her home country. The idea was bold, but resources in Colombia are limited. Echeverry was a young female composer; could she have the proper support to make it happen?
It turns out that, yes, she could indeed. “I approached the best soprano in Colombia, Betty Garces, who is also Black and from the Pacific Coast,” she says. From a traditional choir to the Colombian Youth Philharmonic to Velia Vidal, a Black female Colombian author based in London, Echeverry found the artistic team of a lifetime.
Eliana Echeverry. Source: Trinity Laban
That’s one of the best parts about studying at Trinity Laban. London is one of the most renowned creative hubs globally, providing access to a professional network and international partnerships that lead to career opportunities. For example, the conservatoire partnered with Beijing Dance Academy to deliver a joint performance, titled “Hé (和 / 河 / 合)” in the Chinese capital city. Back in November, Trinity Laban and Shiv Nadar University announced the launch of Satyam Kalon, a transcultural arts research and education project.
Your professors and collaborators are highly respected musicians and dance artists, with many active in research across various disciplines. “When the author confirmed her participation, I’d written one song. The song was recorded here at Trinity Laban with my piano and singer friend – I sold the entire project with this song,” says Echeverry.
Following her graduation from Trinity Laban, Eliana was selected for the LPO Young Composer Scheme. Her work Diásporas premiered at the LPO Debut Sounds concert in June 2024. Fast forward three years from graduation, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia presented “Diez Lunas para una Espera: Arrullos Sinfónicos (Ten Moons for Waiting: Symphonic Twists).” Echeverry is not only the composer and producer of the project, but also the first female composer to have an entire programme performed by the orchestra.
At Trinity Laban, both Corprew and Echeverry had the time, research space, and support to take their artistry to new heights. With students from more than 60 countries, the conservatoire fosters a truly global, creative, and collaborative community where you can grow your network and shape your career.
Trinity Laban welcomes renowned visiting staff members, including those from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Studio Wayne McGregor, and the Kronos Quartet. Source: Trinity Laban
You see Corprew and his MFA projects, including the documentary short film “Don’t I Belong,” which centres the Black male experience in the UK. You witness Echeverry and her telling of a pregnant woman’s journey from the traditional perspective of the Pacific Coast. It’s students like them who are shaping the future of their art forms through their unique stories and activities: that’s the Trinity Laban standard. As you enter the graduate school, you will become part of a diverse, collaborative community while building your very own expertise.
Many postgraduate programmes are offered across the fields of music, dance, and musical theatre, embodying Trinity Laban’s progressive, future-focused style of teaching. The MMus, for example, has four pathways to choose from, depending on your specialist interest. Like Echeverry, you can pursue Composition, which allows you to develop your compositional technique and orchestration, and see how classical traditions inform contemporary work. You can also specialise in Collaborative Piano, Jazz Performance & Composition, or Performance.
Suppose you’re a professional musician looking to develop your songwriting skills. The MA Songwriting (Online) gives you the flexibility to master your craft while working — though it includes an in-person, week-long intensive where you’ll collaborate and receive masterclasses from world-leading artists.
If you take more to movement like Corprew, then you’re spoilt for choice. Undertake the MA/MFA Dance Performance programme to research and explore the role of the performer in developing your artistry and technique, or the MA/MFA Creative Practice: Dance Professional, run in partnership with Independent Dance and Siobhan Davies Studios, to pivot your creative practice into a new direction.
Other programmes include the MSc/MFA Dance Science, MA/MFA Choreography, as well as the Artist Diploma and Professional Diploma for musicians. If you’re looking to push the boundaries of musical theatre the MA Musical Theatre is exactly where you need to be. Here you can specialise in performance, in musical direction or in devising for the next generation of West End and Broadway shows.
