About Us
Rachmaninoff Music Academy (RMA) is a registered UK charity dedicated to providing exceptional classical music education and performance opportunities for children and young people, including those from diverse and underserved backgrounds.
Based in Central London, RMA offers expert tuition in piano, violin, cello, voice and more, taught in the Russian and Eastern European pedagogical tradition, and supports young musicians through high-level training, concerts and community-focused programmes.
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“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” Pablo Casals
Nikita Koller: Violin Recital, 4 October 2026, 12:00
The Rachmaninoff Music Academy is delighted to present a free lunchtime recital by violinist Nikita Koller, with Edward Leung at the piano, in the Great Hall at University College School, Hampstead.
A prizewinner of the Leonid Kogan, David Oistrakh and Arthur Grumiaux international violin competitions, Nikita studies with Professor Robin Wilson at the Yehudi Menuhin School. He has performed with ensembles including Camerata Tchaikovsky and the Zurich Chamber Philharmonie, and has appeared at venues including London’s Kings Place and Carnegie Hall.
This varied programme brings together the expressive depth of Bach, the elegance of Mozart and the virtuosity of Paganini and Ravel, concluding with John Corigliano’s dramatic The Red Violin Caprices.
Programme
Louis Spohr – Scherzo, Op. 135, No. 2
Niccolò Paganini – Caprice No. 1 in E major
J. S. Bach – Sonata No. 2 in A minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1003: Grave and Fuga
W. A. Mozart – Violin Sonata in B-flat major, K. 378
Maurice Ravel – Tzigane, Rapsodie de concert, M. 76
John Corigliano – The Red Violin Caprices (1999)
Lunchtime Concerts at UCS - Sundays at 12:30
Enjoy a musical Sunday with the Rachmaninoff Music Academy. Our weekly lunchtime concerts offer students the opportunity to share their progress, develop confidence on stage and perform for an encouraging audience.
With a changing programme each week, these concerts are a chance to discover our young musicians and experience the musical life of the Academy.
Sundays at 12:30 during term time.
University College School, Frognal, Hampstead.
Please contact us to confirm the programme and arrangements for your chosen Sunday.
Parvis Hejazi Nico: Piano Recital, 15 November 2026, 12:00
Join the Rachmaninoff Music Academy for a lunchtime piano recital by Parvis Hejazi Nico in the Great Hall at University College School, Hampstead.
The programme brings together Mozart’s elegance, Schumann’s youthful imagination and Messiaen’s contemplative sound world, culminating in Brahms’s magnificent Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel.
Parvis Hejazi is a London-based German-Persian pianist, organist and composer. He studied with Norma Fisher and Vanessa Latarche at the Royal College of Music, graduating from its Artist Diploma programme with highest distinction. He has performed internationally, including appearances with the Bremen and Jena Philharmonic orchestras.
Programme
W. A. Mozart — Piano Sonata in G major, K. 283
Robert Schumann — Abegg Variations, Op. 1
Olivier Messiaen — From Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus:
I. Regard du Père
XI. Première communion de la Vierge
Johannes Brahms — Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24
Next Event
4
October
The Rachmaninoff Music Academy is delighted to present a free lunchtime recital by violinist Nikita Koller, with Edward Leung at the piano, in the Great Hall at University College School, Hampstead.
Music Departments
Lower Juniors
Our youngest pupils are three years old, although occasionally we accept even younger children if they show clear interest in music; the oldest children in this group are 5...
Upper Juniors
Children joining this group usually already play an instrument, do solfeggio and attend Junior Choir 2. The youngest children in this group are 4 and the oldest 9 years old...
Lower Seniors
Pupils in this group play one or two instruments, do solfeggio and attend Senior Choir. The youngest children in this group are 8 and the oldest 12 years old...
Upper Seniors
This is the most advanced group of pupils aged 11 - 18, many of whom are Grade 8+ standard and some go on to do Diploma exams...
Rachmaninoff Music Academy
RMA students have access to professional music education from their early years. When they join us they become part of a music family where music is a way of existence rather than merely another subject to study.
Movie about the RMA
video
Choose your instrument
"Setting my mind on a musical instrument was like falling in love. All the world seemed bright and changed."
William Christopher Handy
Piano
"The piano as a medium for expression is a whole world by itself. No other instrument can fill or replace its own say in the world of emotion, sentiment, poetry, imagery and fancy."
Leopold Godowsky
Organ
"Organ playing is the manifestation of a will filled with the vision of eternity."
Charles Marie Widor
Voice
"The only thing better than singing is more singing."
Ella Fitzgerald
Harp
“Glorious is the Voice of Man, and sweet is the music of the harp.”
Richard Llewellyn
Viola
“I just love the viola. I find its sound very touching, because it’s very close to the sound and the range of the human speaking voice. It can sing, or be dramatic, and it has a lot of emotion in it.”
Lawrence Power
Violin
"I believe that the violin is a replica of the soul."
Itzhak Perlman
Cello
"The Cello is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older, but younger with time, more slender, more supple, more graceful."
Pablo Casals
Double Bass
"No matter what kind of music you’re playing, the bass enhances the sound and makes it more beautiful and full."
Charlie Haden
Guitar
"The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my master."
Niccolo Paganini
Clarinet
“The clarinet, though appropriate to the expression of the most poetic ideas and sentiments, is really an epic instrument – the voice of heroic love.”
Berlioz
Oboe
“For forty years I have played the oboe, and still I never know what is coming out. It is a perpetual anxiety. But maybe this is good. I have never the time to get myself bored.”
Marcel Tabuteau
Flute
"It is not solid wood that can become a flute, but the empty reed."
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Trumpet
“My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.”
Louis Armstrong
Saxophone
"If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice."
Stan Getz
Accordion
“As soon as I strap on the accordion, I feel like a different, younger man. It’s on stage I feel most alive. That’s what I live for.”
André Verchuren
Percussion
“The thing about playing percussion is that you can create all these emotions that can be sometimes beautiful, sometimes really ugly, or sometimes sweet, sometimes as big as King Kong and so on. And so there can be a real riot out there, or it can be so refined.”
Evelyn Glennie
Maria Bashieva, NHS Worker
Andrea Buraschi, Chair of Finance, Imperial College London
Zoya Charles
Katia Gorbatiouk, Head of Investment Funds, London Stock Exchange
Sally Wei, pianist
Jonathan Charles, presenter of the Vinyl Countdown musical Radio Show and Podcast
Carla Cordivari, Consultant neurologist
Aida Sahutoglu, English teacher
Nina Maschi, Bus King Theater Director
Recent Successes
Alexander Panchal (piano and voice )
Music Scholarships at Haberdashers’ Boys’ School, Highgate School and University College School ( UCS)
Selina Warsi (piano and violin)
Music Scholarship 13 + at the City Girls’ School
Sofya Kauzova (piano and flute)
Music Scholarships 11+ at the Lady Eleanor Holles School, Kingston Grammar School and Wimbledon High School
