VIOLIN sensation Nicola Benedetti has voiced her support for the plan to turn the former Royal High School in the Scottish capital into the new home of a prominent music school.
Ms Bendetti said she supported the plan by the Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) for St Mary’s Music School to move across Edinburgh to the landmark site.
She said: "As someone who benefitted from a specialist music education, I know how much this can support a young musician’s development.
"If St Mary’s Music School was able to move to the site of the Former Royal High School its pupils would benefit from much improved rehearsal and performance spaces.
"The move would also help the school extend its outreach work which would benefit young musicians across the city.”
It comes after a new campaign was launched to enlist the public to back the plans for a leading music school to move into the historic property.
The St Mary's Music School has launched the Perfect Harmony campaign to continue to raise awareness of, and public support for, their desire to make the famous neo-classical, Thomas Hamilton-designed building on Calton Hill their new headquarters.
In a separate plan, developers Duddingston House Properties, and the Urbanist Group, want to make the building into a hotel.
Their plans for the building, which has been out of sustained use for 40 years, were rejected by the city council in 2015 but they have revised their plans, now scaled down, and it is believed they will be considered again later this year.
Dr Kenneth Taylor, Headteacher at St Mary’s Music School, said: "I am delighted and grateful that Nicola has lent her support to the school for the proposed move to the former Royal High School building.
"We believe the move would represent a substantial boost to the arts in the Capital, Scotland and internationally.”
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