Semele, St. Werburgh’s Church, Royal Irish Academy of Music

Educational Philosophy: I believe in developing a community of practice and intelligent discourse that seeks out and supports those with the determination to succeed and the courage to explore their vision.

I believe in helping prepare performers, writers, directors, designers and stage managers in training for the actual demands of the profession in a global market place.

I believe in fostering a community that develops the specific potential of each and every student through programmes that teach skills that will lead both to professional and personal fulfilment.

I believe in defining and developing the art of the performer as part of a wider contribution to communities and society.

I believe in communicating representations of the human condition in all its beauty and imperfection and in encouraging performers to share the transcendental reality that is possible when we choose to reveal the special world that is live performance.

I believe all performers must take direct responsibility for the relationship between the expressive elements at their disposal and commit to a shared responsibility for the relationship with other key elements of live performance.

I believe that technical mastery depends upon one’s ability to embody fundamental disciplines central to the preparation and execution of any co-ordinated activity and is a necessary stage in finding an individual means of expression that remains truthful.

I believe in the power of the dialogic (i.e. facilitation through question, dialogue and confirmation) to focus the performer and to draw knowledge from within them as a means of encouraging a person to understand their own position in relation to his/her art, craft and life.

Thomas de Mallet Burgess

July 2011