Ncuti Gatwa and Sam Heughan to be honoured at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Ncuti Gatwa, the BBC’s next Doctor, is return to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he will be awarded an honorary degree.
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Your support makes all the difference.The star of Netflix hit Sex Education, who has just been named as the BBC’s next timelord in Doctor Who, will be honoured by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as its class of 2022 graduate next month.
Ncuti Gatwa will be awarded an honorary degree by the Conservatoire on July 7, alongside musician Marin Alsop, star of Outlander Sam Heughan, and composer Errollyn Wallen.
Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, its principal, said the Conservatoire was “delighted to be honouring four exceptional artists who not only entertain audiences across the globe but continue to inspire and show real leadership”.
More than 300 students are set to graduate from the Glasgow-based conservatoire next month after spending years studying across the disciplines of music, drama, dance, production, film and education.
Professor Sharkey said: “Graduation is a highlight of the year, and we can’t wait to join our students for what is always a wonderful day of joyful celebration.
“To be able to come together in person to mark their achievements, after the challenges of the last two years, will have extra significance. It is also an opportunity to recognise the ground breaking artists who use their art, and platforms, as powerful vehicles for change.”
Gatwa, an alumnus of the Conservatoire’s BA acting programme in 2013, is best known for playing the much-loved and scene-stealing character Eric Effiong in Sex Education.
And the 29-year-old will soon take on one of the biggest roles in television when he takes control of the Tardis in Doctor Who.
Heughan also graduated from the Conservatoire as part of the class of 2003. The 42-year-old went on to find worldwide fame playing the lead character of Jamie Fraser in the smash-hit, time-travelling drama series Outlander.
Wallen, a visiting professor of composition at the Conservatoire will also be awarded an honorary degree.
The multi-award winning Belize-born British composer and performer has 22 operas to her name and a large catalogue of orchestral, chamber and vocal works which are performed and broadcast throughout the world.
She was the first black woman to have a work featured in the Proms and the first woman to win the Ivor Novello Award for Classical Music, as well as composing for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2012, and for the Cop26 conference in Glasgow.
Alsop, who became the first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain, will also be recognised with the honorary degree next month.
In-person summer graduation ceremonies could not take place for the classes of 2020 and 2021, but students are also being invited back next month to mark the milestone.