$40 million donation by Aud Jebsen sets new benchmark for global music education

The Royal Academy of Music has received a $40 million gift from philanthropist Aud Jebsen, marking the largest donation in the Academy’s 203-year history and the largest ever made to a conservatory outside the United States.

The size of the gift places the Royal Academy in a philanthropic category more commonly associated with elite American institutions such as Juilliard, Curtis, and major U.S. universities.

It also positions Jebsen among the most significant arts donors of her generation, signaling a level of private investment in music education rarely seen in Europe.

The donation will fund a major, multi-year transformation of the Academy’s historic Marylebone Road campus in central London. Part of the Grade II–listed complex will be renamed Aud Jebsen House, while teaching studios, rehearsal rooms, and practice spaces will be modernized and acoustically upgraded to meet the standards of the world’s top conservatories.

The Academy’s Museum and instrument collections—among the most important of their kind globally—will also be refurbished, with new acoustic environments designed to support both elite training and the daily use of rare instruments by students and faculty.

The adjoining David Josefowitz Recital Hall will be fully reimagined and renamed the Aud and Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Recital Hall, honoring Jebsen and her late husband.

The project will be led by Wright & Wright Architects and will complement the Academy’s broader expansion, including a new East London facility for large-scale rehearsals and teaching scheduled to open in 2027.

For American readers, the gift carries particular resonance. The Royal Academy of Music maintains long-standing ties to the United States, with many graduates building careers in American orchestras, opera companies, film-scoring studios, and university faculties.

U.S. students also regularly enroll at the Academy, often viewing it as the leading European counterpart to Juilliard or Curtis. Enhanced facilities directly strengthen that transatlantic talent pipeline.

Jebsen, a longtime supporter of elite arts education, has previously made major gifts to the Royal Ballet School and the Royal Ballet and Opera. Her approach reflects a philanthropic model closely associated with the U.S.: large, transformational, naming-level gifts focused on infrastructure, excellence, and long-term institutional impact.

“Students need the best teachers, and they also need the finest spaces in which to explore and extend their musical potential,” she said.

Academy leaders described the donation as transformative, saying it will further cement the institution’s position as a global leader in performance training.

At a time when public funding for the arts remains under strain, Jebsen’s $40 million–equivalent commitment underscores the growing influence of private philanthropy in shaping cultural institutions worldwide—and places the Royal Academy of Music firmly within a global ecosystem long dominated by U.S. conservatories.