Dr. Diana Salazar

Dr. Diana Salazar teaches the Global Conservatoire course “Cultivating Artistic Leadership from the Inside Out ”

Dr Diana Salazar is a Scottish-born, London-based composer and music educator with extensive teaching and leadership experience in higher education. She is Director of Programmes at the Royal College of Music, where she oversees learning and teaching across junior, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A conservatoire-trained flautist and composer, her research focuses on conservatoire pedagogies and the role of technology in enhancing learning and creativity in higher music education. She is a co-founder of the Global Conservatoire Consortium and has published on music technology and technology-enhanced pedagogies in higher music education.

Alongside her teaching and leadership roles in UK universities and conservatoires, Diana has worked internationally as an external examiner in music and music technology, and as an external adviser and consultant for exam boards and higher education providers. These include ABRSM, Edexcel, WJEC, Bath Spa University, the University of Derby, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, the University of Glasgow, Royal Holloway University of London, The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Mascarade Opera Studio and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and, in 2025, became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Music.

A conservatoire graduate herself, Diana trained initially as a flautist at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama before specialising in composition and completing doctoral studies at the University of Manchester on a full UK research-funded scholarship. As a composer and sound artist, her works have been performed and broadcast internationally and recognised in leading international competitions, including Bourges, Música Viva, the International Computer Music Association Awards, Musica Nova and Prix Destellos.

In addition to her work at the Royal College of Music, Diana is a Governor of the Purcell School for Young Musicians and a Trustee of the UK’s National Centre for Circus Arts, where she remains in awe of the student performers while leaving aerial acrobatics firmly in their expert hands.