The Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto is one of several professional faculties at the University of Toronto. The Faculty of Music is located at the Edward Johnson Building, just south of the Royal Ontario Museum and north of Queen's Park, west of Museum Subway Station. MacMillan Theatre and Walter Hall are located in the Edward Johnson Building. The Faculty of Music South building contains rehearsal rooms and offices, and the Upper Jazz Studio performance space is located at 90 Wellesley Street West. In January 2021, the Faculty announced Dr. Ellie Hisama as the new Dean starting July 1, 2021.
1844 Music was considered a discipline worthy of recognition by the University of Toronto (named King's College until 1850) and examinations were held for candidates wishing to receive a degree in music.[1]
1846 James Paton Clarke became the first person in Canada to be awarded the degree of Bachelor of Music.[2][3]
1858 George Strathy received Canada's first D Mus at Trinity College.[1][2]
1904Trinity College was relieved of the music degree, and the MusBac became a University of Toronto degree.[4]
1918 The Faculty of Music was established. The Senate of the university withdrew its affiliations with various music schools (Toronto College of Music and Royal Hamilton College of Music) and inaugurated a Faculty of Music to teach music and administer examinations. Along with his duties as music director of the Toronto Conservatory, Augustus Stephen Vogt was appointed Dean.[1][2]
1921 The Ontario Legislature passed Bill 154, an act that vested the assets of the Toronto Conservatory of Music in the University of Toronto.[1]
1926Sir Ernest MacMillan became Dean of the Faculty of Music and Principal of the Toronto Conservatory of Music.[1]
1934 "Courses of Instruction" were introduced, the first courses to be taught at the Faculty.[1]
1945Ettore Mazzoleni became Principal of the Conservatory. Edward Johnson was appointed to the Board of Governors of the university and the Conservatory.
1946Arnold Walter established and was appointed Director of the Senior School for advanced students at the Conservatory. He also established the three-year Artist Diploma program and the Opera School.[1]
1947 The Toronto Conservatory of Music received the Royal charter from King George VI, and became The Royal Conservatory of Music.
1952-1953 A new administrative structure was created – The Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto placed a Dean in charge of all music programs. There would be one Dean in charge of two divisions: The School of Music (the previous Royal Conservatory of Music) headed by a Principal (Ettore Mazzoleni) and the Faculty of Music, headed by a Director (Arnold Walter). The School of Music ran the opera school, examinations of grade 1 to ARCT, and the speech arts department. The Faculty of Music ran the Licentiate and Artist diploma courses, and the Senior School no longer existed. Boyd Neel was appointed Dean of the 'umbrella' RCMT.[1][2]
1954 The first program for the Master of Music was introduced.[1]
1958-1959 The university's President's Report announced that the Faculty of Music would have a new building and the School of Music would move to McMaster Hall on Bloor Street.[1]
1959 Plans for an electronic music studio were announced, historically the second in a North American university.
1961-1962 The MusBac became a four-year program.
1962 The Faculty of Music moved to the newly built Edward Johnson Building (the first building in Canada designed specifically for professional music study), though the official opening was delayed until spring 1964, and the School of Music moved to McMaster Hall.
1966-1967 The first Bachelor of Music in Performance was offered.
1969 The Opera School transferred to the Faculty of Music and a two-year opera diploma program was approved.
1969-1970 A new curriculum was put into place – ‘basic music’ subjects in the first two years were common to all students. The Master of Music in Performance was approved.
1970John Beckwith was appointed Dean. The post of Director of the Faculty of Music was eliminated. The Faculty became responsibility of the Dean, and the School of Music was renamed to its more popular name, the Royal Conservatory of Music.[1]
1973-1974 This was the last year Conservatory performance certificates were accepted as alternatives for admission to the Faculty of Music. All incoming students were subsequently auditioned and interviewed.[4]
1983-1984 The university created the Committee on the Future of Music Studies to review how the faculty and conservatory were operated and organized. In 1984, its final report recommended the eventual separation of the Conservatory from the university.[1]
1991 The Royal Conservatory of Music Act of the Ontario Legislature confirms the separation of the Conservatory from the University of Toronto and re-established The Royal Conservatory's status as a fully independent, not-for-profit entity. The MusBac in Jazz Performance is introduced.[2]
1996 David Beach appointed Dean.
2004 Gage Averill appointed Dean.
2007 Russell Hartenberger was appointed Interim Dean and named Dean in 2008.
2007 Concurrent Teacher's Education Program established, as well as the Doctorate in Musical Arts (DMA) in Performance.
2011 Don McLean appointed Dean.
2021 Ellie Hisama appointed Dean.
Research and collaborations
Research institutes
The Music and Health Research Collaboratory (MaHRC), established in 2012, is a collaborative group of researchers that aims to better understand the role of sound in human experiences, exploring connections of sound to the human experience of health.
The Institute for Canadian Music, established in 1984, aims to promote and support all areas of Canadian Music Study.
Artists in residence
Canadian Brass - Distinguished Ensemble in Residence 2011-2015
Edward Johnson Building – Home of the Faculty of Music since 1962, the Edward Johnson Building houses many offices and classrooms, as well as two floors of practice rooms, two large rehearsal rooms, the Faculty of Music Library, the University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio (UTEMS), a theatre for large ensemble performances (MacMillan Theatre) and a smaller recital hall (Walter Hall), and named for the Guelph-born operatic tenor, former board chair of the Royal Conservatory of Music, and General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera (1935-1950), Edward Johnson.
MacMillan Theatre – This 815-seat hall was designed for the production of operas and large ensemble concerts and named after former dean, Sir Ernest MacMillan. World-renowned for its excellent acoustics.
Walter Hall – Commemorating Arnold Walter, Director of the Faculty from 1952 to 1968, Walter Hall was designed for chamber concerts and recitals. The house seats 490. The hall also contains a two-manual tracker-action Casavant organ.
Library – A part of the University of Toronto Library System, it is the largest music research collection in Canada. It contains over 300,000 printed materials, 180,000 recordings in the Sniderman Recordings Archive, 2,500 volumes in the Olnick Rare Book Room, and 3,500 titles in the Performance Collection.
Electroacoustic Studio – The University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio opened in 1959. Originally located in a house on Division Street, it was moved to the Edward Johnson Building in 1963.
Degrees and programs
Undergraduate studies
Bachelor of Music in Performance (four-year program)
In the classical stream, major instruments include those in the woodwind, brass and strings families, as well as percussion, piano, voice, guitar, harp, organ, accordion and historical instruments. In the jazz program, major instruments include double bass, guitar, drums, piano, trumpet, trombone, saxophone and voice.
Bachelor of Music (four-year program)
Options for major include: Comprehensive, Composition, History and Theory, Music Education, and Concurrent Teacher Education (five-year program in partnership with OISE).
Advanced Certificate in Performance (one-year program)
This is a one-year program of intensive full-time study, open to woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings, piano, voice and accordion. Students enrolling in this program have the option of specializing in Baroque music, utilizing period instruments in conjunction with Tafelmusik.
Artist Diploma (3-year program)
This program is similar to the Bachelor of Music in Performance, but without academic-subject requirements. This is not open to students with a Bachelor of Music or a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the Faculty of Music.
Diploma in Operatic Performance (2- or 3-year program)
Three streams are available in this program – one for singers (2 or 3 years), one for operatic repetiteurs (2 years) and one for operatic stage directors (2 years).
Graduate studies
Music performance and composition programs
Programs include: MMus in Composition, in Music Technology and Digital Media, in Instrumental (solo piano, woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings), in Collaborative Piano, in Conducting, in Jazz Performance, in Opera, in Piano Pedagogy, in Voice and in Vocal Pedagogy; and DMA in Performance and in Composition.
Music program
Programs include: MA and PhD in Music Education, Musicology, Theory, Performance and Ethnomusicology.
Performance Ensembles
In addition to large ensembles offered at the Faculty, there are various chamber music courses and collaborative piano courses. Most of these courses involve weekly masterclasses. There are also several world music ensemble courses offered, such as Japanese taiko drumming, African drumming and dancing, Latin-American percussion, Klezmer, tabla, Balinese Gamelan, Korean ensemble and steel pan.
Large ensembles
University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra (UTSO) – conducted by Uri Mayer
University of Toronto Wind Ensemble – conducted by Dr. Gillian MacKay
University of Toronto Wind Symphony – conducted by Pratik Gandhi
University of Toronto MacMillan Singers – conducted by Dr. Jamie Hillman
University of Toronto Soprano/Alto Chorus – conducted by Dr. Elaine Choi
University of Toronto Women's Chamber Choir – conducted by Dr. Lori Dolloff
University of Toronto Tenor/Bass Chorus – conducted by Thomas Burton
University of Toronto Jazz Orchestras – conducted by Jim Lewis
University of Toronto Vocal Jazz Ensemble – conducted by Christine Duncan
University of Toronto Guitar Orchestra - conducted by Rob MacDonald
Contemporary Music Ensemble (gamUT) – directed by Wallace Halladay
University of Toronto Percussion Ensemble – conducted by Beverley Johnston
Early Music Ensembles – conducted by Ivars Taurins
Annual events
New Music Festival - Each year, the Faculty of Music hosts the University of Toronto New Music Festival at the end of January. The festival plays host to at least one distinguished guest in composition.
Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, was a Canadian orchestral conductor, composer, organist, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician from the 1920s through the 1950s. His contributions to the development of music in Canada were sustained and varied, as conductor, performer, composer, administrator, lecturer, adjudicator, writer, humourist, and statesman.
The Royal Conservatory of Music, branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1947, King George VI incorporated the organization through royal charter. Its Toronto home was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995, in recognition of the institution's influence on music education in Canada. Tim Price is the current Chair of the Board, and Peter Simon is the President.
The Hartt School is the performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford, a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and Moshe Paranov, Hartt has been part of the University of Hartford since its charter merged the then Hartt College of Music, the Hartford Art School, and Hillyer College to create the university in 1957. The Hartt School offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in music, dance, theatre, and associated disciplines. The Hartt Community Division offers a variety of opportunities in music and dance for students of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
The Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin in Berlin, Germany, is one of the leading universities of music in Europe. It was established in East Berlin in 1950 as the Deutsche Hochschule für Musik because the older Hochschule für Musik Berlin was in West Berlin. After the death of one of its first professors, composer Hanns Eisler, the school was renamed in his honor in 1964. After a renovation in 2005, the university is located in both Berlin's famed Gendarmenmarkt and the Neuer Marstall.
Longy School of Music of Bard College is a private music school in Cambridge, Massachusetts associated with Bard College. Founded in 1915 as the Longy School of Music, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston Conservatory. In 2012, the institution merged with Bard College to become Longy School of Music of Bard College. As of the 2018–19 academic year, the conservatory has 300 students in its degree programs from 35 states and 23 countries.
In Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and onwards. As well, it includes musical styles brought by other ethnic communities from the 19th century and onwards, such as Indian classical music and Chinese classical music. Since Canada's emergence as a nation in 1867, the country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles. As well, it has developed a music infrastructure that includes training institutions, conservatories, performance halls, and a public radio broadcaster, CBC, which programs a moderate amount of Classical music. There is a high level of public interest in classical music and education.
The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first director. CIM enrolls 325 students in the conservatory and approximately 1,500 students in the preparatory and continuing education programs. There are typically about 100 openings per year for which 1,000-1,200 prospective students apply.
John Beckwith was a Canadian composer, writer, pianist, teacher, and university administrator.
The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom are undergraduates, with the second largest enrollment of all music schools accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los Angeles. The school is located on the USC University Park Campus, south of Downtown Los Angeles.
The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly research and doctorate-level study in areas such as performance practice, composition, musicology and music history. It is the only one of the nine conservatoires in the United Kingdom that is also part of a faculty of a university, in this case Arts, Design and Media at Birmingham City University. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools, and a founder member of Conservatoires UK.
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the university's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.
The Colburn School is a private performing arts school in Los Angeles with a focus on music and dance. It consists of four divisions: the Conservatory of Music, Music Academy, Community School of Performing Arts and the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute. Founded in 1950, the school is named after its principal benefactor, Richard D. Colburn.
The Schulich School of Music is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, Rue Sherbrooke Ouest. The faculty was named after the benefactor Seymour Schulich.
Godfrey Ridout was a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and writer.
The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec (CMQQ) is a music conservatory located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Founded by the Quebec government in 1944, it became the second North American music institution of higher learning to be entirely state-subsidized. The conservatoire is part of a network of 7 conservatories in Quebec, the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec (CMADQ), and was the second school in the CMADQ network to be established. Orchestra conductor Wilfrid Pelletier served as the school's first director from 1944 through 1946. The current director is Jean-Fabien Schneider.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) was a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario that was active during the first two decades of the 20th century under the leadership of conductor and pianist Frank Welsman. It was the first professional orchestra that existed for any notable length in the city of Toronto. After 13 seasons of performance, the orchestra folded in 1918 because of problems related to World War I. The current Toronto Symphony Orchestra is unrelated to this one.
Timothy Richard Sullivan is a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he has been commissioned to write works for ARRAYMUSIC, Donald Bell, and the Stratford Festival among others. He is particularly known for his operas and was notably composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company in 1987-1988. His composition are noted for their use of various media and incorporation of several musical idioms, including jazz, chance music, traditional harmony, and serialism.
Albert Chamberland was a Canadian violinist, composer, conductor, music producer, and music educator. As a violinist he performed as a chamber musician with a number of ensembles, including the Beethoven Trio with whom he made some early recordings for His Master's Voice (HMV) during the first decade of the 20th century. He also made some solo recordings for HMV and was a concert soloist. He performed with a variety of orchestras, serving as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's first concertmaster. Chamberland also created several compositions for band and orchestra.
Ezra Schabas, was a Canadian musician, educator and author. He was active in Canada's musical life beginning in 1952, when he emigrated from Cleveland with his family. During his time in Canada, he was a leading musical educator, clarinetist, and administrator in Toronto's musical institutions. He wrote several books on Canadian and American musical history, and he was appointed to the Order of Ontario and made a Member of the Order of Canada.
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