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.
Historical timeline
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)
The artist diploma 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.
^ abcdefghijklmnoChandler, Ron (1990). Alumni Directory: Historical Introduction. Toronto: University of Toronto, Faculty of Music. pp. 4–35. ISBN0-7727-8555-4.
