Collection 04 - Faculty of Music collection

The Faculty of Music was created in 1918. 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. “Courses of Instruction” were introduced, the first courses to be taught at the Faculty; which grew to offer courses with a full range of aspects involved with western music, including Jazz performance, ethnomusicology, and music and medicine.

In 1952, The Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music came under the same administration, placing a Dean in charge of both programs. The Conservatory would be known as The School of Music and was headed by a Principal. The Faculty of Music would be headed by a Director. In 1959 plans for an electronic music studio were announced, historically the second in a North American university. The Faculty regularly hosts events in one of its two theatres; MacMillan Theatre consisting of an 815-seat hall, designed for the production of operas and large ensemble concerts and named after former dean, Sir Ernest MacMillan. World-renowned for its excellent acoustics, and Walter Hall which commemorates Arnold Walter, Director of the Faculty from 1952-1968, Walter Hall was designed for chamber concerts and recitals. The house seats 490. The hall also contains a two-manual tracker-action Casavant organ.

In 1991, the School of Music/Royal Conservatory of Music separated and once again became its own institution.