TORONTO, April 20, 2021 – The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) is proud to present Music of My Life – A Conversation With …, a new series available online beginning April 22, 2021. The series helps to launch a new digital concert platform, RoyalConservatory.Live, which features over 40 concerts from the Conservatory’s archives, documentaries, and conversations with artists.
With hosts Dr. Peter Simon, President & CEO, and Mervon Mehta, Executive Director, Performing Arts, stars of the stage and screen discuss the music that inspires them that they cannot live without, that they would take to the grave. Music of My Life kicks off with Grammy and Emmy award winner Eugene Levy, C.M., star of the Emmy Award-winning Schitt’s Creek on April 22, 2021 at 3 p.m. ET. Levy recalls his early music experiences as a high school saxophone player, the inspiration for the film A Mighty Wind, and the intricacy of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which is stunningly performed by celebrated piano duo Anagnoson & Kinton.
Other Season One guests include:
- Daniel Barenboim, celebrated pianist and conductor (April 29)
- Steven Page, award-winning composer, musician, and founding member of the Barenaked Ladies (May 6)
- Cynthia Dale, acclaimed actor and music theatre star (May 13)
- Paul Shaffer, C.M., musician, composer, and David Letterman’s musical director (May 20)
Season Two will launch in June with details to be announced soon.
Each episode of Music of My Life also includes performances of the music by a spectacular array of musicians, filmed at the RCM’s acclaimed Koerner Hall. Featured performances include:
- Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor
- Johan Sebastian Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C sharp Major
- Franz Schubert’s “Erlkönig” in a special performance by Adrianne Pieczonka, O.C., soprano (and Vocal Chair at The Glenn Gould School) and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra conducted by Johannes Debus
- Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor (“Death and the Maiden”)
All Music of My Life episodes will be available at RoyalConservatory.Live – the new on-demand digital channel of The Royal Conservatory of Music. The channel features hundreds of hours of performances filmed in the exquisite acoustics of Koerner Hall, engaging talks and documentaries (where theMusic of My Life series will be found), and celebratory events. New content will be added weekly.
Concerts currently available include some of the stars of Koerner Hall from the previous 12 seasons:
- Rhiannon Giddens with Franceso Turrisi
- Barbara Hannigan with Reinbert de Leeuw
- Lighthouse: 50 Years of Sunny Days
- Jane Bunnett & Maqueque All-Stars
- Tanya Tagaq and the Kronos Quartet
- KUNÉ – Canada’s Global Orchestra
- Mariza
- Thomson Highway and Patricia Cano
- Stewart Copeland and Jon Kimura Parker in “Off the Score”
- several concerts by the Royal Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Leon Fleisher, Johannes Debus, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Tania Miller, and more
New content will be added each Thursday, including:
- 21C Music Festival presents: New Music for a New World (April 22)
- Glenn Gould School concerts (April 29, May 13, and 20)
- DJ Skratch Bastid (May 27)
- TD Jazz: Tdot Jazz featuring Thompson Egbo-Egbo, Johanna Majoko, Alexis Baro, and Selçuk Suna (June 3)
