The orchestra, comprised of students from The Glenn Gould School, the elite post-secondary institution of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, performed to a sold-out and rapturous audience.
TORONTO, May 9, 2024 – On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, students from The Glenn Gould School’s Royal Conservatory Orchestra, led by Conductor Maestro Peter Oundjian and joined by acclaimed pianist Stewart Goodyear, made a stunning and triumphant debut in what many consider to be the greatest concert hall in the world – New York’s historic Carnegie Hall.
Performing in fabled Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, the orchestra took their place in music history performing a challenging program worthy of the hall in which they played. Commencing the evening with an homage to north of the border, Maestro Oundjian led the orchestra through a rendition of Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark by Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy, who attended the concert. To follow were works by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”) in E flat Major, op. 73 with inaugural Royal Conservatory Artist-in-Residence, acclaimed pianist Stewart Goodyear who was also making his Carnegie Hall debut, and a spectacular finale with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, op. 64.
“We are immensely proud of the extraordinary level of music making achieved by our students in their stunning debut at Carnegie Hall. This is one of the great stages of the world, and our students performed magnificently. We would like to thank the many people involved in making this debut a reality including our donors, faculty and staff. Tuesday was an incredibly proud and historic moment for not only The Royal Conservatory, but also for Canada.” shared Dr. Peter Simon President & CEO, and Alexander Brose, President Designate of The Royal Conservatory.
Founded in 1997, Dr. Peter Simon launched The Glenn Gould School – a post-secondary institution for elite musicians. It was modelled after the professional performance training programs at The Royal Conservatory in the 1940s and 50s of which Glenn Gould, Theresa Stratus and Job Vickers were alumni. The school, named after The Conservatory alumnus to honour his ideals of excellence and innovation in music performance, was then designated by the Government of Canada as National Training Institution. Today, The Glenn Gould School is one of the finest music centres in North America focused on professional performance training and graduates include Benjamin Bowman (violin), Afendi Yusuf (clarinet), Isabel Bayrakdarian (soprano), and Jan Lisiecki (piano) along with others in major orchestras and management positions with cultural organizations around the world.
About The Royal Conservatory of Music
The Royal Conservatory of Music is one of the largest music education institutions in the world, providing the definitive standard of excellence in curriculum design, assessment, performance training, teacher certification, and arts-based social programs. Over 500,000 students study its RCM Certificate Program through a network of 30,000 independent music teachers and its over five million alumni include Glenn Gould, Oscar Peterson, Shania Twain, Sarah McLachlan, and David Foster.
Learn more at rcmusic.com.
