“In the fall of 1946, an unprecedented and unique form of instruction was introduced into the curriculum of the newly organized senior school of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.”
—OPERA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, KENNETH PEGLER
Developed by its first director, Arnold Walter, the Opera School, now the Opera Division of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, has had an enormous influence on the musical life of Toronto, of Canada and the world at large.
As Pegler noted early on in his study: “The performances of the ‘Opera School’ were by no means the first of their kind in Canada. Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia played to pre-Confederation audiences in Quebec City in 1864.” Musicologist and former Dean of the Faculty of Music, the late Carl Morey, noted in his program note for the Opera School’s 1974 production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore that an Italian touring company had previously presented the opera to the good citizens of Toronto in the late 19th century, and the city hosted numerous touring opera companies in the early decades of the 20th century.
Like many North American cities of the time, Toronto had several opera houses, many of which were subsequently destroyed or torn down. (Interested readers can glean more information from Joan Parker Baillie’s excellent .) The historical record tells us that these theatres
