The Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto offers for advanced graduate pianists a unique course of intensive study in collaborative playing. The Mus. M in Performance (Collaborative Piano) is a two-year program, designed to give pianists a well-rounded, advanced education in piano-vocal and piano-instrumental repertoire and performance. The program is directed by Professor Steven Philcox (Master of Music, Manhattan School of Music). Students in the program will benefit from instruction by various experts in the fields of song, chamber music, and opera, including pianists James Parker, Steven Philcox, Lydia Wong, Che Anne Loewen, Marietta Orlov, and Sandra Horst and other esteemed artist/teachers from the departments of voice studies and instrumental music.
Degrees Offered
For information about specialization in solo piano performance, click here.
For information about specialization in piano pedagogy, click here.
Faculty Members
Special Courses available to Collaborative Piano students include:
Advanced Song Studies for Pianists
Advanced study of selections from the standard song repertoire in a master class setting. Pianists rehearse and perform with advanced singers. Presentations and classroom discussions address various issues related to the study and performance of song, including matters of musical and poetic style, text setting, performance practice, musical drama, and artistic collaboration.
Sonata Coaching
Private coachings and master classes with primary focus on piano-instrumental duo sonata repertoire. Repertoire may also include instrumental chamber music for larger groupings and reductions of orchestral works.
Advanced Repertoire for Singers and Pianists
Advanced study of selected repertoire for voice and piano with attention to historical and literary references, musical style and performance practice. Operating on a two-year rotation, the course changes its focus each semester, offering students exposure to important repertoire of varying styles.
Collaborative Piano Studio Class
A series of lectures, discussions, student performances and presentations designed to address various topics related to the work of collaborative pianists. Topics will include vocal coaching techniques, figured bass realization, score reading, orchestral reduction, transposition, sight reading, and the study of selected poetry and repertoire.
Piano-Instrumental Master Class
An exploration of the piano chamber literature, especially that for piano and one other instrument. Students perform with student instrumentalists in a master class setting.
Advanced Diction Studies
Practical studies in lyric diction for graduate singers and collaborative pianists. This course focuses on the rules governing the pronunciation of French, German and Italian, the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, and the articulatory processes involved in the vocalization of these languages.
Chamber Music
Instruction in small ensemble performance.
Opera Performance for Pianists
This course offers instruction in the techniques of score reading and playing reductions of operatic repertoire. Students study orchestral scores of standard operatic scenes and arias and prepare piano reductions for in-class performances and coachings.
Operatic Répétiteur
Practical Study: playing rehearsals of major productions, scenes and extracts from the operatic repertoire.