Piano at Western
James Masschelein, BMus (Piano Performance) graduate performing in von Kuster Hall
The Don Wright Faculty of Music offers piano students diverse course options, including solo & duo classes, piano pedagogy, piano literature, and collaborative musicianship. There are many performance opportunities for students including solo and studio recitals, weekly faculty-led masterclasses, and ensembles, plus competitions and awards including the Fred Pattison Piano Competition, Maritsa Brookes Concerto Competition, Young-Ja Park Chamber Music Competition and the London Music Scholarship Foundation Endowment Award.
Western Music also offers learning opportunities and masterclasses with international artists of renown.
Our yearly Parsons and Poole Concert and Masterclass has featured world-class pianists including Marc-André Hamelin, Menahem Pressler, Angela Hewitt, Jon Kimura Parker and Yekwon Sunwoo. Western Music also offers additional learning opportunities with national and international guests of renown.
The Music Building and Talbot College house over 100 practice rooms, studios, and large and small rehearsal spaces, plus three modern performance venues with concert pianos and state-of-the-art recording capabilities. We have approximately 150 pianos of excellent quality and maintenance, including 75 grand pianos and 75 upright pianos, plus 25 digital keyboards. Our practice rooms hold 35 uprights and 15 grands, available for student use.
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Faculty
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Undergraduate
Bachelor of Music
BA Honours Spec. in Music
BA Major in Music
BA Spec. in Music Administrative Studies
BA Major in Popular Music Studies
BA Minor in Music
Minor in Music Performance Studies
Minor in Music
Concurrent Degrees
Music & Business
(with Ivey Business School)
Music Recording Arts
(with Fanshawe College)
Graduate
MMus in Literature & Performance
DMA in Performance
Ensembles & Performance Groups
Chamber Music
Early Music Studio
Collaborative Piano
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In the Spotlight
September 2024
Western music grad Jeff Toyne wins Emmy
May 2024
Doctoral candidate Yumi Jang selected for Toronto Summer Music Academy's Emerging Artist Program
January 2024
Kai Melconian Wins 2024 Fred Pattison Piano Award Competition
January 2024
Congratulations to the winners of the 2023-24 Maritsa Brookes Concerto Competition
In Performance & Behind the Scenes
Terrence Wu, BMus (Performance – Piano)
On Dec 5, 2020, Terrence Wu, second-year Bachelor of Music (Honours) student and winner of the 2019-20 Fred Pattison Piano Competition performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op.37 with the Western University Symphony Orchestra. Conductor, Simone Luti.
Terrence Wu talks about preparing to play a piano concerto with orchestra for the first time, as well as his experience as a student at the Don Wright Faculty of Music.
Christian Golding, BMus'16, MMus'18
On April 1, 2017, Western Music alumni Christian Golding performed Beethoven's majestic "Emperor" Piano Concerto No. 5, Op.73 with the Western University Symphony Orchestra during their final concert of the year. In an interview with conductor Tyrone Paterson, Christian speaks about his performance and plays an excerpt from the piece.
Alumni of Note
Brian Cho, BMusA’16, Artist Diploma’18, MMus’21 (Literature and Performance - Collaborative Piano)
Featured in Opera Canada’s “New on the scene” article, Winter 2022-23 edition
Dan Luong, BMus’15, MMus’19
Among several recent accomplishments, Dan was the single keyboardist selected for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (NYO Canada) 2021 summer tour.
Francesco Milioto, BMus’96 (Music Performance – Piano)
Appointed as Opera San Antonio's first Music Director. He is also on the music staff with the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra.
John Yun, MMus’12
Associate music director for the Alicia Keys musical Hells Kitchen, which opened on Broadway in April 2024. Performed at the 2021 Tony Awards and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, was associate music conductor on a worldwide tour of the musical West Side Story, and associate conductor of Tina: the Tina Turner Musical on Broadway. Read Western News article (April 18, 2024)