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Sophie Roland named dean of Don Wright Faculty of Music
by Colleen MacDonald, excerpt from Western News article
Long-serving faculty member charts future of music education at Western University
Music education at Western University is entering a new chapter under a respected scholar, performer and administrator. Sophie Roland has been appointed dean of the Don Wright Faculty of Music for a five-year term that takes effect immediately. She has led the faculty as acting dean since July 1.
"I feel very much at home in this university and am proud to serve in this role," Roland said.
She first came to Western as a graduate student, earning master’s degrees in musicology and performance voice before returning several years later to join the faculty as a professor. Over her 21 years at Western, she has earned the Faculty Scholar Award, the Western University Teaching Fellowship and multiple national and international honours for her artistic work.
Western provost and vice-president (academic) Florentine Strzelczyk said Roland has made exceptional contributions to Western as well as the broader academic and artistic communities.
"Professor Roland has demonstrated exemplary leadership, service and commitment to excellence in music education and the performing arts. Through her work, artists, educators and institutions in Canada and abroad have built lasting relationships," she said.
Now, as dean, Roland will build on the momentum in the Don Wright Faculty of Music, one of Canada’s largest music schools. The faculty offers a wide range of programs, enrolling about 650 students and hosting over 350 concerts, recitals and public performance events each year. It’s one of only a few Canadian music faculties offering multi-stream undergraduate and graduate programs that train scholars, music educators and performers in the same institution.
- Read full Western News article (by Colleen MacDonald, September 17, 2026)
In her own words
About Western Music
"The breadth of music within our faculty is one of our greatest strengths. Our students encounter everything from classical and jazz to popular and global music traditions. That encourages curiosity, collaboration and artistic growth, ultimately helping each student develop a stronger, more distinctive voice of their own.”
About Students
"They practice for hours and hours, all alone, until they’re satisfied with one tiny corner of a phrase. If they’re not passionate about their music, that discipline can’t be sustained through the painstaking work of refining their performance. Our role is not only to recognize that passion, but to nurture it—to create an environment in which it can deepen, grow and flourish."
About Opera
"Opera is both huge and small. It has massive casts, ensembles and stages, yet it brings intimacy. Vocalists try to evoke emotion in stories of human connection through small details they project, unamplified, into a large hall. It’s a marvelous art. There is something almost indescribable about the immediacy of the human voice filling that space, carrying emotion from one person to another. That capacity to move us, with nothing between the singer and the audience, is what I have always loved about opera."
About Music and Technology
"Music has reinvented itself many times throughout its history, and I believe we are at another one of those extraordinary moments. As technology changes the world around us, the need to create, to connect and to make meaning through music remains profoundly human. Our responsibility is to prepare our students not simply to respond to what comes next, but to help shape it. I want them to leave here with the artistry, curiosity and courage to imagine what the future of music can be—and to lead us there."