Located in the Workman Mansion at 799 Sherbrooke Street West, the McGill Conservatory was established in 1904, thanks to the remarkable work of Clara Lichtenstein at Royal Victoria College and the financial support of Lord Strathcona. The first cohort, in September 1904, had 426 students from Quebec, Eastern Canada and New York.
The institution, which hired new professors that year, offered bachelor’s (L. Mus.), bachelor’s (B. Mus.) and doctoral (D. Mus.) programs in music; the composer Charles A. E. Harriss becomes its first director.
In 1909, Henry Crane Perrin, organist at Canterbury Cathedral, who would become director of the Conservatory and the first dean of the Faculty, set up a system of examinations unique to Canada, thus reinforcing McGill’s autonomy from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in London. Charles Henry Mills obtained the first doctorate in music (in composition), in 1911.
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