2023
Ms. Elizabeth Wirth, Doctor of Music, honoris causa 
A successful businessperson, committed volunteer, and generous philanthropist, Elizabeth Wirth is a respected and inspiring role model.
Members of the Schulich community know Ms. Wirth from her active involvement with our School. She became the chair of Schulich’s Faculty Advisory Board in 2008. She and her family also played a central role in the creation of state-of-the-art music facilities on our campus, including the Wirth Opera Studio the Music Multimedia Room control room. Ms. Wirth also rarely misses a chance to support our students. In addition to founding the Wirth Vocal Prize, she is a regular guest at our students’ concerts – encouraging them to keep working and to reach their full potential as musicians.
Ms. Wirth’s passion for music is contagious, and we feel it every time we are in her presence. We are grateful she’s such an integral part of our School.
Listen to her speech at the 2023 Faculty of Music convocation ceremony.
2019
Pat Metheny, Doctor of Music, honoris causa
Since beginning his international career in 1974, guitarist Pat Metheny has garnered widespread critical acclaim, demonstrated astonishing versatility as an artist, and has consistently been at the forefront of music technology.
His list of awards and honours includes 20 Grammy Award wins in 12 separate categories – the only musical artist to ever achieve this feat. A NEA Jazz Master, Metheny has also been inducted into both the Down Beat Hall of Fame and the Missouri Music Hall of Fame, and was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2018.
On a local level, Montreal’s love for Metheny showed during the ceremony through the audience’s enthusiastic applause and cheers of support. The guitarist is no stranger to the city, having performed at almost every iteration of the Festival international de Jazz de Montreal since its inception, in addition to stops on tour at other times of the year. The last time many attendees saw Pat Methey onstage, he was likely sporting a patent striped shirt and hollow body guitar instead of academic dress and a diploma—as such, Spring Convocation was a unique opportunity to celebrate the legendary artist and welcome him as a McGill graduate. Read more
Listen to his speech at the 2019 Faculty of Music convocation ceremony.
2018
Zarin Mehta, Doctor of Music, honoris causa
Zarin Mehta has led some of the greatest musical institutions in North America. His passion for the music business began in Montreal where he was managing director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal from 1981 to 1990. He then went to Chicago to become executive director and later president and CEO of the prestigious Ravinia Festival. In 2000 he was appointed Executive Director, and later President of the legendary New York Philharmonic. After leaving New York in 2012, Mr. Mehta became Co-Executive Director of the Green Music Center, at Sonoma State University in California.
Here at McGill, we are particularly grateful to Zarin Mehta for his time at the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal. Under his dynamic leadership in the 1980’s, the orchestra gained international renown and attracted a generation of talented musicians, some of whom still teach at the University. The McGill-OSM connection continues to be a source of strength for both institutions and is a pillar of our city’s extraordinary cultural life.
Mr. Mehta has been awarded several academic distinctions, including an honorary doctorate from l’Université de Montréal and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Institution of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is a member of the Order of Canada.
Listen to his speech at the 2018 Faculty of Music convocation ceremony.
2017
Beverley Diamond, ethnomusicologist
An award-winning researcher and one of Canada’s leading ethnomusicologists, Beverly Diamond’s scholarship examines the relationship between music and issues of identity, rights, and social change in indigenous musical cultures in Canada and Scandinavia. Her research has ranged from studies of Inuit and First Nations song traditions to expressive culture in relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools in Canada, exploring issues of feminist musicology, indigenous modernity, and the construction of social meaning via audio technologies. Dr. Diamond was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2008, named a member of the Order of Canada in 2013, and in 2014 awarded the Gold Medal by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She has held the Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology and is Professor Emerita at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Montreal-born Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the foremost conductors of our time. Currently the principle conductor and artistic director of the Orchestre Métropolitain, he also leads the Philadelphia Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2020 will succeed James Levine as the third music director of the Metropolitan Opera. Nézet-Séguin has conducted with the Berlin Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, has made appearances at the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, and the Wiener Staatsoper, and has made several recordings with Deutsche Grammophon. In addition to his honorary degree from McGill, Nézet-Séguin holds honorary degrees from the Université du Québec à Montréal, the Curtis Institute, and Westminster Choir College, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2012, and Officer of the Order of Québec in 2015.
2016
Susan McClary, musicologist
Susan McClary is one of the world’s leading feminist musicologists, with research focused on the criticism of classical and contemporary music and its place within larger cultural and societal contexts. Professor McClary first came to fame with the publication of Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality which is considered a founding document of “new musicology” – the idea that music is not a self-contained aesthetic but is directly connected to societal constructs and practices. Professor McClary also has close ties to the Schulich School of Music having taught here for three years beginning in 1991, and being the recipient of many university-wide teaching awards. In 1995, she was the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship which celebrates and inspires the creative potential of individuals across numerous fields of human endeavor.
2015
Robert Godin, guitar manufacturer
Robert Godin began his career working in his aunt’s Montreal guitar repair shop. The teenage Beatles fan began experimenting with customized guitar modifications, and soon his innovations attracted nationwide interest. In 1972, demand for his work was so great that Godin repurposed an old window-manufacturing factory. That Baie d’Urfé-based business, Godin Guitars, now sells 200,000 hand-finished instruments each year to clients that include Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, John McLaughlin and Leonard Cohen.
Constance Pathy, philanthropist
Constance Pathy is the president of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and a passionate believer in the transformative power of the arts. After studying international law in her native Netherlands, she studied cello and viola da gamba at McGill and began to establish herself as not only a musician, but as a leading figure in Quebec’s cultural scene. She has served on the Faculty Advisory Board of the Schulich School of Music since 1991 and is a generous supporter of the McGill International String Quartet Academy, which brings some of the world’s finest professional and student string quartets to Montreal each August.
2014
Wayne Riddell, choral conductor
Considered one of Canada’s most accomplished choral conductors, Wayne Riddell is credited with having raised the profile of church and chamber choirs in Canada to a new level while exploring a range of musical styles that vary from the standard repertoire to new music by Canadian composers. Founding director of the Tudor Singers, Mr. Riddell and the Singers toured Canada from coast to coast and were frequently broadcast on the CBC. Organist-choirmaster at Westmount Park United, Erskine and American United, and the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Wayne Riddell is a graduate of McGill, where he has also taught. He is the recipient of many awards, including the first Healey Willan Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, as well as the Order of Canada.
2013
Boris Brott, conductor
2012
Kaija Saariaho, composer
Max van Egmond, bass-baritone
2011
Alfred Brendel, pianist
Phil Nimmons, composer and bandleader
2010
Olivier Latry, organist
2008
Janos Starker, cellist (1924 – 2013)
2007
Joseph Rouleau, bass
2006
Ida Haendel, violinist
2005
Jane Eaglen, soprano
Kent Nagano, conductor of l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
2004
Anton Kuerti, pianist
Joni Mitchell, singer-songwriter
2003
Père Fernand Lindsay, organist, and founder of Festival d'été de Lanaudière (1929-2009)
2002
Ben Heppner, tenor
Franz-Paul Decker, conductor (1923 – 2014)
2001
Marie-Claire Alain, organist (1926 – 2013)
1999
Norio Ohga, pianist and former CEO of Sony Music (1930 – 2011)
1996
Charles Dutoit, former conductor of l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
1995
Oliver Jones, jazz pianist and composer
Isaac Stern, violinist (1920 – 2001)
1994
Pierrette Alarie, soprano (1921 – 2011)
Léopold Simoneau, tenor (1916 – 2006)
Paul Sacher, conductor (1906 – 1999)
1993
Witold Lutoslawski, composer (1913 – 1994)
Colin Slim, musicologist
1992
Maryvonne Kendergi, composer (1915 – 2011)
Ray Minshull, former head of Decca’s classical music department
1982
Istvan Anhalt, composer (1919 – 2012)
Maureen Forrester, contralto (1930 -2010)
1981
Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichordist and organist
1980
Alexander Brott, conductor and founder of the McGill Chamber Orchestra (1915 – 2005)
1978
Burt Bacharach, songwriter, record producer, and performer
John Beckwith, composer
1977
Jean Carignan, fiddler (1916 – 1988)
1975
John Newmark, pianist (1904 – 1991)
1971
Violet Archer, composer (1913 – 2000)
Hugh Le Caine, scientist and electronic composer (1914 – 1977)
1970
Clément Morin, conductor and former Dean of Music at the Université de Montréal (1907 – 2004)
1968
Wilfrid Pelletier, conductor (1896 – 1982)
1954
Ellen Ballon, pianist (1898 – 1969)
Pauline Donalda, soprano and teacher (1882 – 1970)
1949
Sir Thomas Beecham, conductor (1879 – 1961)
