Prominent musicians join fight to save Villa Maria’s 164-year-old music school
Administration moving to close program based on ‘lower level of interest’
More than 100 prominent members of Montreal’s music and cultural communities have signed a letter deploring a decision by the administration of Villa Maria High School to close its 164-year-old music school.
The letter — signed by, among others, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre Métropolitain, soprano Natalie Choquette, pianist Oliver Jones, and singersongwriter Michel Rivard, among others — describes the decision as “one more sign of the slow yet alarming trend that is eroding the province’s renowned musical instruction program.”
“At a time when we are discovering the tremendous pedagogical virtues of music, closing down our schools and programs is an absurd gesture that weakens and impoverishes our community,” says the letter drafted by the Committee to Save the Villa Maria Music School, released late Friday evening.
The school administration announced in January that the music school will close at the end of June. The decision will mean the dismissal of 18 specialized music teachers and an end to private music instruction to about 200 students who are currently enrolled in the program.
Villa Maria is a private high school in the Côte-des-Neiges— Notre-Dame-de- Grâce borough, founded in 1854 by the Sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame as a boarding school for girls. The school now has a student body of about 1,400 boys and girls in its French and English sectors.
The Villa Maria music school, often described as a “school within a school,” began offering private music lessons to students and the general public in 1854, making it one of the oldest music instruction programs in Montreal. Students have had the option of taking individual music lessons with their own instruments in the music school for an extra fee, instead of taking the regular fine arts or group music class. The students are assessed by their individual instructors and the grade is indicated on their report card as their music mark.
Many parents of the nearly 200 students currently enrolled in the music school were angered when the decision to close the program was suddenly announced by the administration in a letter to parents on Jan. 17. A petition to save the school, launched soon after the decision was announced, has more than 1,500 signatures.
“We were forced to make this difficult decision based on a detailed analysis of the situation,” the letter from the administration explained. “Through recent surveys of current and prospective students’ parents, we noted a lower level of interest in the music school. Moreover, fewer than 20 students are enrolled in this year’s Secondary 1 private music option. This is the smallest class ever enrolled. We have therefore concluded that this academic stream is no longer a priority for our clients.”