Alexander Brose took up the position of Michael & Sonja Koerner President & CEO of The Royal Conservatory of Music on September 1, 2024. He succeeds Dr. Peter Simon, who held the position for 33 years.
Simon oversaw the transformation of an organization in a state of flux to the educational and performing arts powerhouse it is now. He leaves as it is poised to enter into another phase of its history.
We spoke to Alexander Brose about leading the RCM into the future.
Alexander Brose: A Brief History
Brose has a solid background in high level management in the field of classical music. Most recently, he served as the inaugural Executive Director and CEO of the Tianjin Juilliard School in China, The Juilliard School’s first and only branch campus.
Prior to China, Alexander was the Vice President for Development at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado. There, his responsibilities included fundraising and building strategic relationships. He began his career in senior arts management at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in California, where he held a number of positions, including Associate Vice President for Advancement.
Making the Move to Toronto
“I’ve known about the Royal Conservatory for forever, and obviously, knew of its reputation,” he says. In his early days in San Francisco, he recalls getting applications for the Master’s degree programs from grads of the Glenn Gould School. “There was one year where we probably had four or five Canadians,” he says. “I got to know more and more about it when I was working in Colorado.”
The Glenn Gould applicants stood out by reason of their solid background of knowledge. “They all had placement exams that they had to take,” he explains. At one point, he remembers the music history and theory teachers coming to him to report that the Canadian applicants had all aced those areas on their exams. “It was the Royal Conservatory, and their curriculum,” he says. “It was a big eye opener for me.”
During his time in Aspen, one of the faculty members was clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas, among other things a faculty member of both the Glenn Gould School and Taylor Academy. Alexander heard more about the RCM and its programs from the prominent classical musician and teacher.
When the call for applications to succeed Dr. Peter Simon came around, the timing was also fortuitous. Brose had put his all into launching the Juilliard name in China. “I was living in China, and this is during COVID, was commuting back and forth,” he explains. It involved being separated from his wife and children for months at a time. Then, once the pandemic began to draw to a close, even though he’d signed a new contract, he knew that his family would not be making the move back to China.
“Family first,” he says. He made the decision to walk away, even though it was a school he’d built from scratch for more than four years. “It was a very emotional thing.”
The call from the agency contracted by the RCM to find suitable candidates came right around that time. “And then she asked, do you have any connection to Canada?” He laughs. “The best thing I ever did was marry a Canadian.”
Raising their children, who have dual citizenship, in Canada was an appealing prospect.
Landing At The RCM
Part of the deal was that he’d be spending a full year working alongside Dr. Simon before he took up the position on his own.
Having a full year of transition is an unusual situation. “It’s very unorthodox,” he says. In fact, when the search firm first contacted him, there were extensive discussions about the overlapping year. “I was telling colleagues about it,” he says — colleagues who wondered aloud whether it was a good idea. He has no regrets about that aspect.
“There was truly no other way to do it,” he says. “It was the best decision made by the Board.”
As he points out, virtually every aspect of the RCM as it exists today bears the marks of Peter’s influence. The experience began by essentially shadowing him on the many facets of his everyday work.
“Peter, to his great credit, wants nothing more than for this place to succeed,” he says. “This transition is a two-way street,” he adds. “My great respect for him and everything he’s accomplished is coupled with his desire for it to succeed.”
The full year of transition also gave Brose the luxury of time, something rarely allowed in the world of performing arts. “It gave me time to take a bit of a step back.”
As time went on, Simon’s involvement was gradually replaced by his own. “I started to really understand.” The RCM is a complex organization with several schools along with a major performing arts venue to manage; there are many balls in the air.
Brose’s personal approach involved observation and talking to people within the organization. “You have to listen,” he says. That came down to sitting down with virtually everyone involved and chatting for about 15 minutes about the organization and its many operations. “I did it with 185 people.”
As he notes, some of those he spoke with had been with the RCM for more than a half century, while others were as new to their jobs as he was. “What brought them here, what they love, what could change, and all that,” he says. “Those conversations were invaluable.” It gave him a vivid picture of the RCM as a living organization.
“I feel even more strongly than ever that the future is so bright.”
The Future
The RCM as an institution is evolving to take advantage of its position in Canada as a recognized brand in the world of music education. Brose wants to reach out to connect more closely with the thousands of certified teachers and hundreds of thousands of students across the country.
“How can we support teachers? How can we be at the foundation of their success?” He asks. “We have a huge amount of work to do to unify that brand.”
Smart Start is a program designed for very young children ages 0 to 3, created at The Marilyn Thomson Early Childhood Education Centre by the RCM’s Neuroscience Research Centre. Experts in music education also collaborated on the groundbreaking program.
“We also have this remarkable early childhood program,” Brose says. Launching it across Canada, and hopefully around the world, is part of the RCM’s mandate. “It seamlessly combines neuroscience and music,” he says. “It’s pretty remarkable. We need to get it in front of more people.”
As he notes, the goals of early childhood music education isn’t necessarily to create a massive contingent of professional musicians. “They are training their brain, and their soul,” he says. The benefits of music education on skills like communication and listening, along with math and spatial skill development, are well documented.
With music education in a state of free fall decline in so many school boards in North America, the effort is much needed. We’re wishing Alexander Brose and the RCM the best as they pursue their goals.
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