The Royal Conservatory of Music is seen in Toronto, on Friday.Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press
The Royal Conservatory of Music, one of Canada’s most prestigious music-education institutions, says it will launch an external investigation into sexual-abuse allegations from the 1970s and 1980s.
The Toronto institution said in a press release Friday that it has already conducted an internal review, and it was aware of public frustration about accountability and student safety.
The announcement did not name any individuals under investigation, but it followed numerous reports from the Toronto Star into allegations that influential music educator Boris Berlin sexually abused his students while at the institution. Berlin, who also wrote books on piano education and was an officer of the Order of Canada, died in 2001.
With an internal review now complete, the Royal Conservatory said, it plans to study further historical records with the participation of the University of Toronto, which ran the music institution until 1991.
A third-party investigation will begin once this work is completed, the press release said. The Royal Conservatory has not yet identified who would conduct the investigation but said it would seek an investigator that would provide a safe, sensitive and confidential process.
The Royal Conservatory did not immediately respond to an interview request. “The complexity and historical nature of this work have reinforced both the urgency and the need for a more robust, independent approach,” board chair Tim Price said in the press release.
The conservatory’s numerous divisions include the community-oriented Oscar Peterson School of Music, the degree-granting Glenn Gould School and the performance venue Koerner Hall.