Anton Nel to Join The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School

Published on June 20, 2024

The acclaimed pianist and pedagogue will become a member of the piano faculty as of the 2025-26 academic year

Anton Nel has a wonderful history with The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) – as a popular master class artist at both The Glenn Gould School (GGS) and The Taylor Academy, as a performer at The Royal Conservatory’s many concert halls, and as a recording artist for the RCM’s Celebration Series®, Sixth Edition online community. The Royal Conservatory is therefore thrilled to now also welcome Mr. Nel as a member of the faculty of The Glenn Gould School beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.

Anyone who knows Anton is keenly aware of just how staunchly committed he is to ensuring the success of his students. I am so incredibly pleased that we will now be able to see the results of his thoughtful teaching more frequently here in Toronto. Anton is a truly wonderful person and educator, and he joins an already outstanding group of piano faculty members here at The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School.

Alexander Brose
President & CEO Designate, The Royal Conservatory

Winner of the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Nel continues to tour internationally as recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Highlights in the U.S. include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Seattle, and Detroit Symphonies as well as recitals coast to coast. Overseas he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and major venues in China, Korea, and South Africa. Much sought after as a chamber musician he regularly appears with some of the world’s finest instrumentalists and singers at festivals on four continents.

Anton embodies the nurturing, experienced and performance-focused faculty that we pride ourselves on finding for our students who are eager to make their mark on the world stage as classical musicians. I am thrilled that he is joining us.

James Anagnoson
Dean, The Glenn Gould School

Mr. Nel holds the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also Head of the Division of Keyboard Studies. During the summers he is on the artist-faculties at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and also regularly teaches at the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, and the Orford Music Academy in Quebec. Mr. Nel also frequently performs as harpsichordist and fortepianist. His recordings include four solo CDs,  chamber music recordings (including the complete Beethoven and Brahms cello/piano works with Bion Tsang) , and works for piano and orchestra by Franck, Faure, Saint-Saens and Edward Burlingame Hill.

The Johannesburg-born Mr. Nel is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied with Adolph Hallis, and the University of Cincinnati where he worked with Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock.