Adrian Fung Appointed Senior Vice President, RCM Learning Systems

In this newly created position, Mr. Fung will oversee the continuing development of the RCM’s comprehensive system of music study which provides integrated curriculum and assessment to hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, and music schools each year. Mr. Fung will manage all activity related to the maintenance of curricula, training, and certification of teachers and examiners, printed and digital learning assets, and provision of examinations.

Dr. Peter Simon, The Royal Conservatory’s Michael and Sonja Koerner President & CEO, stated: “We welcome Adrian back to the RCM where he began his musical studies. Since then, he has had a distinguished career as a performer, a performing arts manager, a teacher, and a creator of innovative training programs that provide emerging arts managers with the skills needed in the future. Adrian is well known and highly respected by the artistic community and will add strength to the future success of our outstanding management team. He shares the deep commitment to excellence that is the essential foundation of all RCM activities.”

Recognized as one of Musical America’s 30 Innovators of the Year, Adrian Fung is an award-winning cellist, educator, and arts executive. Prior to accepting the position of Senior Vice President, RCM Learning Systems, Mr. Fung served as Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Oklahoma’s Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. Along with his administrative duties working with the five schools in the College, Mr. Fung led the creation and launch of the Arts Management and Entrepreneurship (AME) graduate and undergraduate programs, a graduate certificate offered co-jointly with the Price College of Business, and the International Arts Incubator.

Mr. Fung also served as Vice President for Innovation at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, where he led the TSO’s activities in artistic, social, and economic innovation. His work included the year-long, nationwide Canada Mosaic project which reached an audience of over 14.5 million via 50 orchestral commissions and over 40 partner orchestras. He also led the creation of a new multi-camera e-learning platform with self-directed angle toggling, bringing to life over 20 live, full-orchestra video and audio recordings. As the founding cellist of the critically acclaimed Afiara Quartet, Mr. Fung is a winner of the Concert Artist Guild international competition, the Young Canadian Musicians Award, second place prizes at the Munich ARD International Music Competition and Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC), as well as the BISQC Székely Prize for the best performance of a Schubert or Beethoven quartet. Afiara was also the RCM’s Glenn Gould School Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence (2012–14). Le Devoir praises “their intrinsic class, their panache, and their expressive intensity” and La Presse calls the quartet “a revelation”. The Quartet premiered their project Spin Cycle at Koerner Hall, which the Toronto Star reviewed as "one of the most attention-grabbing concerts of the year". As a performing artist and executive producer, Mr. Fung’s projects have toured globally, won the JUNO Award for Best Composition (Dinuk Wijeratne), and been featured by Forbes and CBC Music in each of their Top 10 Albums of the Year. He has also appeared as a soloist and guest artist with the Toronto Symphony, Kronos Quartet, and DJ Kid Koala.

Mr. Fung's cello teachers include Bonnie Hampton, Joel Krosnick, Fred Sherry, Antonio Lysy, David Hetherington, and Susan Gagnon. He was a teaching assistant to his mentors in the Juilliard String Quartet and the Alexander String Quartet. He has taught internationally in masterclasses and specialized clinics, such as Escola de Música do Estado de São Paulo, Indiana University’s Summer String Academy, the Yehudi Menuhin Seminar, The Banff Centre, Orford Music, OrkesterEfterskolen in Denmark, NYU Abu Dhabi, and others. In addition, he served as a jury member of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal Generation competition, and the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Mr. Fung graduated from the RCM's The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists (formerly The Young Artists Performance Academy) before going on to earn his Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory, his Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, and an MBA from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. He was featured in Fortune magazine as one of the Best and Brightest Executive MBAs worldwide of 2016. Mr. Fung plays a cello made in 1787 by Benjamin Banks, on lifetime loan to him from an anonymous donor. Additionally, Mr. Fung is the Executive and Artistic Director of Vancouver's celebrated concert organization, Music In The Morning Concert Society.