Event Details

To honour Glenn Gould's spirit and legacy by celebrating brilliance, promoting creativity and transforming lives through the power of music and the arts with the Foundation's signature activities including the Glenn Gould Prize.

This application is for “The Promise of Music”, taking place October 5 to 11, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. “Promise of Music” is the first-ever World Congress on the Social Impact of Music, a global gathering of orchestras, musicians, and educators representing programs that use music as the instrument for making a better world. The congress will include a public facing festival stream with over 50 major events in venues across the city; a student festival with concerts, workshops and activations of another 30 events; a music themed film festival with talkbacks; and a symposium with keynote speakers, leading scientists and researchers from around the world. It will culminate in a huge, massed stadium concert for the public, as well as schools from across the province.

Programming includes:

(1) over 50 major events in venues across the city;

(2) a student festival with concerts, workshops and activations of another 30 events;

(3) a music themed film festival with talkbacks;

(4) a symposium with keynote speakers, leading scientists and researchers from around the world (celebrity and keynote appearances currently include, Viggo Mortensen, Jamie Bernstein, L’il Buck, Chilly Gonzales, Her Excellency Reem Bint Ebrahim Al-Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation);

(5) stadium concert for the public, as well as schools from across the province;

(6) Participation of several high-profile guest artists will drive special events such as (i) the presentation of Indian superstar legend AR Rahman in concert with his Sunshine Orchestra from the K.M. Music Conservatory, Chennai; (ii) Galilee Chamber Orchestra and the Polyphony Education Foundation, Israel with an orchestra comprised of half Israeli and half Palestinian musicians, playing a commission from a Canadian composer; and

(7) other performance delegations will represent communities across Canada, the United States, South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia including the Lang Lang Foundation, and Maestro Lu Jia, music director of the National Centre for Performances Arts In Beijing who will work with Wu Man to send a delegation.