From: Trevor Young, Vice-President and Provost
Date: May 21, 2026
Re: Appointment of Professor Ryan McClelland as Dean of the Faculty of Music (PDAD&C #43)

I am delighted to announce that the Agenda Committee of Academic Board has approved the appointment of Professor Ryan McClelland as Dean of the Faculty of Music for a five-year term from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2031. Professor McClelland has also been appointed the inaugural Metcalfe Family Decanal Chair in Music.

Professor McClelland is a Professor of Music Theory at the Faculty of Music. His research interests include rhythmic-metric theory, tonal analysis, and performance studies. He has published in journals including Music Theory Spectrum and Music Analysis as well as in essay collections devoted to Brahms and Schubert.

The author of a monograph on Brahms’s music and a co-authored analysis textbook, Professor McClelland co-edited the Cambridge Companion to Rhythm.  His ongoing projects include a book on motional qualities in the music of Brahms, articles on performance timing in Brahms’s late piano music, and a study of the scherzo across the nineteenth century. McClelland’s research has been supported by the Connaught Fund of the University of Toronto and by multiple grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Professor McClelland received his MMus in piano performance and his PhD in music theory from Indiana University. He joined the University of Toronto in 2004 and was promoted to Professor in 2015.

Professor McClelland served as Associate Dean, Academic and Student Affairs from 2013 to 2024 as well as Acting Dean in 2016-2017 and from June 2023.

I am grateful to the Advisory Committee for their thoughtful engagement. There was overwhelming support from faculty, staff and students across the disciplines for Professor McClelland’s leadership. His commitment to the importance of musical education in higher education and his stewardship of its excellence at the University of Toronto will be key to the Faculty’s continued success.

Please join me in congratulating Professor Ryan McClelland as Dean of the Faculty of Music.