‘People tend to forget about music programs. They don’t tend to take music as seriously as other faculties,’ donor Elizabeth Wirth says.CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/The Globe and Mail
The donor: Elizabeth Wirth
The gift: $7.5-million
The cause: McGill University
The reason: To fund the music school
When Elizabeth Wirth was growing up in Austria, her grandparents introduced her to opera and she got hooked.
She attended as many performances as she could, listened to opera broadcasts on the radio and subscribed to music magazines. "I loved it," Ms. Wirth recalled from her home in Montreal. "I was a real opera groupie."
Ms. Wirth eventually moved to Canada, earned a degree from McGill University in 1964 and went on to head Wirth-Brand Inc., an aluminum sheet metal company. But she kept up her interest in music, funding scholarships at McGill and to helping raise $1.3-million for the music school in 2013.
Last month Ms. Wirth went further, donating $7.5-million to the music program. The donation will be used to fund student excellence awards, support internships, cover travel costs and create a prize in vocal performance.
"People tend to forget about music programs. They don't tend to take music as seriously as other faculties," she said. "Music students are among the most disciplined."
She added that "people are very surprised when they see the high level of performances at McGill."
Paul Waldie