With over forty photographs dating back to the school's first years, this book is an unvarnished account of the Royal Conservatory of Music's controversial leaders, encounters with the musical and academic world, passions, successes and failures. In this smoothly paced narrative, your favourite musicians, teachers, and examiners will come to life.-An unvarnished account of the Conservatory's leaders, its successes and failures, and its passions since its founding in 1886.

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.