The Glenn Gould Foundation

The Glenn Gould Foundation Awards the biennial Glenn Gould Prize for excellence in music and communication. We are developing new projects in arts, media and technology.

The Glenn Gould Foundation’s mission is 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. The Glenn Gould Foundation was established in Toronto in 1983 and is a registered Canadian charitable organization. The Foundation not only seeks to extend awareness of Glenn Gould as an extraordinary musician, communicator and thinker, but also to extend his legacy through initiatives that realize the transformative impact of the arts on individual lives and society. Both a national and international cultural institution, the Foundation’s signature activity, The Glenn Gould Prize, is recognized as one of the world’s premier honours in celebration of artistic excellence. The Prize resonates strongly across borders and cultures because of its connection to one of the world’s pre-eminent musical icons, making it a gift from Canada to the world. The Prize marks Canada as a global centre of creativity and innovation. The Foundation continues to grow and embrace new opportunities, its work tied to the spirit of individuality, excellence and creative innovation embodied by Glenn Gould himself.

It’s World Mental Health Day, and teens are going through a lot right now. Anxiety and depression are part of daily life...
10/10/2026

It’s World Mental Health Day, and teens are going through a lot right now. Anxiety and depression are part of daily life for many of them, and finding the words to say so isn’t easy.

Music can help. Whether you’re listening or playing, your brain lights up, and sometimes a song says what you can’t. That’s the idea behind Instrumental, the Glenn Gould Foundation’s digital resource on music and mental health for teens and youth.

It was built with the Canadian Association for Mental Health and the Canadian Association of Music Therapists, and it includes brain science, self-care strategies, real stories from young people, community playlists, and a video series on how music shapes artists’ mental health.

Take a beat. Start at youareinstrumental.com
If you need someone to talk to right now, the Resources & Help Lines page is there too.

A new film about Glenn Gould is in production.'Glenn Gould Lovers' is set in New York in 1968. Gould meets Eleanor, a ph...
10/09/2026

A new film about Glenn Gould is in production.

'Glenn Gould Lovers' is set in New York in 1968. Gould meets Eleanor, a photographer married to a composer, and the affair that follows pulls all three of them apart, with a 2027 release planned. The story is fiction, but it’s inspired by Gould’s relationship with the painter Cornelia Foss and her husband, the composer and conductor Lukas Foss. David Kross, who plays the husband, studied old interviews with Foss to find the grin and the generosity people remember.

The real story lasted almost five years. Cornelia moved to Toronto with her children, Christopher and Eliza, to be near Gould, and both children have described him as a father figure.

Jack Farthing plays Gould, Sophie Mousel plays Eleanor, and Kross plays Georg. Pianist Francesco Tristano composed the score and performs the close-ups of Gould’s hands. Director Andy Sommer, a documentary filmmaker, is making his first feature, and the crew turned a crumbling Art Deco villa in Remich, Luxembourg, into a 1968 New York flat.

Gould’s fans know his life better than any casting announcement does. What do you make of this cast, and does Farthing need to look like Gould, or just sound like him?

Read more about the film through the link below:
https://www.luxtimes.lu/culture/luxembourg-villa-turned-into-nyc-flat-for-film-based-on-famous-pianists-life/160237679.html

A new film about Glenn Gould is in production.'Glenn Gould Lovers' is set in New York in 1968. Gould meets Eleanor, a ph...
10/09/2026

A new film about Glenn Gould is in production.

'Glenn Gould Lovers' is set in New York in 1968. Gould meets Eleanor, a photographer married to a composer, and the affair that follows pulls all three of them apart, with a 2027 release planned. The story is fiction, but it’s inspired by Gould’s relationship with the painter Cornelia Foss and her husband, the composer and conductor Lukas Foss. David Kross, who plays the husband, studied old interviews with Foss to find the grin and the generosity people remember.

The real story lasted almost five years. Cornelia moved to Toronto with her children, Christopher and Eliza, to be near Gould, and both children have described him as a father figure.

Jack Farthing plays Gould, Sophie Mousel plays Eleanor, and Kross plays Georg. Pianist Francesco Tristano composed the score and performs the close-ups of Gould’s hands. Director Andy Sommer, a documentary filmmaker, is making his first feature, and the crew turned a crumbling Art Deco villa in Remich, Luxembourg, into a 1968 New York flat.

Gould’s fans know his life better than any casting announcement does. What do you make of this cast, and does Farthing need to look like Gould, or just sound like him?

Read more about the film through the link below:
https://www.luxtimes.lu/culture/luxembourg-villa-turned-into-nyc-flat-for-film-based-on-famous-pianists-life/160237679.html

10/06/2026

Safe choices don’t change the world.

Excellence isn’t enough. The artists who move culture forward take risks, challenge assumptions, and break conventions. They change how we see, hear, and understand.

The Glenn Gould Prize celebrates those artists.

Is there an artist whose work made you see or hear differently? Tell us who in the comments, then make it official at the link in bio.

✔️Anyone can nominate, and you can nominate as many individuals as you wish.
✔️ No geographic or age restrictions.
✔️ Nominations are open until the end of December.

10/02/2026

✨ Nominate today. Link in bio.

As the Glenn Gould Prize has evolved, so has its meaning and significance. It has become more than a tribute to one artist; instead, drawing inspiration from that individual’s legacy, it now represents something universal: why the arts matter, how they change lives, how they change the world, and how they may even help save it.
If the Glenn Gould Prize has one underlying message, it is that the arts are not a decoration for our lives; they are an absolute necessity.

The Glenn Gould Prize honours artists whose work reshapes culture, challenges power, and expands our collective sense of what’s possible. And every other year, the next Laureate begins with you.

Here’s how it works: people from around the world are invited to nominate artists whose work has deeply mattered to them. From those nominations, a specially constituted jury of distinguished artists, arts administrators, and cultural leaders gathers to choose the Laureate. It’s often an agonizingly difficult decision.

Over the years, jurors have included Sarah Polley, Michael Ondaatje, Patti Smith, Jeremy Irons, Viggo Mortensen, Laurie Anderson, Stephen Fry, and so many more, all volunteering their time, expertise, and wisdom (often travelling great distances) because they believe the arts belong to everyone.

Who has changed your life? Who has shaped the way you see the world?

Want to go deeper on the jury process? Read more on our Substack

For many people, a concert hall can feel like a place that’s “not for them,” whether because of cost, unfamiliarity, or ...
10/01/2026

For many people, a concert hall can feel like a place that’s “not for them,” whether because of cost, unfamiliarity, or never being invited in. Opera should be for everyone, not just those who can afford a ticket!

That’s why we’re cheering on “Opera for All,” a new partnership between New York City and the Metropolitan Opera. Over the 2026-27 season, 10,000 free tickets will be released each month to New Yorkers who haven’t attended a Met performance in years. That’s 70,000 seats in total, spread across the house.

Access to the arts is central to what we advocate for. Programs like this show what’s possible when institutions treat the arts as a public good. We’d love to see more of it, here in Canada and everywhere.

When was the first time you got to experience the opera, and what made it possible?

09/30/2026

Today is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Wearing orange matters, and so does what we do tomorrow, and the day after that.

Canada is often seen as a peaceful, welcoming country, but that image does not erase colonial harm or absolve us of responsibility. Colonial violence is ongoing, and truth and reconciliation are still aspirations, not accomplishments. To create change, we have to carry the energy from this day into every day: learn about land-based teachings, understand how the pain of residential schools has moved through lineages, and find ways to support and show up.

This video is from The Colony by Cree artist Kent Monkman, on the Lassonde Art Trail in Bidaasige Park, Toronto. A larger-than-life turquoise lodge sits at the centre, encircled by oversized beavers in twisting Rococo and Baroque forms. They feast, sing, and dance, evoking Indigenous ceremony and the opulent sculptures of the gardens at Versailles.

Monkman invites us to ponder the essential role beavers played in colonial power struggles for this continent, and their enduring importance to ecosystems on Turtle Island. Once numbering in the hundreds of millions, they were reduced to roughly 100,000 by colonial commercial and political competition. The Colony honours the beaver and invites them to reassert their presence, share their knowledge, and help restore the land.

It is an incredible piece. Please take the time to visit this sculpture at the mouth of the Don Valley.

Every Child Matters. 🧡

09/29/2026

Oscar Peterson. Robert Lepage. Leonard Cohen. Alanis Obomsawin. Elton John.

All artists who have changed the world through their work. All Glenn Gould Prize Laureates. 🎶

Yes, the Glenn Gould Prize honours excellence, innovation, and cultural humanitarianism. But it’s more than that. It celebrates people who change the world through art.

So who do YOU think changes the world through art?

Nominate today and help decide the next Glenn Gould Laureate.

As an international award, the Prize is open to all eligible nominees across a wide range of disciplines: music, literature, visual and performing arts, and design. Anyone can nominate as many people as they wish, with no geographical or age restrictions.

✨ Nominate today: Link in bio!

It’s September 25, Glenn Gould Day!And fittingly, today has also been named Dolly Parton Day (9-2-5… get it?) We’re hono...
09/25/2026

It’s September 25, Glenn Gould Day!

And fittingly, today has also been named Dolly Parton Day (9-2-5… get it?) We’re honoured to be sharing the date with such an icon.

Glenn Gould challenged convention. He embraced new ideas, questioned accepted ways of doing things, and wasn’t afraid to create differently. He was a boundary-breaker, a curious explorer, a creative thinker who imagined new ways for people to experience music and each other. Today, we celebrate his genius.

**Here’s how to celebrate with us today:**

- Share a Gould-inspired photo: his bench, his CDs, his signature look
- Post your own art, poetry, music, or project in progress
- Show us how you live outside the box: An unconventional ritual, an odd-but-brilliant habit, anything uniquely _you_
- Tell us what you’re reading or learning about Gould
- Play a little Bach (or give it your best attempt!) in his honour

And don’t forget: **nominate someone for the next Glenn Gould Prize.** Anyone can nominate, no geographical or age restrictions, and you can nominate as many people as you like. We’re looking for individuals whose lifetime body of work has enriched humanity through the arts and embodies Gould’s values of excellence, innovation, and cultural humanitarianism.

Link in bio!

Tag The Glenn Gould Foundation and use #925

Glenn Gould Day is this Friday! To get ready, we asked the team at the Glenn Gould Foundation for their favourite books ...
09/23/2026

Glenn Gould Day is this Friday! To get ready, we asked the team at the Glenn Gould Foundation for their favourite books on Gould. Here are our top 5, plus a bonus pick for young readers.

📖 **For the curious mind**
Glenn Gould: Music and Mind, edited by Geoffrey Payzant
Gould as a musical thinker: his ideas on performance, recording, technology, and the bond between performer and listener.

📖 **For the full biography**
The Life and Art of Glenn Gould: Wondrous Strange by Kevin Bazzana
A richly researched portrait of Gould’s Toronto upbringing, Canadian identity, and career across music, radio, television, and writing.

📖 **For Gould the person**
The Great Gould by Peter Goddard
A fresh portrait drawn from unpublished writings, interviews, and photographs from the Glenn Gould Estate, exploring Gould’s life beyond the piano.

📖 **For the complicated genius**
Glenn Gould: The Ecstasy and Tragedy of Genius by Peter F. Ostwald
An intimate portrait by a musician and psychiatrist who knew Gould personally, exploring the contradictions behind his artistry.

📖 **For the unconventional Gould**
Glenn Gould: A Life Off Tempo by Sandrine Revel
A dreamlike graphic biography that moves through fragments of Gould’s childhood, career, and later life.

⭐ **Bonus, for young readers**
As Glenn As Can Be by Sarah Ellis, illustrated by Nancy Vo
A warm, illustrated story of a boy who knew his own mind and found his own way of doing things.

Want more ways to get to know Glenn Gould? Visit our Glenn Gould Day page, linked below
https://www.glenngould.ca/2026/09/11/celebrate-glenn-gould-day-september-25/

What’s your favourite Glenn Gould book? Tell us in the comments!

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