Skip to content

Blog

President’s Message : 2025-26 Season

  • by

Welcome to the 2025-26 season of the Guitar Society of Toronto – it’s our 70th anniversary! We are excited to be welcoming some wonderful Canadian and international artists to our concert stage, many of whom will be making their Toronto debuts.   The Ottawa Guitar Trio kicks things off in September; they are followed by the phenomenal French guitarist Gaëlle Solal in October and GFA winner Leonela Alejandro from Puerto Rico in November. January will feature Italian guitarist Carlotta Dalia.  The Quebec ensemble L’Atelier Romantique will perform their Schubert and Paganini… 

Welcome to the 2024-25 season of the Guitar Society of Toronto!

  • by

We are excited to welcome many wonderful Canadian and international artists to our concert stage, most of whom will be making their Toronto debuts.   Tariq Harb launches our season in September, followed by soloists András Csáki of Hungary, and GFA winner Marko Topchii from Ukraine. Ensemble concerts will fill out the remainder of the season; a tribute to Piazzolla by guitar-cello duo Christ Habib and Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy; a very welcome return of SoloDuo who were last in Toronto in 2015, and the Mela Quartet, who won last year’s ensemble competition… 

A message from our President

  • by

Welcome to the 2023-24 season of the Guitar Society of Toronto! We are excited to be welcoming many wonderful international artists to our concert stage, many making their first appearance in Toronto. Daniela Rossi and Andrea de Vitis both performed in online concerts but will be here in person this season. Ensemble concerts this year include Quartet Malamatina, (with local guitarist Tim Beattie) to open the season, and Boyd meets Girl, a guitar-cello duo in January.  GFA winner Lovro Poretic appears in November, and February will see a welcome return… 

President’s Message 2022-2023 Season

  • by

Welcome to the 2022-23 season of the Guitar Society of Toronto! I’m delighted to tell you about our upcoming concert season!  We’re launching in September with something brand-new – a showcase of music created specifically for guitar, including several Guitar Society commissions. We will be welcoming some wonderful international and Canadian artists in 2023, including two — Irina Kulikova and Daniela Rossi – who are making their Toronto in-person debut after prior cancellations.  Other artists are making a welcome return, including GFA winner Bokyung Byun and Iliana Matos. The regular… 

President’s Message 2021-2022 Season

  • by

Welcome to the 66th season of the Guitar Society of Toronto!  We are eagerly anticipating a return to live music, and the opportunity to rediscover the power of live performance that we have missed so much.  We are planning to begin with the September concert at St. Andrew’s.  Luckily our beautiful new venue is large enough that physical distancing will not be difficult, and we will ensure all safety advice is met.   When we cancelled the remainder of the season in March 2020, I don’t think any of us… 

2020 – 2021 President’s Message

  • by

Welcome to the 65th season of the Guitar Society of Toronto!  Our 2020-21concert season will be very different from any that has come before, and will be a new experience for us all. When we cancelled the remainder of last season back in March, I don’t think any of us imagined how long the pandemic would continue. But here we are in September, and we, like so many other arts groups, are finding other ways to bring music to you and keep in contact with all of you who love classical… 

2019 – 2020 President’s Message

  • by

Welcome to the 2019-20 season of the Guitar Society of Toronto! This season we are excited to welcome many wonderful international artists to our concert stage.  Several – such as season opener Mak Grgic, and GFA winner Raphaël Feuillâtre – are making their Toronto debut.  Others are making a welcome return, including Xuefei Yang in January, and Judicaël Perroy in February.  Jason Vieaux, our feature performer for the Toronto Guitar Weekend, has not played for us since 2010!  As you can see on our Concerts page, we continue throughout the… 

Eli Kassner

The Guitar Society of Toronto – By Eli Kassner

  • by

(This article was published in Guitar Canada, Spring 1989, Volume 2, Number 4). It was shortly after WWII. The people of the world were picking up the pieces and trying to put them together again to start a new life. On the one hand, there was great despair over the horrible events that took place in the past, but on the other hand there was hope, incredible energy, dedication and faith in the future. It was during this time that I arrived in Toronto. When I came to Canada I… 

In Memoriam Eli Kassner 1924-2018

  • by

We were deeply saddened by the passing of our founder, great friend and inspiration, Eli Kassner.  Eli passed away August 24, 2018 at the age of 94. We will miss his energy, his inspiration and his creativity but we are forever grateful to him for the gift of his knowledge and passion for the guitar. As many of you know, Eli arrived in Canada in 1951 as an orphan of the Holocaust, with little money and equally little English. Nevertheless he found work, first in a music store (practicing his… 

Guitar Society of Toronto