Gaëlle Solal
(France/Belgium)
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 | 7:30 PM
St. Andrew’s Church
73 Simcoe St., Toronto
- Advance Tickets: $40 General | $35 Seniors | $20 Students
- Subscription:
$180 Members | $210 Non-members
$110 Students | $100 Student Members - Visit the Membership Page to learn about Member discounts. Please email Adrian Mann amann@guitarsocietyoftoronto.com to obtain your Member discount code, which can be entered after Adding a subscription to your cart.
- At the door: $45 | $40 | $25
Advance Tickets available through Zeffy at link below. Tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded after purchase unless the event is cancelled. In that case, a refund will be issued within 60 days.
About the Artist
“A great emotional blow you’re bound to never forget” La Marseillaise
“The worldwide promise of the guitar.” Diario Vasco
“An extraordinary musical sensitivity ” Gazzetta di Parma
Daughter of music aficionados, Gaëlle Solal discovered the classical guitar at the age of five and enrolled in the Marseille Conservatory the following year. Some dreams never fade; on young Gaëlle’s notebook is written: “When I grow up, I want to be a dancer and musician”.
She entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at only 16, completing it in three years with the unanimous 1st Prize for guitar, and the DFS with honours. Playful, ambitious and eager not to miss any challenge, Gaëlle took part in international competitions in parallel with her Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In 1998, she became the first French woman to win one of the most renowned classical guitar competitions, the Alessandria concourse. An honorary laureate to numerous foundations, she also won twelve prizes in national and international competitions.
In the early 2000s, Gaëlle became Associate Professor at the Superior Conservatories of Cordoba and Seville. During seven years of teaching, she never stopped learning, attending masterclasses around the world. In 2006, after a ten year collaboration with the Astor duo, Gaëlle resumed her solo career, winning second prize at the Guitar Foundation of America, and performing in over forty countries.
In 2009, an unexpected escapade in Brazil made her career take a new turn. She gave up teaching to devote herself fully to her infinite love for the stage. Gaëlle moves seamlessly from the solemn solo in a long dress to the clownish duo Crazy Nails with Boris Gaquere, Bach to the Beatles, from contemporary to baroque. Committed and supportive, she fights for the presence and visibility of women in the guitar world via the association “Guitar’Elles” of which she is the founder.
She has lived in Brussels since 2011. Her album « Tuhu » published in December 2020 at Eudora Records has garnered unanimous praise from critics.