Gloria Gassi

Lecturer
Voice - Soprano
Office: MB 545
Phone: (519) 661-2111 x84346
Email: ggassi@uwo.ca


Described as “vocally outstanding," (Messiah, Handel), Gloria Gassi's lyric soprano voice was also reviewed as “dramatically captivating, with beautiful tone,” (Fiordiligi, Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte) and characterized as “a sensitive performer respecting the profound text.” (New Prioress, Madame Lidoine, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites).

Oratorio and recital performances in Canada, England, Ireland and Italy have included Bach's St. John Passion, Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Brahms' Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Handel’s Saul, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Haydn’s Missa Brevis, Honegger's King David, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Purcell’s Ode to St. Cecilia, Schubert’s Mass in G, Rutter’s Magnificat, Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G and Serenade to Spring.

Gloria holds a Master of Music with Honours in Voice Performance and Literature, (Western University) a Licentiate and Associateship in Voice Performance, Gold Medal, and an ARCT in piano.

In post graduate studies, she sang for Elly Ameling in master classes at the Hochschule für Musik, Munich, Germany; sang French chanson at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Studies in Aldborough, England, and worked with several pretigious coaches in London, England. She also sang as soloist and in ensemble with the acclaimed Elmer Iseler Singers, performing in Canada, U.S.A., Europe, and Asia.

Gloria maintains a vibrant studio, where the natural gift of each voice is honoured and nurtured with foundational technique and sensitive artistry. Her students have won first class honours in NATS, Kiwanis, Ontario Provincials, Musicfest Nationals and have performed with the Canadian Opera Company, Pacific Opera, Calgary Opera, SOLT, Opera Nuova, Halifax Opera, COAA, AEDO and the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy.

Gloria has adjudicated Voice and Choral at local and provincial festivals in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Alberta and was guest clinician in Oxford, England; Dublin, Ireland; Venice and Florence, Italy. As Associate Teacher with OISE, UT, and York University, Gloria successfully supervised teacher candidates in music education.

Gloria's teaching areas for the past 21 years at the DWFoM have included Voice Studio, Foundations in Singing, Vocal Methods, Practicum in Choral Techniques, and conductor of St. Cecilia Singers. In addition, she maintains a flourishing music ministry program at St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica.

She is the recipient of several awards, notably the Sir Ernest MacMillan award for conducting, (Toronto Mendelssohn Foundation) and Western University Students’ Council Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

In the News

April 28, 2023 | Sophia Daunt wins Rose Bowl

July 3, 2018 | National Choral Award Outstanding Choral Composition commissioned by Gloria Gassi for Canada 150 Truth and Reconciliation Project. Mark Sirett, composer. Vera Wabegijig, poetry.
Award: Outstanding Choral Composition award at the Choral Canada 2018 National Choral Awards
Article: Vera Wabegijig’s poetry set to music
Recording: Words, Stories, Truth (Movement 1- Words of my Ancestors; Movement 2-The Drum Warrior; Movement 3-We are Standing)

February 2016 | Successful Voice student is Semi-finalist at NATS Nationals Chicago

Recordings 

Elmer Iseler Singers, first soprano:

  • Laudate Dominum, 1987 Elmer Iseler, conductor.
  • Messiah, Handel, 1987 Sir Andrew Davis, conductor.

Cardinal Carter Academy Singers, Gloria Gassi, artistic director and conductor:

  • My Soul doth magnify the Lord, 2000.
  • O Holy Night, A Festival of Lessons and Carols, 2001.
  • Eternal Light, A Celebration of Evensong, 2003.