Gloria Gassi
Voice - Soprano
Office: MB 545
Phone: (519) 661-2111 x84346
Email: ggassi@uwo.ca
A committed and experienced educator, Gloria Gassi maintains a vibrant studio where the natural gift of each voice is honoured and nurtured with foundational technique and sensitive artistry. Her many students have performed with the Canadian Opera Company, Pacific Opera, Calgary Opera, SOLT, Opera Nuova, Halifax Opera, COAA, AEDO, the Centre for Opera Studies (Italy), and have won scholarships and first class honours in NATS, Kiwanis, Ontario Provincials and Musicfest Nationals.
Described as “vocally outstanding” (Handel’s Messiah), Gloria Gassi 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 postgraduate work, she studied German Lieder at the Hochschule für Musik, Munich, Germany with Elly Ameling, French chanson at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Studies, Aldborough, England and worked with several prestigious coaches in London, England.
Over the course of her performing career in Canada, England and Italy, Gloria has enjoyed singing the roles of Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Madame Lidoine, the New Prioress in Poulenc's Diologues of the Carmelites, soprano soloist for Bach's St. John Passion, Bach’s Cantata 51 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 and Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G and Serenade to Spring. In addition, Gloria sang as soloist and in ensemble with the acclaimed professional choir, Elmer Iseler Singers, performing in Canada, U.S.A., Europe and Asia.
Gloria Gassi 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. Since 2003, Gloria Gassi's teaching areas at the Don Wright Faculty of Music 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, London, Ontario.
Gloria Gassi 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.
