Gloria Gassi
Ensemble Director - St. Cecilia Singers
Office: MB 545
Phone: (519) 661-2111 x84346
Email: ggassi@uwo.ca
With a passion for both performing and teaching, Ms. Gassi maintains a vibrant, thriving studio, where the natural gift of each unique voice is honoured, nurtured and developed with a strong foundational technique and sensitive artistry. Her students, from both Toronto and London, have won national awards, attained university degrees in Voice Performance and Education, and are working professionally in the movie industry, opera, choral singing, conducting, education, musical theatre, television, radio and Liturgical music.
Described as “vocally outstanding, with an empathy for the spirit of the song, (Messiah, Handel), Ms. Gassi’s lyric soprano voice is defined as "dramatically captivating, with beautiful tone and a prowess for ringing high notes.” (Fiordiligi, Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte). Noted for her authentic performance as the New Prioress, Madame Lidoine, in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, she is characterized as “a sensitive performer with respect to the profound meaning of the text” .
With an equal love of the recital and Oratorio repertoire, Ms. Gassi’s performances in Canada and abroad include 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.
Ms. Gassi sang as soloist and in ensemble with the acclaimed Elmer Iseler Singers, “Canada's esteemed professional choir, known for the unique beauty of their sound,” performing in Canada, U.S.A., Germany and the Orient. She was honoured to sing under Dr. Elmer Iseler and guest conductors, Helmut Rilling, Sir David Willcocks, Andrew Davis, Eric Kunzel, Seiji Ozawa.
Recordings: (First soprano EIS) Laudate Dominum, Elmer Iseler, conductor; Messiah, Handel, Sir Andrew Davis, conductor.
A seasoned educator, Ms. Gassi’s choirs, notably the Cardinal Carter Academy Singers of Toronto (Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts TCDSB), have sung internationally and been described as having “a warm, resonant tone with precise intonation and artistic musical expression.”
Discography for 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.
As Associate Teacher with OISE, UT and York University from1990-2003, Ms. Gassi has successfully mentored and supervised teacher candidates in music education. She has adjudicated both Voice and Choral at local and provincial festivals in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Alberta and has been a guest conductor for the Oxford Church Music summer music program in Oxford, England; Dublin, Ireland; Venice and Florence, Italy.
Ms. Gassi is published in Psalms: Sundays and Solemnities (NRSV translation for Liturgical Years ABC), CCCB publications Concacan Inc. and is presently on the national committee for a new Catholic hymnal to be published in 2018. She conducts the Diocesan choir for the RC Diocese of London and is Director of Liturgical Music at St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica (London).
Ms. 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. She is appointed to the Department of Performance Studies, where she teaches Voice and conducts the St. Cecilia Singers.
Ms. Gassi is a member of NATS, ACTRA, ACDA, ACCC, the Voice Care Network and has served as a board member for Choirs Ontario, Southwestern Regional Chair. She is the recipient of several awards, notably the Sir Ernest MacMillan award for conducting, (Mendelssohn Foundation) and Western University Students’ Council Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
