 Eli Kassner. Teacher, guitarist, b. Vienna 27 May,
1924, naturalized Canadian 1956. After studies in Vienna and Palestine
he moved to Canada in 1951. He studied with Segovia in Spain in 1959 and
in Winston-Salem, Mass, in 1966. He performed until 1967, playing on
Toronto radio and TV, and in theatrical productions at the Stratford
Festival in 1961 and 1962. He also accompanied the singers Malka and
Joso on three LPs for Capitol Records. He was a co-founder in 1956 and
president 1960-6 of the Guitar Society of Toronto, and was artistic
director of five of its triennial festivals 1975-87.
He began teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto)
and the University of Toronto in 1959. In 1967, when he established the
Eli Kassner Guitar Academy, he resigned from the RCM but continued to
teach at the University of Toronto, where he established the University
of Toronto Guitar Ensemble in 1978. This 22-member group performed in
Cuba in 1982, in Martinique in 1987 and in Puerto Rico in 1989. Twelve
of its graduates formed the Guitar Ensemble of Canada, which Kassner
directs. He also taught 1974-6 at the École normale de musique in
Montreal, and 1976-8 at Queen's University. His pupils have included
Robert Bauer, Liona Boyd, Lynne Gangbar, Davis Joachim, Norbert Kraft,
Gordon O'Brien, the Wilson-McAllister duo, and the jazz guitarists Andy
Krehm, Carlos Lopes and Rob Piltch. The University of Toronto offers
scholarships in his name funded by endowments donated by the Guitar
Society. Carl Morey, formedr Dean of the U of T Faculty of Music said
of him that he 'virtually single-handedly created serious guitar studies
in Toronto, if not in Canada' (Guitar Canada, Spring 1989).
Dividing his time beginning in the 1970s between music and
microphotography, Kassner was a photographer and composer and performer
of guitar music for the CBC TV series 'The Nature of Things,' winning
the 1975 Bell-Northern Prize and the Monaco Award ($2,000) for the film
The First Inch.
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