TEACHERS AND STAFF MEMBERS

Michael Gfroerer

PIANO

Michael Gfroerer is a Pianist and Composer who has been teaching Piano, Music Theory and Composition for over thirty years. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music and Western Ontario Conservatory of Music in 1990 and studied Music and Psychology at York University. His studies at York University, which included the psychology of music, neuroscience, evolution and biology, led to him developing a Colored-Note Piano Method book – used by hundreds of students to date. Michael began “co-creating” music with young students in 2021 with “Animals A to G, Original Piano Music”, followed by “Native Toronto Animals, A to G, Original Piano Music” in 2023; both books were presented to World’s Largest Lesson, partnered with UNICEF, UNESCO, the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development, Global Teaching Insights-Paris and Education International-Paris.

Michael studied composition with the respected composer Linda C. Smith which led to the completion of his One-Act Opera Eleusis – Greater and Lesser Mysteries, performed for Colin Graham, the Opera Director for
Benjamin Britten.

While Co-Artistic Director of CONTACT contemporary music, he worked with Canadian composers Ann Southam, Rodney Sharman and Barry Truax. This lead to The Globe and Mail saying his music was “…highly entertaining” and receiving the Orfeo Musica, Stockholm in 2007, for promoting human rights
through music.

While living in Edmonton from 2013 to 2018, Michael was Choir Director, Organist and Pianist at St. John’s Lutheran Church and Composer-In-Residence at Robertson-Wesley United, where he lead a small group in setting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations to music. Michael engaged in various master classes in church music through Concordia University, Edmonton.

Upon returning to Toronto in August 2018, Michael was Composer-In-Residence at Artscape Gibraltar Point, on the Toronto Islands.

Michael’s education and experience results in a highly creative, enjoyable and successful teaching style, with several books of Original Piano Music, a collection of Theory Papers, and original Piano music he and his students created.