Rennie Regehr
As a performer, Rennie Regehr began his professional career with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1971. Since that time, his career has taken him throughout Canada and abroad as chamber musician, soloist, recitalist, and orchestral musician. Quickly rising through the ranks at the Winnipeg Symphony, he was appointed Principal Violist in 1978 and concurrently, Principal Violist with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, positions he held until 1992. During his tenure in Winnipeg, Mr. Regehr appeared as soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony, the CBC Radio Orchestra, and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
In 1992 Mr. Regehr moved to Toronto to become the Dean of the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. In that role he developed an internationally renowned orchestral program, and under his leadership the school produced many of Canada’s finest professional ensemble musicians and solo artists. During this time he was also the director of the Royal Conservatory’s Young Artists Performance Academy, and under his leadership this program for extraordinary pre-college students achieved international recognition for developing young musicians. He continued to be a much sought after chamber musician and recitalist, performing in most major Canadian venues on such series as Music Toronto, Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, The Tuckamore Festival in Newfoundland, Whistler Chamber Music Festival and the Courtenay Summer Music Festival on Vancouver Island. Internationally, he has been invited to perform in festivals held in Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, Park City, Utah and the Oberlin Summer Festival in Casalmaggiore, Italy. Highlights of his performance collaborations include artists such as Leon Fleisher, James Campbell, Andrew Dawes, Martin Beaver, Desmond Hoebig, and many of Canada’s leading musicians. Mr. Regehr’s performances have been broadcast on the CBC Radio networks, National Public Radio in the US and he has also recorded for the CBC Musica Viva and SM5000 labels. In July of 2006 he collaborated in a highly successful concert with the internationally renowned Shanghai String Quartet. During this time he continued his orchestral career as well, performing with the Toronto Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He is currently the Principal Violist of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Regehr has also expanded his activities onto orchestral podiums. He was the resident conductor of the Royal Conservatory Orchestra from 1993-2006. Other engagements have included guest appearances with the Calgary Youth Orchestra and University of Laurier Orchestra as well as conducting ensembles of the Winnipeg Symphony, the Courtenay Summer Festival Orchestra, and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. He was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra from 2003-2006. More recently he has conducted the University of Ottawa Orchestra. In 2004 Mr. Regehr directed the Royal Conservatory Orchestra on a highly successful three week, eleven-concert tour of China. On that same tour, he conducted the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra of Hangzhou for two performances of their high-profile New Years Eve concert. Mr. Regehr was re-engaged with the Zhejiang Orchestra both as soloist and conductor in May 2008 and has been invited to return during their 2009/2010 season.
As a teacher, Mr. Regehr follows a tradition of great Canadian string mentors. Himself, a student and later a colleague of Gerald Stanick, he continues that level of teaching and has trained some of Canadian ’s outstanding violists who have gone on to win positions in major North American orchestras. He has held teaching posts at the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and the Royal Conservatory of Music.
His numerous summer teaching engagements have included Oberlin Summer Academy in Italy, the Domaine Forget Music Academy, and the Courtenay Youth Music Centre. He is a permanent faculty member of the prestigious Morningside Music Bridge International Training School held in Calgary, Shanghai and Gdansk, Poland. He has been a visiting professor at the Shanghai Conservatory, and since 2007 has become a regular guest faculty of the Central Conservatory in Beijing, teaching, and conducting.
In addition to his teaching activities, he has presented masterclasses across Canada and the US, including the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as in China and Hong Kong.
In September of 2006 he became a faculty member of the music department at the University of Ottawa and in the summer of 2008, he and his wife, pianist Jenny Regehr, relocated to Ottawa.
In 2009, he joined the faculty of the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s internationally renowned Young Artists Programme at the invitation of Pinchas Zukerman, the NACO’s Artistic Director.