Meet the Orchestra
Music Director & Conductor, Oakville Symphony
Lorenzo Guggenheim, an emerging orchestra conductor, is renowned for his artistic integrity and innovative approach to music. He captivates audiences with dynamic and spontaneous performances, reshaping tradition and presenting underrepresented composers alongside familiar music.
His journey as a conductor began with breakthrough opportunities at a young age. At 23, Lorenzo was chosen to conduct at the world-renowned Teatro Colón and immediately afterward conducted the National Symphony of Chile. In 2023, he conducted the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as part of the Canadian Conductor Showcase and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in their renowned Mentorship Program. He has also led the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra, Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, and orchestras abroad including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and several others in Argentina.
Mr. Guggenheim is currently in his second season as Music Director & Conductor of the Oakville Symphony and is the Music Director of the University of Toronto Campus Philharmonic Orchestra which he founded along with the Canadian Studio Symphony, with which he released the album Evocations in 2023.
Hailing from Buenos Aires, Lorenzo’s diverse musical influences, from Debussy to Pink Floyd through Thelonious Monk and traditional Argentine music, have shaped his unique approach to music. His insatiable curiosity led him to pursue bachelor’s, diploma, master’s, and doctoral degrees in conducting. For the latter, he is researching the music of Franz Schreker, a Nazi-banned and persecuted composer, at the University of Toronto.
His passion for conducting has taken him to international masterclasses, working with renowned mentors such as Bramwell Tovey, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Alexander Shelley, Christian Mācelaru, Steven Sloane, Kenneth Kiesler and Mark Gibson. He has received support from The Canada Arts Council and the Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Lorenzo thrives in collaborative environments and has served as an Assistant Conductor for the Berlin Academy of American Music at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Additionally, he has collaborated with the Seattle Symphony’s Prokofiev and Shostakovich Festivals and as a cover conductor for Music Director Ludovic Morlot in two seasons. As an emerging conductor, Lorenzo Guggenheim continues to inspire and innovate, pushing the boundaries of orchestral music in the 21st century.
Violinist, educator and conductor David Rehner holds degrees in Music from the University of Toronto and in Education from OISE/UT. An experienced orchestra leader, he is the concertmaster of the Rose Orchestra Brampton and the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, and principal second violinist with the Oakville Symphony. David has appeared on many occasions as concertmaster with local ensembles including the Etobicoke Philharmonic, Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, Masterworks of Oakville, and Arcady among others. He also remains active as a guest soloist having performed many concerti with orchestra including those of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi and more. In 2011 David was recognized as Brampton’s Arts Person of the Year for his work bringing music education programming to community youth, a worthy cause he continues to support through his role as Music Director and Conductor of the Rosebud Orchestra Training Program. For over 20 years, he has taught Strings and Mathematics for the Peel District School Board at the QE Arts Regional Learning Choice Program in south Mississauga. David always looks forward to sharing the stage with our wonderful Oakville Symphony, and this weekend’s performances are no exception!
Coming from a family where almost everybody played a musical instrument, I started to play classical music from the age of 3. My first instrument was the violin but around age 6, my mother got me a cello. I have never looked back. Around the age of 8 I met Susan Gagnon, one of the most influential people in my life. She introduced me to the Young Artist Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music. There I continued to improve my musical knowledge, learning about music theory and history, and being a part of an orchestra and quartet. Even after 12 years of music training, my passion for it is still very strong and is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Jose Shapero graduated from the University of Toronto with Bachelor and Masters degrees in cello and piano. He has been Principal Cellist and guest soloist with several professional and community orchestras before joining the Oakville Symphony in 1987. Jose has recorded for commercials and television shows. He was very active with school performances as part of the Meet a Musician program was music director at North Bramalea United Church in Brampton for the past 25 years.
Jose is still active as cello coach with the Oakville Symphony Youth Orchestra. He plays on a beautiful 18th century Italian cello made by Luigi Venturini.
Originally from Halifax, Tim studied at Dalhousie University with Brian Robinson and then privately with Detroit Symphony bassist and remarkable teacher Maxim Janowsky from 1981-85 while performing with Orchestra London and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra before moving northwest to join the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra where he played section bass for over 15 years.
Since moving to Toronto in 2001 Tim has balanced technical work with a busy musical schedule. He has served as principal bassist with Canadian Sinfonietta since 2003, performed with Masterworks of Oakville and Oakville Chamber Orchestra, and worked on a regular and occasional basis with many orchestras throughout the GTA and as far afield as Peterborough, Sudbury and even several return visits to Thunder Bay.
Work with young people has included the Oakville Symphony’s own Young Artist Mentor program, Canadian Sinfonietta Youth Orchestra, the Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society Symphony Orchestra and the Chinese Artists Society of Toronto, for which Tim recently received an Ontario Volunteer Service Award for five years’ service.
Serving as interim principal bass for the 2021-22 Oakville season Tim moves from the back of the bass section and continues a 10 year relationship with the Oakville Symphony as extra bass and a young artist mentor. He is excited to work again with Roger, Lynn and Bob during this season of transition.
Mr. Allen completed his Bachelor of Music at Queen’s University and his Master of Music in performance at the University of Toronto under the direction of Eugene Rittich. He has performed frequently with orchestras throughout southern and eastern Ontario including the Kingston, Niagara, Windsor, London, Kitchener – Waterloo, Oshawa – Durham, Royal Opera Canada, Brampton Lyric Opera, Opera Kitchener and the Southern Ontario Lyric Opera orchestras. He is also the principal horn with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra and freelances in and around the GTA. Mr. Allen also works as a conductor and clinician for the Halton Mississauga Youth Orchestra and has conducted the Intermediate Honour Band for the Peel District School Board. He lives in Mississauga where he continues to have an active private studio and teaches instrumental and vocal music for the Peel District School Board. Mr. Allen is also an advocate for music education and is an active performer and organizer for International Horn Day in Toronto.
Coming from a family where almost everybody played a musical instrument, I started to play classical music from the age of 3. My first instrument was the violin but around age 6, my mother got me a cello. I have never looked back. Around the age of 8 I met Susan Gagnon, one of the most influential people in my life. She introduced me to the Young Artist Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music. There I continued to improve my musical knowledge, learning about music theory and history, and being a part of an orchestra and quartet. Even after 12 years of music training, my passion for it is still very strong and is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Christian was a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony for 20 years before leaving to pursue a career in administration and free-lance bassoon. He has performed regularly at the Festival of the Sound, the Elora Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Westben Festival, and has appeared with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Toronto Symphony, and the Orchestra of the Kirov Theatre, working with conductors Zubin Mehta and Valery Gergiev among others, as well as all the leading orchestras in southern Ontario.
Christian was a featured soloist on a 2016 re-recording and release of The Mozart Effect (available on Spotify). Theatre experiences include the 2019 Mirvish production of The King and I, the Shaw Festival orchestra in the productions of Wonderful Town by Bernstein and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, the Theatre 20 production of Bloodless: The Trial of Burke and Hare, and performances of Man of La Mancha, The Beaux’ Stratagem, and The Music Man at the Stratford Festival.
Lorne Grossman did his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto. He was immediately offered work with the Stratford Festival, Royal Alexandria Theatre in Toronto and the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto. Within a few years, Lorne was principal percussion with the Canadian Opera Company (1972-1985) and a semi regular percussionist with the National Ballet of Canada (1974-1991).
Lorne played on many TV commercials in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. He toured with Phantom of the Opera throughout Canada, Alaska and Hawaii twice from 1991-1994. Again he was on tour with Music of the Night 1995-1996.
Staying home, Lorne had been playing drum set with the National Arts Centre Orchestra until 2011 and presently performs with the Oakville Symphony, Peterborough Symphony, Rose Orchestra, Ontario Philharmonic and occasionally with the Hamilton Philharmonic, London Symphonia, North Bay Symphony and Georgian Bay Symphony.
Canadian/Oakville harpist and composer, Sharlene Wallace, is an award-winning musician creating, performing, recording and teaching Classical, folk and contemporary genres on both pedal and lever harps. Sharlene has given concerts and workshops across Canada, the United States, France and Italy. Her seven CDs express journeys of rhythm, spaciousness, the Canadian landscape, Celtic, Classical, South American and original music.
Sharlene is currently working on two new recording projects. One explores improvised reimaginings of Sharlene’s compositions for acoustic and electric lever harps and electronics with Jean Martin. The other project, Trees. Listen, is a co-composition recording-performance-
* Member of the Professional Core | (YA) Young Artist | (M) Young Artist Mentor | (G) Guest