They say you can’t go home again, but after a career in California, a classically-trained musician and teacher has returned to her hometown of Guelph to lead Dublin Street United Church as its new musical director.
Irene Gregorio moved from Guelph in the late 1990s to pursue an education for a career in music, eventually earning her doctorate in musical arts at the University of Southern California in 2012.
For Gregorio, it all started at the age of five, singing in the kids choir at Norfolk Street United Church and taking piano lessons.
Gregorio said she has come to realize her musical upbringing in Guelph was something special.
“It may have been different if I had grown up in a different city in Ontario, but Guelph — with how close-knit is and how high the standard of music making is and the opportunities to develop — that was really special,” said Gregorio.
Although she attended Norfolk Street United Church until the age on 18, Gregorio would often spend time at Dublin Street United Church during the summers. Since she left, the Norfolk Street church closed and was reborn as Lakeside HOPE House.
A dominant feature of Dublin Street United Church is the two-storey Casavant pipe organ, which Gregorio will have the opportunity to play.
“When my organ teacher heard back (in California) that I was going to be on a Casavant from 1945, he was very envious of me,” said Gregorio.
When she auditioned for the musical director position, Gregorio wasn’t sure there would be any familiar faces in the choir.
“But when I saw some people who have been really instrumental in carving my path as a musician, it was really emotional for me to be back,” she said. “There are people who were at my baptism back at Norfolk.”
Gregorio said much of the foundation of her musical instruction came from being involved in the church choir.
“We had rehearsal every Thursday and we would sing every Sunday. I think from the time I was five or six until I left for university, we did that,” said Gregorio. “That was a huge impact for a kid to have that weekly instruction, and it was also free.”
Gregorio said by the time she was 18, she was itching to leave Guelph but over almost 20 years away and working as a professional musician and teacher, she has come to realize what a special place this city is.
“As I have been in all of these different places I have realized I was so lucky to have been brought up in such a strong community, the church and beyond, with great musical peers and colleagues in Guelph. It was really motivating when I was young,”
She has been instructed by and worked with many big names in the classical and choral music world and worked on Hollywood films and performed in a gala for then-governator Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“We were the backup choir for Andrea Bocelli and David Foster’s Christmas DVD that you can still watch on PBS,” added Gregorio.
In her new career as musical director for the church, Gregorio said she brings with her the influences of many talented people and cultures she was exposed to in California and beyond.
“I think the exposure to a lot of great artists and a lot of great repertoire — I am coming back here as a conductor and a keyboardist. The experience that I gained there in the choral world was incredible,” she said.
Living in the L.A. area, Gregorio would tell most people she was from Toronto because it was easier than explaining where Guelph was.
Describing Guelph, Gregorio said, “it’s got a lot of green space, it’s a wonderful community where people know each other and it has a really tight network of musicians. The schools are all excellent, the mayor is somebody I went to high school with and you can get from one side of town to the other in ten minutes. It’s just a really strong community. It’s different from other Canadian cities, even.”
Gregorio said she loves the walkability of Guelph.
“In the downtown core theatre is so much to do and see and it has a real vibe there — especially when the students are back,” she said. “I took that for granted. I thought every town had that — many do — but it’s not like that everywhere.”
Gregorio loves that she can get everything done in Guelph in a relatively short amount of time.
“In L.A. I was like, ‘I have three things to do today — it’s going to take me eight hours to do them.’”
Gregorio said she will miss the exposure she had to other cultures in Southern California, especially those of Central and South America, but will not miss the anti-immigration viewpoints she has seen growing in the United States.
“I have been doing a lot of reflection on the difference between Canada and the U.S., in particular in this time where immigration in the U.S. is such a hot topic,” said Gregorio, who was born in Guelph to immigrant parents from the Philippines.
“It crossed my mind more than once over there that if my parents had chosen to come to the U.S. Instead of Canada,” said Gregorio. “I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I did — because (Canada) is such a great place that you can come with relatively nothing as an immigrant and thrive and be supported by an amazing network of people and teachers and it doesn’t matter where you come from.”
“That’s the big difference — in the U.S., what your station is in life when you are born has a big bearing on how far you get. America is definitely still the land of opportunity, but in this time it seems less and less so because of the dialogue around immigration,” said Gregorio.
Gregorio began her new position on Aug. 2 and has moved her entire family — her husband and two young children — to Guelph.
“This first thing we did when we got here was go canoeing at The Boathouse and had ice cream. The kids loved it,” said Gregorio.
She said there has been a long legacy of exceptional music making in Guelph and that she is very honoured to have an opportunity to continue that tradition.
“I just feel so grateful that we were raised in such a place that gave me the opportunity to just go all of the way with it and now that I have young kids of my own, who are also going to be singing in the choir here, I just feel it’s such an immense desire to give back,” she said.