Our Story
About Our Store
In 2022, Remenyi House of Music moved from our renowned Bloor St location to our bright and beautiful new shop in Leaside. Still offering the same 4 main departments—Strings, Pianos, Fretted, and Books—we now boast a performance space, accessibility for all (hello, free parking!) and our largest selection yet of pianos and guitars.
Over 130 years of family business
Our location at 109 Vanderhoof Avenue is over 12,000 square feet of musical expertise. With a continued focus on our flagship departments, we've also expanded our audio production and guitar selection to mix tradition with modernity. Our shop is now all at ground level, with a large free parking lot and multiple bus routes within a 2 minute walk, making it accessible for everyone.
From stringed instruments and pianos...
Our String department offers violins, violas, cellos, and double basses for the earliest learners to those looking for the most masterful of instruments. Shop a wide selection of accessories, bows, and cases as well.
Our Piano department offers phenomenal world-renowned brands, with a current focus on Yamaha, Fazioli, and Bösendorfer. The piano showroom has a large selection of grand and upright pianos, plus the latest in digital instruments.
...to guitars and accessories...
Our Guitars department recently added Fender to its lineup. We have tons of other popular brands, with acoustic and electric guitars and basses lining the walls. We also have ukuleles, banjos, and other accessories, plus two designated trial rooms.
We offer other instruments too! Our audio production selection is expanding, now including microphones, headphones, and monitors, plus more synths and controllers than ever before. We also sell harps and accessories, plus a few other unique instrument offerings.
...to the GTA's largest music bookstore.
Stores that physically stock sheet music are becoming fewer and fewer. We are so pleased to be able to offer a large selection of browsable sheet music and books. Shop the latest releases from publishers such as Henle Verlag, Bärenreiter, and Hal Leonard, among many others. Shop standard lesson materials like Royal Conservatory and Suzuki books. Shop printed music for just about any instrument you want. And ask for a special order if you don't see what you're looking for.
Remenyi House of Music is a family-owned business and always has been. Our story goes back over a century! It's rich with history and adventure, and of course, a deep love and appreciation for music and fine instruments. Below you'll find a brief summary of how we came to be.
How it started
How it's going
In July of 1890, Mihály Reményi, a newly appointed “master violin maker,” opened a tiny violin shop in his native city of Budapest, Hungary. Although orphaned at an early age, Reményi was heir to a distinguished musical legacy through a predecessor, Edouard Reményi, who was known as an illustrious musical figure of the 19th century. Violinist, world traveler and intellectual, Edouard Remenyi also held posts as court violinist to Queen Victoria and Louis Napoleon. He was a lifelong friend of Franz Liszt, and is the man credited with bringing the talents of Johannes Brahms to light, after discovering the impoverished, barely 18-year-old genius playing in a sailor's saloon on the Hamburg waterfront.
The early stages of the business laid a strong foundation for the violin shop to be accredited for fine craftsmanship and expertise. Reményi submitted instruments to many great international expositions held throughout Europe and received numerous medals and distinctions. Subsequently, many excellent violin makers apprenticed and were employed by the Remenyi firm, and Mihály was responsible for several inventions and patents including a “tone escalating” violin bass bar, and the “Resonator”, an early version of today's shoulder rest.
When the founder's two sons joined the firm, the store began to take on the form that it is today. Lászlo, the elder, like his father, became a violinmaker who gained experience in Paris, Hamburg, London and Zurich, before returning home as an internationally regarded violin expert. Zoltán, the younger son, expanded the firm into the many other areas of the music trade (pianos, band instruments, gramophone records etc.) including manufacturing and distribution.
Reményi soon became the country's largest music house, appointed as suppliers to the Royal Court and major musical institutions throughout Austria-Hungary. The business was a highly respected fixture on the dynamic cultural scene of Budapest, occupying two large buildings beside the renowned Franz Liszt Musical Academy. In the 1940's, Reményi was commissioned to produce the first rhythm instruments for Zoltán Kodály's teaching method for children, which remains popular today. Surviving two world wars and economic & political upheavals, the business was confiscated in 1951 when the communist regime terminated private enterprise.
The firm was re-established by Zoltán Reményi upon immigrating to Canada in 1959 with his wife and son. Growing from a tiny 13-foot wide store on Toronto's Queen Street, they moved to their previous location on Bloor Street in 1979, adjacent to the campus of the University of Toronto and The Royal Conservatory of Music.
Today, the Remenyi building has relocated to their new Leaside location, which presents a great selection of quality pianos, string instruments, accessories, repair shops, and the Music Bookstore, which specializes in sheet music and educational materials.
