Remenyi House of Music hits the right notes on Vanderhoof

by KEN MALLETT

A family musical tradition that traces its history to a teen-aged Johannes Brahms playing the piano in a raucous dockside saloon during the 1850s is coming to Leaside. In fact, it’s here now.

Remenyi House of Music, a family-run business intimately connected with a world-renowned concert violinist in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th century, has opened a new store at 109 Vanderhoof Ave.

Leaside has long been known as a family-friendly neighbourhood, a place to raise children in character homes set on spacious streets with a leafy tree canopy overhead. That’s why the Remenyi House of Music chose to make their new home here.

“We love that it is a family neighbourhood as we mainly cater to families,” said Michael Remenyi Jr., the great grandson of founder

Zoltan Reményi.

“I am very familiar with the area and its demographics. I grew up at Yonge and Eglinton,” he said.

“When the former St. John’s Music site became available during the pandemic, it was a perfect fit. It was the right size, had ample parking, and was close to two major highways as well as the new LRT line on Eglinton.”

The family for many years had a store on Bloor St. in the Yorkville district near Avenue Road where it was highly visible to passersby drawn to the sight of magnificent grand pianos. The Yorkville store was sold in 2018 to Tribute Communities to be replaced by a new condominium that will house over 40 residential units and a ground-floor retail space.

“When the condo construction is complete on Bloor, we have rights to retain the retail space,” Remenyi said.

“However, it will be much smaller and would operate as a boutique showroom only. So, we are planting roots here in Leaside for the foreseeable future, regardless of how Bloor progresses,” he added.

The story of Remenyi Music began in July of 1890, when Mihály Reményi, a newly appointed “master violin maker,” opened a tiny violin shop in his native city of Budapest, Hungary.

That particular Reményi was heir to a distinguished musical legacy through a predecessor, Edouard Reményi, an illustrious musical figure