Reményi history from the stores site,210 Bloor Street West,
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 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 present 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 presents three floors of quality pianos, string instruments, accessories, repair shops, and the Music Bookstore, which specializes in sheet music and educational materials.
