Jonathan Earp

Jonathan Earp began formal musical studies with the violin. In 1965 at the age of 13 he was lured by the popular music of the day to take up the guitar. Within a few years he was singing and playing electric guitar and mandolin in various bands across Ontario. Eventually, inspired by a recording of Julian Bream heard in his youth, he began to study the classical guitar and made some progress while maintaining his electric guitar career. In the early 1970s he began studying the classical guitar with Eli Kassner in Toronto. He also began teaching at Professor Kassner’s academy, remaining there for some 12 years. During this time he played in master classes for such guitarists as David Russell, Leo Brouwer, Christopher Parkening, Hubert Kappell and many more. He played the classical guitar in restaurants and cabarets. In addition he worked as a singer, electric guitarist and mandolinist with various Toronto bands. Musically these were diverse, including rock, blues, proto punk, country, reggae and a Bollywood cover band. He began teaching at Brock University and Mohawk College in the mid 1980s when he also began post secondary studies at York University. There he studied performance, guitar, voice, North American music history, South Indian music and improvisation. Many of the busiest guitar teachers in the Niagara region have studied with him. His students teach and play across Canada and overseas. Believing that an effective teacher must be a student as well Jonathan has over the past few years had classes with Benjamin Verdery, Dale Kavanagh, Roland Dyens, Mark Eden and many others. In the 1990s Jonathan began what has become an irregular concert series under the name Guitar Niagara. This has been responsible for bringing some of the best guitarists in the world to the Niagara region to perform and often teach. Benjamin Verdery, Raphaella Smits, the Amadeus Duo, Jorge Cardoso,the Eden-Stell Duo, Hubert Kappell and Celso Machado among others have entertained, taught and delighted local audiences. Jonathan Earp currently lives in St Catharines with his family where he continues to perform, learn and teach both privately and at Brock University and Mohawk College. As well as pursuing as many musical styles as he has time for he is currently interested in the anthropological origins of music and also the deplorably little known history of the classical guitar in Europe and its influence on the music of the period.