BIOGRAPHY
Massimo Guida is a Toronto-based Italian-Canadian composer who writes for the concert hall and the screen. He has been described by La Scena Musicale as a composer who writes with “a particularly strong melodic inspiration.” He seeks to combine his fondness for melodic lyricism and storytelling with a contemporary musical language in his works.
An award-winning composer, he won the Violet Archer Prize, for his song cycle Confessions, as well as the Mississauga Festival Choir Competition for his choral work Infant Joy, dedicated to his nephew. Massimo’s compositions and arrangements have been performed and read in North America, Europe, and Asia, by artists including the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brantford Symphony Orchestra, Slow Rise Music, The Odin Quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Mississauga Festival Choir, and Juno nominee Lindsay Schoolcraft. He served as a Composer Fellow for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra's 2024–25 season and was the 2020–21 Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra New Generation Affiliate Composer. His composition Fantasia Sopra Sei Temi di Puccini featured on pianist Alexander Panizza’s album Everything Waits for the Lilacs.
For the screen, Massimo merges his classical expertise with modern production techniques to create thrilling and inventive scores for film, TV, and video games. His media credits include the University of Toronto's "Boundless Energy," video series, and the music for the U of Faculty of Music’s Newsroom. Massimo created a playful orchestral-electronic score for the indie game "Lost for Words," released by OMG! Brews Games. His ethereal score to Stephen Broomer's short film "Memory Worked by Mirrors" was premiered live by Fawn Chamber Creative at Synesthesia III: Film & Music to positive reviews. Massimo studied film scoring at the University of Toronto and the Screen Music Program in Pavia, Italy.
Massimo holds Doctoral, Master’s, and Undergraduate degrees in Composition from the University of Toronto, where his studies encompassed classical composition, music theory, film scoring, and classical guitar. Outside of composition, Massimo is passionate about music analysis and education. He balances composing and pursuing his research interests by working as a copyist and as a classical guitar, composition, and music theory teacher. He has received several academic awards and research grants for his analytical research on Italian twentieth century music, which he has presented at several conferences.