Jonathan Nemtanu is a dynamic and versatile pianist. He has been invited to perform at numerous festivals and in concert series in Canada, France, Greece, Austria, Spain, China, and the United States.
After obtaining his masters at the University of Montréal, under the tutelage of Jean Saulnier, he received his doctorate in piano performance from the University of Montréal in 2018, with the distinction “exceptional.” He completed the MMIAM program in 2024, as a member of the eleventh cohort.
He is the General Director of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Artistic Director of the concert series Le Baptême, and an active pianist. He regularly provides master classes in France and Quebec, where he also serves as a jury member for the Concours de musique du Canada (CMC).
So, let’s start with the first question I ask everyone: are you an artist?
Yeah. I am a pianist and the creator of Le Baptême, a classical music concert series tailored for families and music lovers. I have also been a teacher at the Conservatoire de Québec de Saguenay.
As a pianist, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to many cities and countries, truly inspiring experiences. While traveling, I always had an idea in the back of my mind: to create something in my own image, wherever we were living. Something that could speak both to devoted classical music fans and to those who had never really experienced it before.
Then, in the middle of the pandemic, I decided to take the leap and to create Le Baptême. After a full year of COVID, I found it incredible that attending a concert was still so difficult. A close friend gave me the final push (thank you!), and that’s how this adventure began.
In the very first year, we were already sold out, and at least a quarter of the audience were children. Seeing that was an incredible joy. We welcome world-class artists who talk, laugh, and genuinely connect with the audience. Although it remains a small organization with about a hundred subscribers, it grows every year, and I love that people of all ages feel at home with us.
After that first success, my wife and I wanted to move back to Montréal and take the chance to travel a bit with our two children. That’s when I discovered the MMIAM program. I saw all the connections, the cities we would explore, and all the knowledge I could gain from it. And I jumped in.
One concert as part of Le Baptême’s fourth season. Credit: Bruno Marceau.
Amazing. What were you hoping to learn through the MMIAM?
I wanted to learn how to be a good manager and, if possible, how to lead teams.
When you are an artist, or at least in my case, it sounds strange to say now, but I hadn’t opened an Excel sheet before entering the program. I needed to learn how to think strategically and how to build something besides passion for my craft. So, that was what I was searching for.
I also learned how to connect to others, how to talk to others in the process of building something with a community and with a team and not just by yourself in your own silo.
I wouldn’t say that we learned that last part in any formal sense, but through having very, very bright colleagues who often made me confront my ideas or who connected and presented ideas from other fields of study.
You mentioned that you have a family. How was it constantly moving and changing cities with a family?
That was pretty hard, but we did it! My wife—who is amazing—and I have two young kids. They were two years old and eight months old at the time. So every other weekend I was coming home to Montréal to see them.
Once we were in Montréal it became much easier for me, I was no longer going back and forth. But I was doing the MIAMM program during the day, working during the evening, doing my homework until 2 am, and starting the whole process again at 7 am. So it was still intense because I had to be also with the kids, of course, and play with them and just be a father.
I didn’t go to China because I had a tour with my wife who is also a musician, a saxophonist. We didn’t have any formal lessons in China, it was more a cultural experience, so although I didn’t want to miss it, it was okay with the program. Then, in Italy, things once again changed. My wife is Greek, which meant that her family was near, so we had help, but I started commuting again. Even with the commute, having help made things easier.
Tell me about what you’re doing now.
I’m the Executive Director of the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal (SMAM). Our mission is to perform sacred and secular vocal music composed primarily before 1750. It’s a magnificent and renowned vocal ensemble. We share early music while striving to have a strong social impact. For us, it’s important not just to offer these experiences only to lovers of early music, but to everyone who can benefit from them.
For example, we welcome newly arrived immigrants, sometimes from distant places and difficult circumstances. We also invite in people experiencing homelessness and engage with LGBTQ+ causes. We work both to restore music that has nearly disappeared and to commission new works that highlight the history of Canada and all the peoples and nations who were here before us. Our greatest joy is when everyone can feel welcome at our concerts. That’s when we are truly happiest!
I started the role last year. I was recruited to develop the organization. The recruiting team was looking for someone dynamic, eager to make the organization shine on the world stage. By that, I mean someone who would organize more concerts in Quebec and across Canada, and internationally, while also strengthening SMAM’s financial stability. We’re a very small team, just four administrative people, so we all wear a lot of hats and I work very closely with everyone to do it all. Outside of this role, I have another series of concerts in Saguenay. This requires, let’s say, 10 to 15 hours a week. Finally, I’m still a pianist. Next year, I will perform 30 concerts across Canada and Europe. I just recorded a CD with my wife. It’s currently in production, but will be released in February. It is called Nostos, a term that expresses the return to one’s homeland after a long absence, and references Odysseus’s return to Ithaca.
Jonathan and his wife, Clio Theodoridis, on tour in China. Personal archive.
Okay, so you’re never going to slow down, ha!
I will have to at some point!
Before the MMIAM program, I was teaching music to young kids there, many of whom took their first piano lessons with me. After the program, I accepted my current role at SMAM, but kept something that I was doing before, a series of concerts called Le Baptême that I’ve created specifically for families.
Our goal is to make classical music accessible to everybody and of course, I want the kids that attend to have some fun. So, we bring young or famous musicians and have them explain something, share a story, a history. We want to give the kids something to think about while they hear the music. The stories have to be fun or interesting. They have to be something that will keep everybody engaged.
I want those organizations to have a meaning in our society. For example, in Saguenay, the concert series is funded heavily through philanthropy. We want the series to be very accessible. So, I will try to lean more on philanthropy than ticket sales and other revenue. I know some people really enjoy classical music, but don’t have the means to come to the concerts. And it’s okay because I don’t do that for money. I do not pay myself for the series, or if I do, it’s just a very, very small fee. Because it’s something that I’ve made for fun, that I keep doing for fun. It’s a lot of work for fun, but I think it’s good for society.
Is there something that I didn’t ask you that I should have?
I am at the place I am today because of the MMIAM program. There is not one single lesson that I have not used at some point. All of the lessons, talks, even some lighthearted arguments—you know, when there are just 12 of you, all the time together, at some point you’re going to disagree about something—everything was worth it. I think my colleagues feel the same way. I hope they know that they can always count on me.
*Jonathan Nemtanu’s headshot credit: Tam Photography.