Sportissimo!

Working at the highest levels of the Canadian music scene, award-winning conductor Adam Johnson has been hailed as “an exciting talent” and for his “charismatic and commanding presence” on the podium. He is Music Director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. He completed his tenure as resident conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) in 2019, and has conducted over 90 concerts with the OSM. He recorded his first full album, Riopelle Symphonique, with the OSM in 2022 and won an Opus Prize with the famed orchestra in 2018. Prior to his tenure in Montreal, Dr. Johnson worked for three seasons with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and continues to regularly guest conduct orchestras across Canada. Internationally, Adam Johnson has conducted at the Opéra National de Paris and has led orchestras in Spain, Germany and the United States.

Known for his extraordinary versatility, Dr. Johnson has conducted sold-out concerts with dozens of leading artists in a wide range of styles from pop to jazz to Broadway. He is also regularly invited to studio record with orchestras for major international projects and has recorded for virtual reality. He was the Mécénat Musica Educator-in-Residence from 2019-2023, creating educational materials for music educators and offering workshops and performances to increase the quantity and quality of music education for youth. A recipient of a Canada Council conducting award, he holds a doctorate in piano performance from the Université de Montréal and a prize in orchestral conducting from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

Jean-Willy Kunz was appointed in 2013 as the first organist in residence of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In addition to playing both with the Orchestra and in recital, he sees to the development and showcasing of the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique, Casavant Frères’ opus 3900 installed at the Maison symphonique in Montréal.

His performances with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal include concerts conducted by Rafael Payare, Kent Nagano, Masaaki Suzuki, Leonardo García Alarcón, Gabriel Thibaudeau, François-Xavier Roth, Vasily Petrenko, Juraj Valčuha, Paul McCreesh, John Storgårds, Dalia Stasevska, Carlo Rizzi, and David Zinman. He has also performed as a soloist with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, les Violons du Roy, the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Regina Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Fabien Gabel, Bernard Labadie, Michael Willens, Alain, Trudel, Stéphane Denève, Gemma New, Kerem Hasan, JoAnn Falletta, and Gordon Gerrard.

At the Maison symphonique, Kunz has premiered numerous pieces for organ and orchestra, and for solo organ, by Tod Machover, John Rea, Samy Moussa, Harry Stafylakis, Matthew Ricketts, Gabriel Thibaudeau, Régis Campo, and Maxime Goulet. A highlight among his many solo performances on the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique was a recital presented in 2017 in collaboration with the NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency, during which a live audio-video duplex with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station allowed for the first ever Earth-Space organ duet.

Jean-Willy Kunz’ interest and versatility in different styles of music are reflected in the various projects he has been involved with for several years, and which shed new light on the pipe organ, including jazz music in duo with Branford Marsalis and with the Ensemble InSpirations, pop music with Rufus and Martha Wainwright, stage music with the Cirque du Soleil, contemporary music with the Quebec Contemporary Music Society and the Quatuor Bozzini, and baroque music with the Ensemble Caprice and Les Boréades.

His discography includes many recordings which reflect the broad range of his musical influences. His most recent CDs include a solo organ album Jean-Willy Kunz au Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique; Impressions with the Ensemble InSpirations (organ, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, double bass, and percussion); Symphonie et créations pour orgue et orchestre with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (which was awarded a Juno in 2016); and The Pipes are Calling for organ and trombone; Punkt with Pierre Lapointe; André Gagnon Baroque for harpsichord and symphony orchestra.

Jean-Willy Kunz studied with Louis Robilliard and with Mireille Lagacé, before completing a doctorate in organ performance at McGill University with John Grew. In 2018, he completed an MBA at HEC Montréal. He is organ professor at the Conservatory of Music in Montréal and artistic director of the Canadian International Organ Competition.