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 is the organist-in-residence of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. A member of the OSM since 2013, he studied at the Conservatoires de musique in Grenoble, Lyon, and Montreal, as well as at McGill University. In 2011, he was awarded the Richard Bradshaw Audience Prize at the Canadian International Organ Competition. He has performed as a soloist with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and has premiered numerous works by notable composers. 

In addition to his orchestral career, Jean-Willy is also an organ professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and serves as Artistic Director of the Canadian International Organ Competition.