Education

Canadian guitarist Joel Untinen, from Calgary, Alberta is currently living in Montréal, Québec, where he works as a guitarist, music instructor, composer and instructional designer. Prior to relocating to Montréal, Joel lived in New York City, where he completed his Master of Music under jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein at New York University in 2020. While in New York, He also had the pleasure to study with such musicians as Ari Hoenig, John Scofield, Martin Wind, Billy Drewes, Tony Moreno, John Hadfield, Ron McClure, Brad Shepik, and Chris Potter. Prior to his studies in New York, Joel earned his Bachelor of Music from Ambrose University in Calgary (Canada), where he studied with guitarist Ralf Buschmeyer. In the summer of 2019, Joel was a participant at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Jazz and Creative Music Workshop under the direction of Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey.

Joel’s interests in music theory and musicology have led to several academic presentations at the Ambrose Research Conference in subjects ranging from the music of Anton Webern to the music and aesthetics of the French “spectralists” and to contemporary approaches in learning and performing jazz. He has studied music theory and musicology primarily under Dr. Linda Schwartz and Stephan Bonfield at Ambrose University and under Dr. Jeff R. Warren at Quest University.