Hailed for his “unalloyed musicality”, organist, harpsichordist, conductor, chamber musician and arranger Jonathan Oldengarm
loves to colour outside the lines. Passionate about repertoire from the
16th to 21st centuries, he is equally at home as a soloist and ensemble
player.
His
recording credits include discs on the ATMA Classique, Klanglogo and
Analekta labels with Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal; saxophonist
Claudia Tesorino; the Ottawa Bach Choir (Lisette Canton, director); the
A&P Choir (Jean-Sébastien Vallée, conductor); the Toronto
Mendelssohn Choir, and Buzz Brass. Recent performance credits include
the Leipzig Bach Festival, the Bachkirche Arnstadt, the Castle Church in
Wittenberg, Germany, McGill University, Ottawa’s Pro Organo series,
Hammer Baroque, the 2023 RCCO National Conventions, KW Symphony Brass
Quintet, the Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal and Toronto Symphony
Orchestras, Trinity Bach Project, the Elora Singers and Festival, the
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Gallery Players, North Winds Concerts and
Cappella Intima.
An
enthusiastic teacher, Jonathan has made a specialty teaching keyboard
harmony, improvisation, continuo, score reading, accompanying at the
organ, hymn playing–in short, the professional keyboard artist’s
essential skills. In addition to private studio teaching, Jonathan is an
adjunct music faculty member at the University of Toronto.
Since
2022 Jonathan has been Minister of Music and Organist at Metropolitan
United Church in Toronto, home to multiple ensembles and a treasury of
instruments that include Canada’s largest pipe organ and Canada’s oldest
tuned carillon. Under his leadership the Metropolitan Festival Choir
has recently performed Bach’s Markus Passion (Koolstra reconstruction), Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien, Handel’s Brockes Passion, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem and other masterworks.
He
holds degrees in organ and harpsichord performance from Wilfrid Laurier
and McGill Universities; the Fellowship diploma of the Royal Canadian
College of Organists; and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in
Stuttgart. Principal organ teachers included Douglas Haas, Barrie
Cabena, and Ludger Lohmann. Germany. From 2008 until 2022 he taught
organ, harpsichord, keyboard skills, and liturgical improvisation at the
Schulich School of Music of McGill University, while serving as
Director of Music and Organist at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul,
Montreal.