Grigoris Ntanis was born in Athens in 1970. At the age of six, he began studying piano, and by eleven he had started classical guitar lessons with Dimitris Fampas. At thirteen, he took his first jazz guitar lessons with Dimitris Zafeirelis and later continued his studies with Yiotis Samaras.
He pursued professional jazz studies in Paris at the I.A.C.P. Jazz Program and later in Los Angeles at the G.I.T. Encore Program, while also taking private lessons with renowned guitarists Ted Greene and Larry Koonse. He then continued his studies at The New School in New York City, earning a degree in Jazz and Contemporary Music with honors.
Throughout his career, he has performed with various jazz ensembles in Paris, Berlin, Munich, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as in Greece at major venues including the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, the Athens Concert Hall, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, and the Onassis Stegi.
He has contributed to numerous recording projects and has collaborated as a session musician with a wide range of ensembles from the Greek jazz scene and beyond.
In addition to his performing career, he is one of the most active jazz guitar educators in Greece. He has taught in the Master’s Program of the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with a focus on Jazz Performance and New Technologies, and has also led a series of seminars at Ionian University.
He currently teaches jazz guitar in the undergraduate program of the Department of Music Studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and serves as Head of the Jazz Program at LAB | Music Education.
