Jonathan Gmeinder
Jonathan Gmeinder is a Chicago based pianist and vocal coach from Hartland, WI.  He recently completed his second year as a Studio artist and staff pianist at Houston Grand Opera where he worked as a coach on La bohème, Don Giovanni, Les pêcheurs de perles, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Norma, La traviata, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The House Without a Christmas Tree where you can hear his playing on the original cast recording. 

Previously Jonathan worked as a piano fellow at the Juilliard School in their opera department, as well as a coach at the Manhattan School of Music where he earned his Master of Music degree in vocal accompanying under the tutelage of Warren Jones.  He also enjoyed two summers at the Aspen opera center, where in 2017 he had the pleasure of coaching the workshop production of pop star Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian.  In the summer of 2019 Jonathan worked as a staff pianist at the Steans Institute for singers at the Ravinia music festival.  He currently works as a contracted pianist at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he worked as a coach and rehearsal pianist for the Rising Stars concert in January 2020.  Jonathan also recently began working with the Florentine opera of Milwaukee as a coach and pianist.   

Though Jonathan has taught piano sporadically over the last several years, he is excited to permanently plant himself where he first began studying music as a child.  Jonathan enjoyed many years of lessons with Donna Booth and Margarita Kontorovsky at WCCM. 
He enjoys working with students of all ages and loves the process of determining how to bring out the best in musicians.  Jonathan believes that if a musician can be guided toward the right type of music, they will find themselves unable to stop practicing.  He also believes that music comes from physical freedom at the keyboard.  He focuses on piano technique to alleviate tension and potentially harmful habits that can cause issues long term.    

Jonathan earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance at Lawrence University, and his master’s degree in vocal accompanying at the Manhattan school of music.