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, later continuing 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 G.I.T.'s Encore Program, while also taking private lessons with renowned guitarists Ted Greene and Larry Koonse. He then continued his studies at The New School University in New York, 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 music venues, including the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, the Athens Concert Hall, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, and the Onassis Cultural Center, among others. He has contributed to numerous recording projects and collaborated as a session musician with various 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, focusing on Jazz Performance and New Technologies. He has also led a series of seminars at Ionian University and currently serves as the Head of the Jazz Program at LAB Music Education.
