Recital Stream Presents Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet
Free
Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet
The recital begins at: 12pm PDT / 3pm EDT / 8pm BST (UK)
Tune in here: https://www.recitalstream.org/graeme-steele-johnson
Donations
If you would like to make a donation to the performer in lieu of a concert ticket, you can do so on this page. All donations go directly to the artist.
About the artist
Winner of the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition and the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, Graeme Steele Johnson has established a multifaceted career as a clarinetist, writer and performance designer. He has appeared recently as a TEDx speaker, as a soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago’s Symphony Center, and the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, and as a concerto soloist with the Vienna International Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Caroga Lake and Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestras.
Johnson’s recent performance highlights include a solo recital on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series, as well as performances at the Ravinia Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Maverick Concerts, Lake George Music Festival, Caroga Lake Music Festival, and chamber and concerto appearances in Prague and Vienna. In his 2019 TEDx talk, "Music About Nothing: Seinfeld and the Classical Style," he spoke about the structural similarities between Mozart and that '90s sitcom to explain how to hear narrative and dramatic elements in music without a plot. In 2018, Johnson designed and directed a multimedia performance concept titled Impression, which weaves the chamber music of Debussy and Ravel with the spoken poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé, culminating in Johnson’s own octet arrangement of Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.
In 2019, Johnson became the first clarinetist to join the Young Artists roster of the Center for Musical Excellence. He has been broadcast on Chicago's WFMT Radio and has recorded commercially for Hyperion Records and Delos Productions, with a forthcoming recording on Cantaloupe Music. His writing about music continues to be published by The Clarinet Online and in program booklets by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Northwest, Yale, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, among others.
Johnson holds graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music, where he was twice awarded the school's Alumni Association Prize. His major teachers include David Shifrin, Nathan Williams and Ricardo Morales, and he is now a doctoral fellow at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York under the mentorship of Charles Neidich.
About the series
Recital Stream is a new platform for audiences and performers of classical music in response to the Coronavirus crisis.
We are all adjusting to a life lived further apart from one another. But staying at home needn't mean missing out on the thrill of witnessing great music, performed live. Indeed, as we navigate these treacherous and uncertain waters, it is our belief that we need great art more than ever.
Our outstanding featured artists will be presenting informal performances live from their living rooms to yours.
Artists across the world have been severely affected by the current crisis, as engagements evaporate and incomes are decimated for months. We recognise that particularly in these challenging times, not everyone will be able to spare the price of a concert ticket. That's why these livestreamed concerts are free for everyone to enjoy. For those with the means who would like to support our artists, however, there will be the opportunity to donate to them directly.
About Graeme Steele Johnson
Praised for his "elegant and rounded sound" (Albany Times Union) and "effortless...unmatched" technique (The Clarinet Online), Graeme Steele Johnson is an artist of uncommon imagination and versatility.
His diverse artistic endeavors range from a TEDx talk comparing Mozart and Seinfeld, to his reconstruction of a forgotten 125-year-old work by Charles Martin Loeffler, to performances of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in its original form on an elongated clarinet that he commissioned. Johnson’s recent and upcoming performances include appearances at the Library of Congress, Chamber Music Northwest, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia, Phoenix Chamber Music Festival, Emerald City Music, Maverick Concerts, Music Mountain and Yellow Barn, as well as solo recitals at The Kennedy Center and Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series. He is also a regular performer at the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, Archipelago Collective Chamber Music Festival, and Caroga Lake Music Festival. As a concerto soloist, he has performed twice with the Vienna International Orchestra, as well as with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Caroga Arts Ensemble, Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, and the CME Chamber Orchestra.
Since 2022, he has served as the clarinetist of the award-winning quintet WindSync (MKI Artists), one of only two American wind quintets with a full-time, international touring schedule.
Driven by his interest in shedding fresh perspective on familiar music, Johnson has authored numerous chamber arrangements of repertoire ranging from Mozart and Debussy to Gershwin and Messiaen, and performed them around the country with such artists as the Miró Quartet, Valerie Coleman, and Han Lash. His arrangements have also been championed around the world, with performances by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Moscow Conservatory, and the La Jolla Music Society.
Johnson is the winner of the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition and the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition; other recent accolades include the Saint Botolph Club Foundation's Emerging Artist Award and the inaugural Lee Memorial Scholarship from the Center for Musical Excellence. He has recorded commercially for Hyperion Records, MSR Classics, and Musica Solis Productions, as well as a recent recording project at Abbey Road Studios with WindSync.
http://www.graemesteelejohnson.com