Praised as “technically and interpretively impeccable and passionately communicative” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Graeme Steele Johnson is an artist of uncommon imagination and versatility.
“Forgotten Sounds is one of the best recordings I have heard and deserves the rave reviews it has received. Johnson and his ensemble have recorded a superb album that all clarinetists will want to have in their listening libraries.”
The clarinetist, curator and “musical detective” (New York Classical Review) garnered international attention for his rediscovery and reconstruction of a 125-year-old Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler, profiled in a full-page spread by The Washington Post. Released on his debut album Forgotten Sounds, Johnson’s world-premiere recording of the work was named one of The New York Times’ Best Classical Music Albums of 2024, nominated for a Gramophone Classical Music Award, and awarded BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Choice. As Artistic Director of the Loeffler Octet touring ensemble, Johnson led the Octet’s first present-day performances at the Library of Congress, Morgan Library, La Jolla Music Society, Harvard Musical Association, Chamber Music Northwest and many more.
“I’ve been obsessed with this 1897 Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler for months....I’m eternally grateful to clarinettist Graeme Steele Johnson, who discovered the manuscript in the Library of Congress and who leads this exquisite performance.”
Widely in demand as a chamber musician, Johnson has also performed recently at Ravinia, Newport Classical and the Bridgehampton, Rockport, Moab, Cooperstown and Orcas Island Chamber Music Festivals, and in recital at the Muse Salentine Festival in Italy. He has appeared as soloist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Vienna International Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Caroga Arts Ensemble.
Since 2022 Johnson has served as the clarinetist of the award-winning quintet WindSync, “a major force in the American chamber music landscape” (Arts and Culture Texas). Johnson has also collaborated with such distinguished artists as Jon Kimura Parker, David Shifrin, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Peter Wiley and Bridget Kibbey, as well as the Miró, Balourdet, Aeolus, Callisto and KASA Quartets, Imani Winds, New York New Music Ensemble, Copland House Ensemble, Twelfth Night Ensemble and NEXUS Chamber Music.
Admired for his creative curation and engaging communication, Johnson has presented a TEDx talk comparing Mozart and Seinfeld, and serves as Artistic Director of the Onstage Offstage Chamber Music Festival in Houston. Driven by his interest in shedding fresh perspective on familiar music, he is known for providing incisive commentary from the stage and in writing, in essays and program notes published widely in journals, concert programs and album booklets. He has also authored numerous chamber arrangements that have been heard around the world, including performances by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Moscow Conservatory, La Jolla Music Society and Krzyżowa Chamber Music Festival (Poland).
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 holds an exclusive recording contract with Delos/Outhere Music, and has previously recorded for Hyperion Records, Azica Records, MSR Classics and Musica Solis Productions.
Under the tutelage of Charles Neidich and Kofi Agawu, Johnson earned a doctoral degree from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where his research won the Elebash Dissertation Award. Previously, he earned two master’s degrees from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with David Shifrin and Ricardo Morales, and completed undergraduate study at The University of Texas at Austin with Nathan Williams.
Waxahachie, Texas
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue [arr. Gutschy]
Additional repertoire TBD
with Jon Kimura Parker and WindSync
Chicago, Illinois
Poulenc: Sonata for Two Clarinets
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
Loeffler: Octet for Two Clarinets, Harp, Two Violins, Viola, Cello and Double Bass [revised and reconstructed by Graeme Steele Johnson]
with Zachary Good, Charles Overton, Rachell Ellen Wong, Siwoo Kim, Tanner Menees, Alexander Hersh and Kit Polen
Phoenix, Arizona
Väsen/arr. Kara LaMoure: Linnaeus Polones
Carl Nielsen: Quintet
Osvaldo Golijov/arr. Kara LaMoure: Tenebrae
Viet Cuong: Flora
with WindSync
Las Vegas, Nevada
Väsen/arr. Kara LaMoure: Linnaeus Polones
Carl Nielsen: Quintet
Osvaldo Golijov/arr. Kara LaMoure: Tenebrae
Viet Cuong: Flora
with WindSync
New York, New York
Seth Grosshandler: Miniatures on 853-4542 for Clarinet, Cello and Piano
Robert Schumann: Märchenerzählungen for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, Op. 132
with Matthew Lipman, Audrey Chen and Min Young Kang
Indiana, Pennsylvania
Nadia Boulanger/arr. LaMoure: Three Pieces
Philip Glass/arr. LaMoure: Etude No. 17
Elliott Carter: Woodwind Quintet (1948)
Osvaldo Golijov/arr. Kara LaMoure: Tenebrae
Viet Cuong: Flora
with WindSync
New Haven, Connecticut
Nadia Boulanger/arr. LaMoure: Three Pieces
Philip Glass/arr. LaMoure: Etude No. 17
Viet Cuong: Flora
Elliott Carter: Woodwind Quintet (1948)
Quincy Jones/arr. Owen Broder: The Midnight Sun Will Never Set
George Gershwin/arr. Reinhard Gutschy: Rhapsody in Blue
with Melvin Chen and WindSync
New Haven, Connecticut
Seth Grosshandler: Miniatures on 853-4542 for Clarinet, Cello and Piano
Robert Schumann: Märchenerzählungen for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, Op. 132
with Matthew Lipman, Audrey Chen and Min Young Kang
Charleston, South Carolina
Join us for a lecture concert with guest clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson, who will introduce us to the historic basset Clarinet. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 (which Graeme will be performing with Chamber Music Charleston on November 8), was originally written for the basset clarinet, an extended-range instrument designed for his friend, the virtuoso clarinetist Anton Stadler.
Bach: Sarabande from Cello Suite No. 1 in G major
Viet Cuong: Apparition for solo clarinet
Duke Ellington: The Single Petal of a Rose [trans. Graeme Steele Johnson after Ken Peplowski]
Charleston, South Carolina
Mozart: Quintet for Basset Clarinet and Strings in A major, K. 581
Loeffler: Octet for Two Clarinets, Harp, Two Violins, Viola, Cello and Double Bass [revised and reconstructed by Graeme Steele Johnson]
with Stella Chen, Francis Hsieh, Ben Weiss, Timothy O’Malley, Zachary Hobin, Charles Messersmith and Eric Sabatino
Macon, Georgia
Väsen/arr. Kara LaMoure: Linnaeus Polones
Carl Nielsen: Quintet
Nathalie Joachim: Stumble, Fall, Fly
Viet Cuong: Flora
Lansing, Michigan
Väsen/arr. Kara LaMoure: Linnaeus Polones
Carl Nielsen: Quintet
Osvaldo Golijov/arr. Kara LaMoure: Tenebrae
Viet Cuong: Flora
with WindSync
New York, New York
Martin Bresnick: “And I Always Thought” for Clarinet, Violin and Piano
with Emma Meinrenken and Lisa Moore
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Alan Shulman: Rendezvous
Martin Bresnick: The Winter’s Tale (a Folly)
Viet Cuong: Compass
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
with the Balourdet Quartet
Chicago, Illinois
Stravinsky: Pulcinella [arr. Kirschbaum]
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
with Anita Graef and Juliani Ensemble
Houston, Texas
Repertoire TBD
with Rachell Ellen Wong, David Belkovski, Austin Lewellen, Tonya Burton, WindSync and more
Houston, Texas
Poulenc: Mouvements perpétuels
Berio: Beatles Songs
Beethoven: Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20
with Rachell Ellen Wong, David Belkovski, Austin Lewellen, Tonya Burton, WindSync and more
Blue Hill, Maine
Väsen/arr. Kara LaMoure: Linnaeus Polones
Carl Nielsen: Quintet
Antonio Vivaldi/arr. LaMoure: Trio Sonata in D minor “La Follia,” RV 63
Viet Cuong: Flora
with WindSync
Charleston, South Carolina
Jonathan Ragonese: non-poem 4
Mieczysław Weinberg: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 28
Viet Cuong: Apparition
Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
with Min Young Kang
San Diego, California
Kian Ravaei: Freedom is the Thing with Feathers (world premiere)
Additional repertoire TBD
with WindSync
Sheridan, Wyoming
Nielsen: Wind Quintet
Vivaldi/arr. LaMoure: Trio Sonata in D minor “La Follia,” RV 63
Ravaei: Freedom Is the Thing with Feathers
with WindSync
Buffalo, New York
“New Old Music”: Rehearing the American Sound Through Loeffler’s Lost Octet (conference paper)
Hilton Head, South Carolina
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Additional repertoire TBD
with Jon Kimura Parker and WindSync
Fredericksburg, Texas
Nielsen: Wind Quintet
Vivaldi/arr. LaMoure: Trio Sonata in D minor “La Follia,” RV 63
Ravaei: Freedom Is the Thing with Feathers
with WindSync
Chicago, Illinois
Messiaen: Selections from Catalogue d'oiseaux
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
with Maria Ioudenitch, Alexander Hersh and Daniel Pesca
Chicago, Illinois
Messiaen: Selections from Catalogue d'oiseaux
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
with Maria Ioudenitch, Alexander Hersh and Daniel Pesca
Andover, Massachusetts
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [arr. Graeme Steele Johnson]
Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp
Mahler: Songs of a Wayfarer [arr. Schoenberg]
with Raman Ramakrishnan, Lucia Lin, Don Palma, Stephanie Fong, Charles Overton, Rachel Siders, Kara Dugan, Samuel Solomon, Sarita Kwok and Julie Scolnik
Andover, Massachusetts
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [arr. Graeme Steele Johnson]
Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp
Mahler: Songs of a Wayfarer [arr. Schoenberg]
with Raman Ramakrishnan, Lucia Lin, Don Palma, Stephanie Fong, Charles Overton, Rachel Siders, Kara Dugan, Samuel Solomon, Sarita Kwok and Julie Scolnik
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