Biography
American clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson first drew notice through his recovery of an Octet scored for two clarinets, harp, and strings by Charles Martin Loeffler. Even while still a student he appeared frequently as a recitalist and ensemble musician, and he maintains a parallel career as a music writer, supplying notes for numerous concert series. The world-premiere account of Loeffler’s Octet, issued in 2024, features him as performer.
Born in December 1992, Johnson completed a bachelor of music degree in clarinet performance at the University of Texas at Austin in 2015 under Nathan Williams. During those undergraduate years he participated in several institutes, among them the Brevard Music Center’s summer program with Steve Cohen and sessions at Canada’s Banff Centre with Yehuda Gilad and Todd Palmer. He continued at Yale University, earning a master’s degree in 2017 after instruction from David Shifrin and Ricardo Morales; while in New Haven he also served as substitute clarinetist for the New Haven Symphony. His first commercial recording, the 2021 MSR release The Art of Transcription, presented works for clarinet and strings.
Johnson has appeared as soloist with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Vienna International Orchestra, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, among additional ensembles, and has performed as distantly as Lviv, Ukraine. Since 2022 he has belonged to the wind group WindSync. Residing in New York, he works regularly as a freelance clarinetist and contributes articles to the journal The Clarinet as well as program notes for both Chamber Music Northwest in Portland and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic he located and reconstructed an Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler for two clarinets, harp, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass that survives in the Library of Congress holdings. A Washington Post profile examined the project, and Johnson himself discussed it in a TED talk; joined by fellow wind players, he presented the first performance and taped the score for Delos in 2024.
Born in December 1992, Johnson completed a bachelor of music degree in clarinet performance at the University of Texas at Austin in 2015 under Nathan Williams. During those undergraduate years he participated in several institutes, among them the Brevard Music Center’s summer program with Steve Cohen and sessions at Canada’s Banff Centre with Yehuda Gilad and Todd Palmer. He continued at Yale University, earning a master’s degree in 2017 after instruction from David Shifrin and Ricardo Morales; while in New Haven he also served as substitute clarinetist for the New Haven Symphony. His first commercial recording, the 2021 MSR release The Art of Transcription, presented works for clarinet and strings.
Johnson has appeared as soloist with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Vienna International Orchestra, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, among additional ensembles, and has performed as distantly as Lviv, Ukraine. Since 2022 he has belonged to the wind group WindSync. Residing in New York, he works regularly as a freelance clarinetist and contributes articles to the journal The Clarinet as well as program notes for both Chamber Music Northwest in Portland and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic he located and reconstructed an Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler for two clarinets, harp, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass that survives in the Library of Congress holdings. A Washington Post profile examined the project, and Johnson himself discussed it in a TED talk; joined by fellow wind players, he presented the first performance and taped the score for Delos in 2024.
Albums
