Graeme Steele Johnson, Clarinet

Praised as “technically and interpretively impeccable and passionately communicative” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), Graeme Steele Johnson is an artist of uncommon imagination and versatility. The clarinetist, arranger and “musical detective” (New York Classical Review) recently garnered widespread 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. 

Johnson’s recent and upcoming performances include appearances at the Library of Congress, Chamber Music Northwest, Ravinia, Emerald City Music, and the Bridgehampton, Rockport, Orcas Island and Phoenix Chamber Music Festivals, as well as solo recitals at The Kennedy Center and Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series. He also appears annually as a core artist at the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, Archipelago Collective Chamber Music Festival and Caroga Lake Music Festival. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the Vienna International Orchestra, 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, one of only two American wind quintets with a full-time, international touring schedule.

In 2020, Johnson discovered the unpublished manuscript to a forgotten, 125-year-old Octet by Charles Martin Loeffler, one of the most performed American composers of his time. After reconstructing the score from the 75-page manuscript, Johnson released the world-premiere recording of the work on his album Forgotten Sounds in the spring of 2024, coinciding with the first present-day performances of the piece at the Library of Congress, Morgan Library, Harvard Musical Association, Phoenix Chamber Music Festival and The Stissing Center. The project drew extensive features and critical acclaim from The Washington Post, The Times, Gramophone, The Strad, Musical America, The Boston Musical Intelligencer and many others.

Driven by his interest in shedding fresh perspective on familiar music, Johnson gave a TEDx talk comparing Mozart and Seinfeld, and has authored numerous chamber arrangements of repertoire ranging from Mozart and Debussy to Gershwin and Messiaen. In addition to his own performances with such artists as the Miró Quartet, Valerie Coleman and Bridget Kibbey, his arrangements have also been championed by others around the world, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Moscow Conservatory, La Jolla Music Society, Krzyżowa Chamber Music Festival (Poland) and multiple commissions from The Happenstancers (Toronto).

Johnson is the winner of the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition and the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition; other recent accolades include CUNY’s Elebash Dissertation Award, 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 Productions/Outhere Music, and has previously recorded for Hyperion Records, Azica Records, MSR Classics and Musica Solis Productions.

Johnson completed undergraduate study at The University of Texas at Austin under the tutelage of Nathan Williams. He earned graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with David Shifrin and Ricardo Morales and was twice awarded the school's Alumni Association Prize, followed by doctoral study with Charles Neidich and Kofi Agawu at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.