With his musical roots stemming from the “Music City” of Nashville, Tennessee, Dr. Christian Johnson began piano lessons at five years old with a deep curiosity to explore every aspect of a growing musician. Dr. Johnson’s solo performances have not only achieved superior ratings in piano competitions and undergraduate performance awards, but have also centered around modern music composers’ lives, including American composers Victoria Bond and Elizabeth R. Austin. Following his final doctoral solo recital, “The Last Judgement: Franz Liszt’s B minor Sonata as a Sacrament,” Dr. Johnson has developed a passion for creating and sharing programmatic concerts with a deepened philosophical and spiritual connection that go beyond traditional recital structures.
Dr. Johnson’s musical experiences were highly concentrated in collaborative music early on in his graduate coursework. Following his studies at international music festivals, such as the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy (2015), and the East/West International Piano Festivals in China (2016-18), Dr. Johnson’s collegiate ensemble, the Cascada Piano Quartet (2017-19), performed in numerous chamber music honors recitals and volunteer outreach events. In 2021, Dr. Johnson was the coordinator and publicity manager for the “Celebration of Victoria Bond” concert at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and gave the world premiere for Bond’s song cycle, “From an Antique Land,” for baritone and piano.
Beyond the scope of performance and education, Dr. Johnson has worked closely with other award-winning composers, such as Philip Glass, to arrange and digitize their manuscripts. In 2020, Dr. Johnson engraved Victoria Bond’s “Black Light” concerto for piano and orchestra from the handwritten manuscript, and later co-arranged the work for two pianos, four hands. For the next two years, Dr. Johnson worked alongside Bond and Dr. Paul Barnes to produce both digital and print editions of the “Illuminations on Byzantine Chant” set for solo piano. Dr. Johnson completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree (2022) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and published his dissertation, “The Rose Fades: A Comprehensive Study of Elizabeth R. Austin’s Rose Sonata for Piano and Reciter.”