Praised as “technically and interpretively impeccable and passionately communicative” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Graeme Steele Johnson is an artist of uncommon imagination and versatility.
The clarinetist, curator and “musical detective” (New York Classical Review) recently garnered international attention for his rediscovery, reconstruction and recording 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 (Delos/Outhere Music), Johnson’s 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 work’s first present-day performances at the Library of Congress, Morgan Library, Chamber Music Northwest, Harvard Musical Association, Emerald City Music, Phoenix Chamber Music Festival and many more.
Widely in demand as a chamber musician, Johnson has also performed recently at Ravinia, La Jolla Music Society and the Bridgehampton, Rockport, Moab, Cooperstown and Orcas Island Chamber Music Festivals. He has appeared in recital at The Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series and the Muse Salentine Festival in Italy, and as a concerto soloist 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.
Admired for his creative curation and engaging communication, Johnson has presented a TEDx talk comparing Mozart and Seinfeld, authored chamber arrangements heard around the world, and serves as Artistic Director of the Onstage Offstage Chamber Music Festival in Houston. Under the tutelage of Charles Neidich and Kofi Agawu, he earned a doctoral degree from the CUNY Graduate Center, 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.
