Hailed as “brilliant” by
the Washington Post, LURA JOHNSON enjoys a varied career as chamber
musician, solo artist, orchestral musician, and teacher
which has taken her across the US, England, France, and
the Netherlands. She has been presented as a solo artist
at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Washington
D.C.’s Phillips Collection and in various collaborations
at the Kennedy Center, the Corcoran Gallery, the
National Gallery, and Strathmore Music Center. Johnson
was recently handpicked by legendary pianist and teacher
Leon Fleisher to appear in recital at Carnegie Hall. Her
performances have been broadcast on WETA’s
Front Row
Washington and
WYPR’s Onstage
with the BSO and she was featured in a live
performance and interview on WVPR Vermont Public Radio
and on Maryland Public Television’s Artworks This
Week.
One of Baltimore/Washington’s most active chamber
musicians, Ms. Johnson plays regularly in the Baltimore
Symphony and is the recital partner of choice for many of
its members, including concertmaster Jonathan Carney, with
whom she presented the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas. She
has collaborated with members of the Peabody Trio, members
of the Corigliano, Brentano, Borromeo, Muir, and Fry Street
String Quartets, and as a guest artist with the Garth Newel
and Marian Anderson Quartets. In the summer of 2009 she was
appointed the Artistic Director of the Baltimore chamber
music series, Music in the Great Hall. As an orchestral
musician she has worked with conductors Jahja Ling, Michael
Stern, Christoph von Dohnanyi, and Marin Alsop. In 2002
Johnson and award winning flutist Christina Jennings
founded the Jennings-Johnson Duo, whose magnetic
performances challenge the traditional hierarchy of soloist
and accompanist. The Duo tours regularly throughout the US
and released its first recording in January 2006 to
critical acclaim. The American Record Guide writes of her
playing, “rich, deep tone and impeccable technique…
dazzling…” Flutist Quarterly declares, “Jennings and
Johnson are truly a “duo”, a shared partnership of equal
voices that are matched in musical understanding and
approach to interpretation. Even when the flute is more
prominently featured in the melodic line, the sensitive
underpinning and comment by the piano accompaniment is sure
and supportive. The inherent challenge of ensuring the
listener does not miss the color of the original orchestral
accompaniment is well met by Johnson.”
Johnson is a prominent member of the new music community,
performing regularly with both the Towson New Music
Ensemble and the Contemporary Music Forum’s VERGE Ensemble,
the ground-breaking ensemble in residence at Washington’s
Corcoran Gallery. The Washington Post writes, “[VERGE
Ensemble] puts modern classical music in front of the
public with more dedication and skill than any other group
in Washington.” VERGE Ensemble was ensemble in residence at
the 2009 June in Buffalo Festival for Contemporary Music in
Buffalo, NY. Johnson earned top honors for best performance
of a contemporary work at both the Garrison Competition and
the International Russian Music Competition. She
commissions and premieres new works, was recently a
featured performer in a contemporary music festival in
Paris, and recently premiered two new works at the Library
of Congress in a concert celebrating the 100th birthday of
Elliott Carter.
Ms. Johnson holds degrees from Rice University’s Shepherd
School of Music, and went on to study with luminaries Leon
Fleisher and Robert McDonald at the Peabody Institute. A
native of Oberlin, Ohio and daughter of musical parents,
she has served on the faculty of the Sequoia Chamber Music
Workshop and currently teaches at the Peabody Institute and
Loyola College. When she isn’t at the piano, Lura enjoys
both social and competitive ballroom and swing
dancing.