The clarinetist, curator and “musical detective” (New York Classical Review) recently garnered widespread 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 and named one of The New York Times’ Best Classical Music Albums of 2024. As artistic director of the Loeffler Octet touring ensemble, Johnson led the first present-day performances of the work at the Library of Congress, Morgan Library, Harvard Musical Association, Phoenix Chamber Music Festival and The Stissing Center, with upcoming outings at Chamber Music Northwest, Emerald City Music, Utsey Chamber Music Series, Cooperstown Summer Music Festival and more. Released on Johnson’s debut album Forgotten Sounds, the recording was also named BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Choice, Critics’ Choice and Editor’s Choice by Gramophone, and one of the best classical albums of 2024 by The Times of London, among other critical acclaim.

Other recent performances include appearances at Chamber Music Northwest, Ravinia, Emerald City Music and the Bridgehampton, Rockport, Moab and Orcas Island Chamber Music Festivals, as well as solo recitals at The Kennedy Center and Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series. Johnson also appears annually as a core artist at the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, Archipelago Collective Chamber Music Festival, Charles Ives 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 Johnson has served as the clarinetist of the award-winning quintet WindSync (MKI Artists), now in its 16th season and one of only two American wind quintets with a full-time, international touring schedule. Also sought after as a chamber musician outside of that group, Johnson has collaborated with such distinguished artists as Jon Kimura Parker, David Shifrin, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Peter Wiley and Bridget Kibbey, as well as the Miró, Aeolus, Callisto and KASA Quartets, Imani Winds, New York New Music Ensemble, Copland House Ensemble, Twelfth Night Ensemble and NEXUS Chamber Music.

Admired for his creative curation and engaging communication, Johnson gave a TEDx talk titled “Music About Nothing: Seinfeld and the Classical Style,” using the sitcom to decode the language of expectation and irony in music without a plot. He has curated programs for the Library of Congress, Chamber Music Northwest, Emerald City Music, Morgan Library, Harvard Musical Association, The Stissing Center and Kallos Chamber Music Series, and in 2026 will assume the position of Artistic Director of the Onstage Offstage Chamber Music Festival in Houston, Texas. 

Driven by his interest in shedding fresh perspective on familiar music, Johnson is known for providing incisive commentary from the stage and in writing, in essays and program notes published widely in journals, concert programs and album booklets. He has also authored numerous chamber arrangements that have been heard around the world, including performances by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Moscow Conservatory, La Jolla Music Society and Krzyżowa Chamber Music Festival (Poland).

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

Under the tutelage of Charles Neidich and Kofi Agawu, Johnson earned a doctoral degree from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 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.