Tim Johnson

About Me

The music of composer, music theorist and classical guitarist Timothy Ernest Johnson has been performed in North America, Europe and Asia by such leading musicians as ALEA III Ensemble, Nois Saxophone Quartet, Clocks in Motion, Ensemble Paramirabo, Ensemble Mise-En, Ignacio Barcia, Jesse Langen, James Baur, Brad Freidman, the Pianissimo, Eun-Jung Auh, Winston Choi, Ensemble Dal Niente, Illinois Modern Ensemble, Due East, Spektral Quartet, Wingra Woodwind Quintet, Clarice Assad, Victor Castro, Brad Jungwirth, Kuang Hao Huang, Dan Barford, Katherine Bruton, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Larry Axelrod, Caroline Pittman, Craig Hultgren, Potts and Pans Steelband, Mark Sudeith, Mimmi Fulmer, Vincent Fuh, Tom Paynter, Quintet Attacca, Boston New Music Initiative, So Ra Kim, Global Pungmul Institute, Jeff Chan, Greg Dietrich, Denise Gill, David Psenicka, CUBE Ensemble, Robert Rathmell and Avanti Guitar Trio. Johnson was a finalist in the ALEA III International Composition Competition and has been a member of the Chicago Composers Consortium for 12 years. Johnson is also a cited researcher in microtonality and spent several years helping the Kepler String Quartet record the works of Ben Johnston.

Johnson completed a doctorate in Music Theory/Composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he studied composition with Erik Lund, Guy Garnett, Rick Taube, Jason Eckhardt, Warren Burt, William Brooks and Zack Browning. Johnson studied electronic and algorithmic music with Rick Taube, Scott Wyatt, Sever Tipei, Guy Garnett and James Beauchamp. Johnson was also a participant in the composition seminar of Herbert Brün.  Johnson did his Master’s work at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities where he studied composition with Dominick Argento, Lloyd Ultan, Judith Zaimont and Alex Lubet, and guitar with Jeffrey Van. At the University of Wisconsin/Madison Johnson studied composition with Steven Dembski, Joel Naumann and Robert Crane, and guitar with Javier Calderon. Over the years Johnson has had composition lessons from Andrew Imbrie, John Harbison, Tristan Murail, Vinko Globokar, Chou Wen-Chung, and Larry Austin, and guitar lessons from the Assad Duo and John Holmquist. Johnson also worked very closely with Ben Johnston in his research for his dissertation on Johnston’s String Quartet #7.

Dr. Johnson characterizes his teaching as follows: “My approach to teaching is to make sure that my instruction is worth students’ time and is something they will find beneficial. The ingredients to make this possible are 1. Thorough and ongoing professional training and activity 2. Thoughtful lesson/class preparation 3. Taking an interest in the process of teaching itself and how to improve. I always have more to improve, but I am happy that the feedback I get from students is largely positive. It is evident to them that I take teaching seriously and that I come prepared. I have 30 years of higher education teaching experience in private/class guitar, music theory/composition and electronic/algorithmic music.”