Fall 2009 eNews: InterNetzo
Alumni Spotlight: Michael Johanson

By Sarah Summar

One afternoon in 1979, the shy 10-year-old Michael Johanson, was roaming the halls of the Peabody Preparatory school when he noticed a flyer for a summer music camp unlike any other. “I was kind of awestruck that there was this composition camp,” Michael recalls. At that time, he had begun taking saxophone lessons and was also composing melodies on his own, so he was excited about the idea of spending his summer as part of a community of composers, completely immersed in musical study and surrounded by nature.

It should be no surprise then that what Michael remembers most vividly about his early impressions of Walden are “being surrounded by music and dedicated musicians, while also having the opportunity to commune with the beautiful natural setting, summit gorgeous mountains, and revel in the deep sense of community.” “I fell in love with Walden early on,” he says of his first summer in the Young Musicians Program. “It became clear that this was a place to which I desperately wanted to return.” And he did return, for seven more summers as a student and later for four years as a faculty member. From his student days, Michael has fond recollections of studying Gregorian chant with David Hogan, orchestration with John Yankee, and baroque dance with Pat Plude. Of the latter, he remembers partnering up to actually learn the steps to a number of the baroque dances, something he’d never done in his previous studies of baroque music. He is also grateful for the rigorous training he received in solfège and in score reading during his many summers in Dublin, New Hampshire.

Another Walden experience that stands out in his memory is David Drucker’s 20th Century music course. “That class was all about exposing us to the gamut of music that was out there. It opened my mind to different creative possibilities and what I might listen to after the summer was over.” Michael additionally cites Pam Quist’s composition class, in which students examined set theory and various other ways to write music outside of traditional techniques, as a “mind-expanding” experience.

Today, Michael lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Lewis and Clark College. He also serves as Assistant Director of Friends of Rain, the school’s faculty new music ensemble. The group premiered Michael’s Summer Rhapsody for brass quintet in the March 2008. The composer says he drew his inspiration in part from the “beauty and glory of the radiant sun” that mark the arrival of summer in the Northwest. He was also inspired by the warm character and personality of his Lewis and Clark colleague, John Richards, for whom the tuba part was composed. “John’s joyful, ever-positive approach to life and his great, abiding passion for music and teaching has been an inspiration to so many.”

In September 2008, Michael was awarded an Artist Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. While in residence at MacDowell, he worked on a composition entitled Earth Dweller, a setting of a poem by poet William Stafford for full chorus. The Oregon Repertory Singers commissioned this work as part of its first Gil Seeley Prize in composition, and the work was premiered in April 2009 under the direction of Gil Seeley. Other recent compositional projects include a setting of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias for baritone and piano, a set of contrapuntal pieces for piano, and a work commissioned by viola and piano duo Duo Nocturna.

Michael teaches various courses in music theory, composition, and orchestration at Lewis and Clark in addition to providing individual composition instruction. He strives in his teaching to help students not only to acquire a strong background in fundamental concepts, but also to find new and imaginative ways to relate those concepts to actual music, or as he puts it, “ to use technical skill as an important stepping-stone to the development of a personal creative voice.” What he finds most rewarding about teaching is seeing his students deepening their understanding and appreciation of music and then applying what they have learned to their own creative work.

When Michael is not teaching or composing, he enjoys spending time with his wife Maria Lourdes Diaz-Johanson (a.k.a. Malou) and son, Ethan, age 7. Malou stays busy teaching piano, directing two church choirs and performing. Ethan recently composed a piece entitled Yankee Morning, a creative fusion of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and Edvard Grieg’s Morning.

Looking back, Michael remarks that what made his Walden education so rich was the holistic philosophy and pedagogical approach of the program. “You’re taking classes on a daily basis, with constant opportunities to connect with music of many kinds. Even in the relatively short time period of five weeks, so much gets accomplished. I emerged from each summer session with a mind teeming with new ideas along with new skills that had been so well assimilated …it’s the kind of experience that stays with you.” When asked what he would say to new Walden students about their first summer experience, Michael’s response was that “what they are embarking on is a unique experience. Although there are other programs where one can study composition, I’m still not aware of one that’s quite like Walden – one that’s centered around composition, but that doesn’t assume a lot of background, that includes classes, chorus, private meetings with composition teachers and has this beautiful environment and this overarching sense of community. Students new to Walden are in for a treat.”

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Michael Johanson