March 20, 2020 12:10 p.m. Online from the Sanctuary Friday Noonday Concert

Christopher Johnson, Piano

Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 31 Frederic Chopin (1810–1849) Mazurka Op. 17, No. 4 in A Minor F. Chopin Etude Op. 10, No. 12 in C Minor “Revolutionary” F. Chopin Consolation No. 3 in D-flat Major Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Rhapsody on “America the Beautiful” (Chicago Premiere) Christopher Johnson Rhapsody in Blue George Gershwin (1898–1937)  Christopher Johnson, American concert pianist, has appeared extensively in recital, on radio and TV, as soloist with orchestras, and in chamber ensembles throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America, and Europe, winning extraordinarily high critical acclaim. In New York City, Christopher Johnson made his solo recital debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall followed by eight performances with the One World Symphony performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1; and Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor. He soloed with dozens of other symphony orchestras including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey, the Garden State Philharmonic, the Greater Trenton Symphony, the Westfield Symphony, and the Plainfield Symphony (with whom he performed more than ten different piano concerti as Artist-in-Residence from 1999 to 2007). During the summer of 2017, Christopher toured New England comprising nine performances under the auspices of the Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine, which included virtuoso and poetic Chopin; the complete unabridged Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2; an exploration of Debussy, Joplin, and Gershwin; and three premieres of original works. Vadim Ghin Music meanwhile launched the YouTube release of his 2016 debut with the New York Concerti Sinfonietta performing Rachmaninoff’sPiano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, and Temmer Artist Management released his original “Rhapsody on America the Beautiful.” During the summer of 2018, Christopher made his solo recital debut at the renowned Bickford Theater in New Jersey and returned for his third reengagement at the Fine Arts Museum of St. Petersburg in Florida. He then returned to the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum on Lake George for the twelfth time to deliver a special solo recital featuring Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the WWI Armistice. The summer of 2018 saw five additional solo recitals throughout Maine and a performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor with the Bar Harbor (Continued on page 2) Music Festival String Orchestra. In 2019 Christopher performed the Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Monteux Heritage Orchestra, later becoming a regular performer in David Dubal’s “Piano Evenings” series. During that summer, he performed the Chopin Etudes, Op. 10 (complete) at the Bar Harbor Music Festival and returned to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with the Monteux Heritage Orchestra in January of 2020. Christopher has performed twenty-three seasons with the Bar Harbor Music Festival totaling more than one hundred performances through their touring program. He additionally has given dozens of performances at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine from 1999 through 2018, including seven different piano concerti with their orchestra. He has made twelve appearances at the Marcella Sembrich Opera Museum and performed the Horowitz and Sousa “Stars and Stripes Forever” in Washington, D.C. (Lincoln Memorial) at the 2001 Presidential All-Star Gala for President George W. Bush. In 2008 Alfred Music Publishing internationally released his book Popular Performer: Broadway, which comprises advanced piano arrangements of Broadway shows. Born in New Jersey, Christopher received early piano instruction from Paul DiDario. He received his B.M. in 1996 from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Abbey Simon and assisted David Dubal. In 2017 Christopher was acknowledged and quoted in Inner Voices: Abbey Simon with Garnet Ungar. Pursuing further studies with Byron Janis and Marc Silverman at the Manhattan School of Music, he received his M.M. in 1998 and his D.M.A. in 2003. Christopher has served on the piano faculty of the United Nations International School in New York City for three years, and he has been teaching privately for the past sixteen years, hosting annual student recitals at Steinway Hall in Manhattan. Striving to always improve performances, Christopher continues to receive coaching from acclaimed pianist Olegna Fuschi.

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 Our free Friday Noonday Concert Series is enabled by two generous gifts: one in memory of Pamela L. McGaan, devoted wife and mother, lover of music, and longtime member of Fourth Presbyterian Church, and one from the estate of Ann Dow Weinberg, also a longtime member of Fourth Church and a lover of music as well as a faithful attender of these Friday Noonday Concerts. 

For more information about concerts at Fourth Presbyterian Church, visit www.fourthchurch.org/concerts

John W. W. Sherer, Organist and Director of Music Chris Norton, Music Coordinator Fourth Presbyterian Church | 126 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, IL 60611.2014 312.787.4570 | www.fourthchurch.org