Cal Johnson became the official organist at First Presbyterian Church, Marietta, in January 2006, following two lengthy interim periods in 2004 and 2005. He has served as a substitute and interim organist at a number of churches in metro Atlanta since 1986. Some of those congregations blessed by Cal’s gift include Clairmont Presbyterian, North Avenue Presbyterian, Shallowford Presbyterian, First Presbyterian Atlanta, Druid Hills Presbyterian, Peachtree Christian, Peachtree Roads United Methodist, Dunwoody United Methodist, and Decatur Presbyterian Churches. Immediately after completing his doctorate, his first full-time position was as Director of Music at First United Methodist Church of El Dorado, Arkansas. In Cal’s current full-time position, he is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Music at Agnes Scott College, College Organist, and chair of the music department.
Cal began his music studies in Denver, taking piano lessons from the third grade, violin lessons from the fifth grade, organ and viola lessons from the seventh grade, and oboe lessons from the ninth grade. He went to Kalamazoo College intending to major in Russian. Influenced by a year’s study in Madrid, Spain, where he first studied Spanish Renaissance and Baroque keyboard music in addition to the Kalamazoo College curriculum of Spanish language, history, art, and theatre, Cal realized he was more interested in the Musical field than in language. He went on to earn the master's and doctorate in organ performance at Northwestern University, where he studied with Karel Paukert, and wrote a dissertation on early Spanish organ music and its performance. Following his doctoral study, and through the Fulbright-Hays program and a French Government Grant, he studied with Xavier Darasse at the Toulouse Conservatoire, from which he was awarded the Premier Prix (Médaille d'Or).
An active performer, Cal has played organ and harpsichord recitals throughout the USA, Mexico, Japan, England, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, and Switzerland, and has recorded for Calcante Recordings. Prominent performances include the Piccolo Spoleto Festival; Cleveland Museum of Art; International Organ Festival of Morelia, Mexico; programs for Radio-France; College Music Society (San Francisco, Santa Fe, Savannah, and Atlanta,); Chicago chapter of the National Association of Negro Musicians, and the Kennedy Center, Washington.
While first known as a specialist in early music, Cal has established himself as a champion of composers from under-represented groups, including women, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. A typical recital will feature a mixture of canonic works (Bach, Mendelssohn, Widor) along with works by these marginalized composers. Organ voluntaries at First Presbyterian also demonstrate this interest in inclusivity and multi-culturalism.
Cal is the author of volumes on Spain, Italy, and England 1550-1830 in the series Historical Organ Techniques and Repertoire: An Historical Survey of Organ Performance Practices and Repertoire, as well as editing the earliest known manuscript of Mexican organ music for Wayne Leupold Editions. His editions of compositions by women are published by Vivace Press, ClarNan Editions, Hildegard Publishing, and G. K. Hall. His recording Chicago Renaissance Woman: Florence B. Price Organ Works was awarded the third annual prize by the Sonneck Society for American Music.
Past Dean of the Atlanta chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Johnson is Past President of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, and co-chaired the College Music Society’s Committee on Music, Women, and Gender. He also serves on the Anti-Racism Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. |
