Daniel Johnson, Artistic Director
Daniel Johnson has been the founder and artistic director of the Texas Early Music Project since its inception in 1987. Johnson was also the director of the UT Early Music Ensemble, one of the largest and most active in the U.S., from 1986 to 2003. He was a member of the Higher Education Committee of Early Music America from 1996-2000. In 1998, he was awarded Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for university ensemble directors and he was also the recipient of the 1997 Quattlebaum Award at the College of Charleston. Johnson teaches master classes in performance practice and technique at various workshops, including the SFEMS Medieval-Renaissance Workshop, the Texas Toot, and Amherst Early Music Festival. He is assistant co-director of the Amherst Early Music Festival and has directed the Texas Toot workshops since 2002. He was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
Johnson has toured extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East performing Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music both as a soloist and ensemble member in such groups as the New York Ensemble for Early Music, Sotto Voce (San Francisco), and Musa Iberica (London). He has performed frequently at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, and with various Texas ensembles including The Clearlight Waites, Texas Baroque Ensemble, the New Texas Consort (now Conspirare), the Texas Choral Consort, La Follia Austin Baroque, Istanpitta, and the Schola Cantorum at Austin’s St. Mary Cathedral.
He has studied performance practice and technique in workshops with William Christie, Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras, the Hilliard Ensemble, Andrew Parrott, Nigel Rogers, Alejandro Planchart, Julianne Baird, Drew Minter, Paul Elliott, Benjamin Bagby, and with many of the pioneers of the early music movement who have since passed away, including Thomas Binkley, Andrea van Ramm, Philip Brett, Paul Echols, and Barbara Thornton.
In addition to TEMP and Amherst recordings, he may be heard on “The Fire and the Rose: Aquitanian Chant & Polyphony” by the San Francisco-based ensemble Heliotrope, recorded on Koch International Classics. Other TEMP performers and frequent guests on this recording are Stephanie Prewitt, Temmo Korisheli, and Kit Robberson.
The Fire and the Rose: Aquitanian Chant
Ensemble Heliotrope with TEMP members Daniel Johnson, Stephanie Prewitt, Temmo Korisheli, and Kit Robberson
Listen to excerpts on the Allmusic.com page, read liner notes on the SonusAntiqva page, and purchase on Amazon and Tower Records.
Many of TEMP's members have performed on recordings released on other labels. Please see individual biographies of TEMP vocalists and instrumentalists for links to their other work.
For information on Texas Early Music Project recordings, please visit the Recordings page.