Biography

Celeste Johnson is currently Professor of Oboe at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and remains active as a performer, pedagogue, clinician and presenter. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and teacher, Professor Johnson balances an active performing career with a passion for teaching the next generation of oboists and musicians.

Professor Johnson maintains an active performance calendar within the region, country and abroad. Each July, she performs with Summerfest, a chamber music series based in Kansas City for which she is also an artistic advisor. Celeste continues to perform as a substitute with the Kansas City Symphony and regularly performs recitals alongside clinics and masterclasses across the United States. Professor Johnson has also performed twice as a featured concerto soloist with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, of which she was a member for eleven seasons prior to moving to Kansas City.  As a performer, Celeste has presented concerts in Japan, Colombia, Switzerland, the Isle of Man (British Isles), Canada and across the United States.

As a recording artist, Professor Johnson has released several recordings. KaleidosCoping, featuring 21st century compositions for flute, oboe and piano, was released in 2019.  Her second album, Wider Than the Sky, features compositions by women composers was released in 2022.  She can be heard playing English horn on the recording Jurrian Andriessen; Music for Oboe and Winds, which was released in 2023.

Professor Johnson has performed in orchestras, festivals and as a soloist at national and international venues. She performed as Principal Oboe with the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Russian String Orchestra, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Tulsa Opera Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic and Quad Cities Symphony.

Celeste Johnson has worked with oboists across the globe as the recipient of fellowships to numerous music festivals and programs. She has received fellowships to attend the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland. She has also performed at the Sarasota Music Festival, Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Pine Mountain Music Festival, and at the Banff Centre masterclasses in Alberta, Canada. A two-time finalist and prize-winner in the Gillet/Fox International Oboe Competition, Celeste was also a prize-winner in the Barbirolli International Oboe competition and won the University of Illinois Concerto Competition.

As a teacher, Professor Johnson has taught for various camps and festivals across the United States. She served as a faculty member at the Bay View Music Festival for three years and the Filarmonica Joven de Colombia in South America for two of their tours across South America. She has taught numerous masterclasses at high schools and universities across the country, in addition to hosting and teaching at a variety of camps for high school and collegiate oboists. Prior to moving to Kansas City, she taught at Oklahoma State University for twelve years.

Professor Johnson maintains active memberships in professional organizations and has presented and performed at many conferences including the International and Midwest Double Reed Societies.  She served for four years as chair of the Norma Hooks Young Artist Competition, hosted by the International Double Reed Society bi-annually. She has presented double reed clinics at the Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma Music Educators Association conferences, presenting on the topic of double reed fundamentals and pedagogy for K-12 teachers, directors and performers.

Ms. Johnson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her primary teachers include Richard Killmer, Nancy Ambrose King, Dan Stolper and Phil Koch.