Marc Johnson

For thirty-five years cellist Marc Johnson performed with the renowned Vermeer Quartet. The Quartet appeared regularly in the world's musical capitals on five continents and made extensive tours yearly in Europe and North America. Their recordings gathered critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, and included a version of the complete Beethoven string quartets on the Teldec label. The Quartet can also be heard on the Alden, Cedille, Orfeo, and Naxos labels. They received three Grammy^® nominations; one for Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, another for their recording of the Shostakovich and Schnittke Piano Quintets, and a third for the complete quartets of Bela Bartók. They appeared regularly at the world's great music festivals, and held residency positions with Northern Illinois University, Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Mr. Johnson continues to pursue an active career since the Quartet’s retirement in 2007, appearing in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras in North America and Europe. He is a frequent presenter of master classes in the United States and abroad. He and his wife, pianist Katherine Johnson, are co-directors of Bay Chamber Concerts, the Next Generation, a series of free chamber music seminars for students from the state of Maine. He has been active in the commissioning of new works for both cello and string quartet, and has recorded for CRI Records. He joined the faculty of Boston University in September 2007. In 2008 he was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Dominican University. He was also awarded the Chevalier du Violoncelle by the Eva Janzer Cello Center at Indiana University. His cello is a fine, old Italian instrument made c. 1730 by Francesco Stradivarius. He lives in Cushing, Maine, with his wife, two absurdly large dogs, and a sarcastic parrot.