Graham Johnson

"That peerless song accompanist” (Daily Telegraph) Graham Johnson formed the Songmakers' Almanac and has appeared in recital with Sir Thomas Allen, Victoria de los Angeles, Elly Ameling, Arleen Auger, Ian Bostridge, Brigitte Fassbaender, Matthias Goerne, Thomas Hampson, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Philip Langridge, Serge Leiferkus, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Edith Mathis, Ann Murray, Lucia Popp, Christoph Prégardien, Dame Margaret Price, Thomas Quastoff, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Dorothea Röschmann, Kate Royal, Christine Schaefer, Peter Schreier, Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Sarah Walker.

 His relationship with Wigmore Hall is a special one; he devised and accompanied concerts for the hall’s re-opening series in 1992 and its centenary celebrations of 2001. As Senior Professor of Accompaniment at GSMD, he has led a biennial scheme for Young Songmakers since 1985. Many recordings for Hyperion include the entire Schubert and Schumann Lieder. He has also recorded for Sony, BMG, Harmonia Mundi, Forlane, EMI and DG. Awards include the Gramophone solo vocal award with Dame Janet Baker (1989), Ian Bostridge (1996), Christine Schäfer (1997) and Magdalena Kozena (2001). He is author of: The Songmakers’ Almanac; Twenty years of recitals in London (Thames Publishing, 1996); The French Song Companion (Oxford University Press, 2000); The Vocal Music of Benjamin Britten; Gabriel Faure - the Songs and their Poets; Franz Schubert: The Complete Songs (Yale University Press, 2014). 

Graham Johnson was made an OBE in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours list, created Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Government in 2002, made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2010, and awarded the Wigmore Hall Medal in 2013. He received Honorary Doctorates from Durham University, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. He was awarded the Hugo Wolf Medal in 2014 for his services to the art of song.