Review of The Spirit and the Dust – Percussive Notes, December 2020
The brilliant Canadian percussionist Beverley Johnston shines as usual on her seventh solo recording, The Spirit and the Dust’, along with accompanying musician Marc Djokic (violin) and the Amici Chamber Ensemble (Joaquin Valdepañas/clarinet, David Hetherington/cello and Serouj Kradjian/piano). This…
Read MoreReview of ‘Spirit and the Dust’ in Wholenote Magazine July 2, 2020
By Andrew Timar The Spirit and the Dust Beverley Johnston; Mark Djokic; Amici EnsembleCentrediscs CMCCD 27920 Purchase: CMC Dubbed, “a champion of new, genre-busting works” (DRUM! Magazine), Canadian percussionist Beverley Johnston is a rara avis in this country: a percussion soloist …
Read MoreBev@60! January 11, 2018 at Walter Hall
Hard to believe that I’ve entered my 7th decade on this earth! YIKES. Well, I have a concert to celebrate this event. Hope you can make it! Thursday, January 11, 2018 (12 noon) Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building, 80 Queens Park, Toronto. Marimba Recital with special guest Marc Djokic, violin and m…
Read MorePerspective d’Hildegarde – Workshop in Montreal
On November 25 and 26 I had my first gathering with the all female cast of musicians/composers for our concert based on the music and poetry of 12th Century abbess/mystic/poet/composer Hildegarde of Bingen. Final concerts will be on April 5 and 8, 2018 at the most beautiful reverberant church I’ve h…
Read MoreNational Ballet Orchestra – The Winter’s Tale Nov 2017
Had a wonderful 2 weeks in November 2017 with the National Ballet Orchestra playing mostly marimba in their production of “The Winter’s Tale”. Music by Joby Talbot. Check out my set up!!!
Read MoreIBMW (Ivana Bilic Marimba Week) in Croatia Sept 2017
Yes, I’m still keeping active as a soloist with numerous domestic and international invites to different marimba/percussion-centric events plus various concerts and festivals in Canada and abroad. My latest adventure was with IBMW (Ivana Bilic Marimba Week) in Croatia (September 2017) where I was ke…
Read More‘PROFESSOR JOHNSTON’ – University of Toronto
Life is busy and even more complete by sharing knowledge and experience with the percussion students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music. I have been teaching there since 1996! Looking forward to some more great performances and teaching experiences there as the years go by. Russell Harte…
Read MoreRecent Commission: The Spirit and the Dust by Dinuk Wijeratne written in 2016
An interesting new commission I would like to share is a marimba solo called The Spirit and the Dust by Dinuk Wijeratne written in 2016. It is a ten-minute multi-movement work that certainly highlights some interesting and unusual colours from the marimba! Check out the audio at… http://www.dinukwi…
Read MoreWorld premier by Christos Hatzis at IKMMA (International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba Academy)
In 2013 and 2015 I was invited to Katarzyna Mycka’s popular IKMMA (International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba Academy) where, in 2015, I premiered the work PHOSPHORUS for marimba and audio playback by Christos Hatzis. Here is a live performance I did of the piece at Walter Hall in Toronto from December 2…
Read MoreCOLLABORATION: Marc Djokic
Over recent years, Canadian violinist extraordinaire Marc Djokic and I have been performing eclectic repertoire for violin and marimba/percussion with performances at many different Canadian festivals and concert series. Here is a link to a video of our debut concert in Toronto featuring excerpts of…
Read MoreCOLLABORATION: Susan Hoeppner
I continue to enjoy my duo with internationally renowned flautist Susan Hoeppner. We will be performing on a series called MUSIC MONDAYS on August 13, 2018 at 12noon. Venue is the beautiful Trinity Church near the Eaton Centre in Toronto. Here is a photo of one of our past performances at the Four S…
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