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  • 2025 Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance

    I am honoured to have received the ‘2025 Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance.’

    “This award is presented biennially to an outstanding Canadian performer or conductor in the field of classical music who has elevated their craft and been met with widespread acclaim.” – Ontario Arts Council

    The award was presented to me at one of the University of Toronto New Music Festival concerts on January 31, 2026. Past recipients have included Christina Petrowska, Angela Hewitt, Russell Braun and Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

    From the Ontario Arts Council announcement:
    The assessors were unanimous in selecting Beverley Johnston as the laureate of the 2025 Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music. They said, “Beverley’s artistry represents pure excellence. We were moved by her commitment to commissioning and premiering new works, which has expanded the Canadian repertoire and inspired future generations of percussionists. She is a visionary collaborator leading to the creation of unique interdisciplinary projects. Beverley has placed percussion and Canadian music at the forefront of today’s concert stage.”

  • Bev Johnston’s 8th solo recording ‘Finding Her Voice’ to be released April 24, 2026 on Navona Records

    FINDING HER VOICE is a journey through sound, history, and identity, curated and performed by Beverley Johnston. The recording brings together works by Julie Spencer, Christos Hatzis, Samuel Kerr, Frederic Rzewski, David Jaeger, and Johnston herself, whose two structured improvisations frame the album with personal reflection.

    Each piece resonates with the album’s central theme: the search for voice through iconic and historic female figures. Spencer’s Angels in Arches of Hildegard’s Bingen honors the visionary abbess Hildegard von Bingen; Hatzis’s Eris revisits mythic goddesses of wisdom, love, and power; Kerr’s November pairs marimba with Robert Frost’s poetry; Rzewski’s To the Earth invokes Mother Earth as an eternal feminine presence; Jaeger’s Lyrics II pays tribute to Canadian composer Norma Beecroft; and Johnston’s The Crystal Gazer reflects Sara Teasdale’s poetic voice.

    Together, these works weave myth, poetry, and music, celebrating the enduring resonance of women’s voices across time.

    Details at NavonaRecords.com

  • Inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame

    What an honour to be inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in November, 2024 along with other percussionists Terri Lyne Carrington, Neil Grover, Thom Hannum and Jim Petercsak!

    Here is the Percussive Notes feature article written by Russell Hartenberger in celebration of this monumental occasion. 

    Percussive Arts Society Article 2024Download

  • Order of Canada for Beverley Johnston

    On June 27, 2024 I was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. I am humbled by this notable honour. Here is the citation from the Governor General of Canada’s office…

    Beverley Johnston, O.C.
    Uxbridge, Ontario

    Beverley Johnston is an internationally renowned percussionist. Since the 1980s, she has been at the forefront of the development and promotion of Canadian music, commissioning, performing and recording compositions from numerous Canadian composers. Through her teaching at the University of Toronto, she inspires female percussionists to excel in a mostly male-dominated field. Her achievements as a musical innovator have brought classical and contemporary percussion to concert halls and venues worldwide. 

    Learn more about the Order of Canada here.

  • New commission by JULIE SPENCER

    I’ve commissioned a new work for vibraphone, cloud gongs and cloud bowls by American/German percussionist extraordinaire, JULIE SPENCER! This work is a reflection and admiration for the artistry of Hildegard of Bingen. Julie and her family live in the town of Bingen, Germany. I have often been impressed with Julie’s artistry as a performer, visual artist and composer. This new work called ‘Angels in Arches of Hildegard’s Bingen’ is a testament to Hildegard’s creativity and effectively pays homage to her devotion to the arts.  

    Here is a photo of Julie Spencer and myself from our meeting in Luxembourg (2013) after I performed a previous work I commissioned from her called ‘Everybody Talk about Freedom’  for marimba and voice.

  • Spring & Summer 2024 Highlights

    April 13, 2024 – Beverley is performing two concerti with the Peterborough Symphony. thepso.org

     June 17 – 30, 2024 – Beverley will be in residence at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada for the Chamber Music and Opera: Interplay program (program runs June 3-30, 2024). banffcentre.ca

     June 3 – 8, 2024 – Agassiz Festival of Music in Winnipeg with Festival of the Sound musicians. Beverley will perform ’Sounding Thunder’ by Tim Corlis and chamber music/solos on other programs during the festival. agassizfestival.com

    July 20 / 21, 2024 – Beverley will be performing Carmina Burana with Elora Festival and the Festival of the Sound. elorafestival.ca

    July 26, 2024 at 1:30pm – Bev and Friends in concert ‘The Heart of the Drum’ at Festival of the Sound, Stockey Centre, Parry Sound, Ontario. Special guests include Jodi Contin, Joel Quarrington,  Scott St. John, Peter Stoll and Daniel Vnukowski. Works by Rzewski, Hatzis, Colgrass, Contin. festivalofthesound.ca

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