David Johnson

David Wayne Johnson, viola; principal viola Ft. Wayne Philharmonic, Iceland National Symphony, Ravinia (Chicago) Festival Orchestra, Freimann String Quartet and the Grant Park (Chicago) Symphony. Applied viola, violin and music theory, music appreciation.

David Johnson began studying the viola at the age of nine in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Interest in a career in music began in high school after he attended a week-long workshop in string pedagogy at the University of Wisconsin, and won a position in the viola section of the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic as a high school senior. Awarded a scholarship to attend Butler University (Indianapolis), he transferred after two years to Indiana University, where he completed with high distinction bachelors and masters degrees in viola performance. While a student at Indiana University, David studied with Abraham Skernick and performed a series of concerts as New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall with the Indiana University String Quartet.

In 1980, David was appointed Principal Viola of the Iceland Symphony, where he was featured as soloist numerous times with pianist Debra Gold on the Iceland National Radio classical music broadcasts performing sonatas by Brahms, Bach, Milhaud, and Vaughn-Williams. After two years as personnel manager and librarian with the Southwest Michigan Orchestra and assistant principal of the Kalamazoo Symphony, David returned to the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic this time as Principal Violist and held that position from 1983-1991. While there, he was a founding member of the Freimann String Quartet and the Northeastern Indiana Chamber Music Festival. David was the Assistant Principal Violist of the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago from 1984-1995; soloing with that orchestra in 1994. He has also played with the Ravina Festival Orchestra, South Bend Symphony, Northwest Indiana Symphony, and the Owensboro Symphony.