ABOUT JERI LYNNE JOHNSON

Jeri Lynne Johnson is a conductor, composer, and cultural entrepreneur whose visionary artistry is reshaping the orchestral landscape. Acclaimed by the Los Angeles Times as “a stunning, rhythmically vital conductor,” she is known for performances that are both masterfully precise and deeply communicative. 

 

Jeri’s career is marked by a series of historic firsts. In 2005, she became the first African American woman to win an international conducting prize when she was awarded the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. Since then, she has led many of the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies—including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Santa Fe Opera—often as the first African American woman to take the podium.   She has also led groundbreaking collaborations with Jay-Z, Solange Knowles, and The Roots. In 2022, she conducted Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Stride at the Kennedy Center Honors in tribute to the composer.

 

In 2008 Jeri founded the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra as a model for a 21st-century orchestra—one that embodies modern democratic values. Black Pearl facilitates Jeri’s radical world building activities - where curation, performance and compositions become instruments of innovation within classical music that reflect the changes she wishes to see in modern society.  Her vision for transforming the orchestra has earned Black Pearl 11 National Endowment for the Arts grants.

 

Through her artistry, leadership, and advocacy, Jeri Lynne Johnson is redefining what it means to be a conductor in the 21st century.

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