COMMISSION SPOTLIGHT
"An Awful Tempest"
commissioned by Phil Johnson,
Traverse City West Middle School Choir
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"An Awful Tempest" will cast its spell over your choir, turning your singers into a coven of plotting witches. This exciting setting of the Emily Dickinson text will thrill and delight singers and audiences alike. Complete with cackles, screeches and sound effects, the musical cauldron is stirred and heated until it bubbles over with excitement! (MSVMA HS Intermediate Repertoire List)
Please feel free to email with questions or inquiries. |
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Phil Johnson is entering his eighth year as the Brighton High School Choir and AP Music Theory teacher. Mr. Johnson joined the Brighton Music Team after spending ten years teaching in Traverse City. He conducted Bel Canto, the Brighton High School advanced women’s choir, at Michigan Youth Arts Festival in 2013 and 2016, as well as the Concert Choir and Chamber Choir at MYAF in 2018. He has conducted the 2011 SATB and 2015 TTB State Honors Choirs, and has been selected as the 2021 SSAA State Honors Choir director. He received a nomination for the 2019 Teacher of the Year through the Michigan School Vocal Music Association. He has served as the secretary for the Contemporary a Cappella Society of America, and currently serves as Secretary on the Brighton Center of the Performing Arts Board. He sings baritone with the Semi-pro a Cappella group, TBD a Cappella, also serving as co-music director and co-arranger of the ensemble. He has co-directed, conducted the orchestra, and prepared the chorus for each of the past 7 Brighton Musical Theater shows. In 2017, Brighton Musical Theater won the Sutton Foster Ovation Award for “Best Musical” for their production of Honeymoon in Vegas. He and his wife, Dianne, have three children, Ethan, Maxwell and Adeline.
Please feel free to email with questions or inquiries. |
"Jeff is an outstanding composer and educator. His writing is beautiful, powerful, and versatile for all ages and experience levels. I have commissioned works from him for Middle School and High School aged singers, and have returned to them multiple times for use with my own choirs, Honors Choirs, and Choral Invitationals. His knowledge of voicing, understanding of a choir’s level of capabilities, and his passion for teaching make him the perfect person to work with on your first leap into a commission. Jeff walked me step by step through my first commissioning project. He was able to clearly explain to me how everything worked. He came to work with my students during class time, and involved them in the creative process. He let them choose between different versions, and made them feel like we had all written the music together. They were so invested in, and proud of the pieces when we had completed the performance cycle!"
- Phil Johnson