John is the recipient of many awards and holds a doctorate in vocal arts from the University of Southern California where he was honored as the outstanding DMA Vocal Arts Graduate of the Year. Dr. Johnson is an alumnus of OperaWorks and has sung with the organization in many special events. At the National Classical Singer Convention, he collaborated with OperaWorks’ founder and director, Ann Baltz, in presenting an “operavisation” workshop.
John Craig Johnson, baritone, has been praised internationally by Opera News as a distinguished voice of “solid technical facility and impressive, rich, singing.” He has performed forty operatic roles on stage, with the Los Angeles Times calling him “very appealing” and a singer who “handled roles with honor and conviction.” He has sung principal roles with Los Angeles Opera (in the world premiere of Nathan Wang’s On Gold Mountain, the inaugural Voices of California project), Long Beach Opera, Orange County Opera, Opera de Tijuana, and the San Bernardino, Bakersfield, and Palisades Symphonies. He has been heralded as “the star of the evening . . . deliciously comic and richly sung” by the Pasadena Star for his Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. He continues to sing both opera and musical theater roles and collaborates frequently with San Diego Opera, Opera de Tijuana, OB Playhouse, Coronado Playhouse, and Intrepid Theatre.
Johnson is the recipient of many awards and holds a doctorate in vocal arts from the University of Southern California where he was honored as the outstanding DMA Vocal Arts Graduate of the Year. Dr. Johnson is an alumnus of OperaWorks and has sung with the organization in many special events. At the National Classical Singer Convention, he collaborated with OperaWorks’ founder and director, Ann Baltz, in presenting an “operavisation” workshop. Eighteen of his students have been selected for the nationally competitive OperaWorks summer intensive training program, eleven of whom have completed the Advanced Artist program. His students have also completed apprenticeships and sung roles with Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass, Wolf Trap Opera, Aspen Musical Festival Opera, Tanglewood, Opera Academy of California, and Opera Neo.
Dr. Johnson maintains a very active role as a voice teacher, passionately mentoring and promoting singers. He is currently on the voice faculty of Colburn Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles and Associate faculty San Diego Mesa College, where he teaches all sections of beginning – advanced voice and directs the Mesa College Choir. He has taught at the University of Southern California, Azusa Pacific University, Mt. San Antonio College, and La Sierra University, where he served as Director of Vocal Studies. At Point Loma Nazarene University, he served as the Vocal Studies Director and faculty adviser and music director/conductor for Point Loma Opera Theatre and the Point Loma Musical Theater Club. From 2010 to 2017 he produced and/or conducted 23 works including Gianni Schicchi (2009), I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (2009) Dido and Aeneas (2010, ‘15), Massenet’s Cendrillon (2011, ’14), La finta giardiniera (2011), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (2012) Edges (2012), Die lustige Witwe (2012), Most Happy Fella (2013), Così fan tutte (2014) Offenbach’s Daphnis et Chloe (2014), Donizetti’s Rita (2014), Rachmaninoff’s Aleko (2014), Hänsel und Gretel (2015, ‘16), La bohème (2015), Trouble in Tahiti (2015), Don Giovanni (2015), Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (2015), Mikado (2015), Old Maid and the Thief (2017), and Heathers (2017).A champion of younger singers, Dr. Johnson has taught the summer opera intensive at the nationally recognized San Diego High School for Creative and Performing Arts, and served on the guest faculties of Opera Academy of California, Broadway Dreams Summer Intensives (Los Angeles, Omaha, Sacramento, and Philadelphia, where he taught Titus Burgess, Quentin Earl Darrington, Ryann Redmond, Alex Newell, Jailen Josey, and Carina-Kay Louichey;) and Atlanta’s Renaissance International School for Performing Arts. He teaches voice students who are pursuing or currently engaged in professional careers singing opera, pop, rock, and musical theater. From 2008 – 2018 alone, his students garnered ten first place wins and thirty other awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. His students are also winners and grant recipients of auditions sponsored by the Sullivan Foundation, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Carmel Music Society, Los Angeles Opera Buffs, La Jolla Symphony Young Artists, Musical Merit of San Diego, Virginia Hawk Memorial Scholarship, and most recently Operalia, the World Opera Competition. His students are engaged as professional singers on the local, regional, national, and international levels. They have completed graduate degrees and/or certificates in Voice Performance at University of Southern California, Yale, Academy of Vocal Arts, Rice, University of Colorado – Boulder, Boston Conservatory, University of North Texas, Manhattan School of Music, California State University – Northridge, University of Kansas, and Boston University’s Opera Institute.