In Monday’s (6/1) Great Falls Tribune (Montana), Briana Wipf writes that on Friday, Gordon Johnson, longtime music director of the Great Falls Symphony, will receive the Montana Arts Council’s Governor’s Arts Award, which “recognizes individuals or organizations whose achievement in the arts benefits all Montana residents…. His first month on the job at the Great Falls Symphony, the then-executive director told [Johnson] they were having money issues and might not make payroll. That set Johnson to work, and since 1987, he and current executive director Carolyn Valacich have worked to make the organization financially sound…. [Orchestra] board member Bill Larson … said Johnson keeps musicians—the vast majority of whom are volunteers—playing at their best.… Johnson insists the award he’ll accept Friday is not just for him but for the entire symphony organization. He’s become the representative of the Great Falls Symphony, and that’s fine with him. ‘That’s why I can accept this award with a certain amount of humility,’ Johnson says.” On June 16, the orchestra will hold a public reception to celebrate Johnson at the Davidson Skywalk in Great Falls.
Posted June 4, 2015
