Mikhail Johnson in the recital hall of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Photo by James Groh.
In Wednesday’s (4/10) WTMJ-TV (Milwaukee), James Groh reports, “Inside the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, one musician stands out. Mikhail Johnson is the recipient of the new fellowship … called the Fellowship in Teaching Artistry. He is an accomplished pianist and composer. He has performed with the Jamaica Symphony Orchestra and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance. The fellowship has two main goals: supporting early career Black and Latine classical musicians and making classical music more accessible to under-served Milwaukee Public School students. The goal is to address the overall lack of diversity in the classical music industry. Johnson also offers private lessons at the conservatory. ‘I feel it’s a way for people of color not only be represented in the realm of the field of education and also the field of performance,’ Johnson said…. Johnson goes into schools and as an interim teacher until a full-time music teacher can be hired…. According to a 2023 study from the League of American Orchestras, only 4.8 percent of orchestral musicians were Latine and … 2.4 percent were Black…. This fellowship addresses that disparity and lifts up the next generation of classical musicians.”
