Calvert Johnson is the Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of Music and College Organist Emeritus, Agnes Scott College, and Organist, First Presbyterian, Marietta, Georgia. At Agnes Scott, he taught courses in Sacred Music, Women in Music, Music before 1750, as well as organ and harpsichord lessons. Johnson earned the doctorate and master's in organ performance at Northwestern University, where he studied with Karel Paukert, and the bachelor's at Kalamazoo College, where he studied with Danford Byrens (organ, harpsichord) and Mary Beth Birch (piano). Through the Fulbright-Hays programme he studied at Toulouse Conservatoire (Premier Prix) with Xavier Darasse. He also studied in Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Japan and Korea.
Johnson has performed in Japan, Mexico, Honduras, and throughout the USA and Europe. He has recorded for the Albany, Calcante, and Raven labels. He is known for his performances of music by composers from under-represented groups (Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and women) as well as early music. His recording Chicago Renaissance Woman: Florence B. Price Organ Works won the third annual prize by the Society for American Music. Hildegard, ClarNan, Wayne Leupold Editions, and G. K. Hall publish his editions of music by women. He has published many editions of keyboard music by French women composers of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Author of critically acclaimed volumes on Spain, Italy, England, and Netherlands (Historical Organ Techniques and Repertoire: An Historical Survey of Organ Performance Practices and Repertoire, Wayne Leupold Editions), Johnson has performed and lectured at many colleges and chapters of the American Guild of Organists (AGO).
Immediate past national Treasurer and Past Dean of the Atlanta and Tulsa chapters of the AGO, Johnson's bio is in the International Who's Who in Music and Who's Who in Music in America. He has been President of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, Chair of the Board of the ArtReach Foundation, Chair of the Committee on Cultural Inclusion of the College Music Society, and Chair of the annual MLK, Jr. Concert of the Anti-Racism Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. He is currently Chair of the Knowledge [lecture] Series at Big Canoe, Georgia, and co-chair of the Black Bear Project, devoted to "Living in Harmony with Wildlife in the North Georgia Mountains."
