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Bryan Johanson

Composer, Guitarist, Beekeeper

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About Bryan Johanson

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Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Bryan Johanson is a classical guitarist and composer. He has won major awards from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and School, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, UCLA and The Esztergom International Guitar Festival.

Johanson studied composition with Charles Jones and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. Johanson's compositions feature four symphonies, concertos for violin, cello and piano, numerous chamber works, song cycles and choral works, as well as compositions for solo instruments including the classical guitar.

Johanson studied guitar with Christopher Parkening, Alirio Diaz, and Michael Lorimer and has performed with orchestras, chamber music groups, choirs, and in solo recitals throughout the United States and Canada. He is a member of the Oregon Guitar Quartet, a group for which he has created numerous original compositions and arrangements.

Bryan plays custom hand-made classical guitars made by Jeffrey Elliot and Gregory Miller.

He currently lives in Portland with his wife Victoria, two cats, and thousands of honeybees.

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Compositions

Home: Compositions
Strips

Stay tuned

This section under construction. Please contact Bryan if you are interested in obtaining a score for a specific composition if it is not published.

Published Works

Many of Johanson's compositions and arrangements for guitar have been published by Les Productions D'Oz, a Canadian publisher based in Quebec, Canada. Links can be found below.

Home: Projects
13 Ways

Les Productions D'Oz
Click here for link to catalog

Playing Classical Guitar -
The Daily Grind

The essential issues involved in the cultivating and maintaining proper technique and daily practice habits.

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Playing Classical Guitar - 
A Semester at Sight

A daily primer for improving sight-reading on the guitar.

Playing Classical Guitar -
Blueprinting

A detailed and practical approach for mastering a piece of repertoire.  Issues like chaining, proper use of the metronome, memory, proper ground work, the rule of 8 and functional analysis will be examined.

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List of all published works

Other Ventures

Home: What I Do
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The critically acclaimed Oregon Guitar Quartet is an ensemble of four of the finest classical guitarists residing in Portland, Oregon. The group, whose members currently include John Mery, Jesse McCann, Michael Partington and Bryan Johanson, has been performing and recording together for over a decade. Their 2010 debut album Something Wondrous Fair was praised by Soundboard’s Jim McCutcheon, who wrote, “…it is the joyousness, energy, and precision of the performance that convinces me that this group is one to hear.” Since then, the group has released seven more exciting and unique recordings each receiving rave reviews. Stream samples, order recordings and find performance dates at www.oregonguitarquartet.com

Beekeeping

Bryan has been keeping bees in his back yard since the summer of 2017. He has two top-bar hives and is enjoying transforming a life-long fascination into an urban beekeeping reality.

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Oregon Terroir Guitar

In 2018 Bryan worked with luthier Gregory Miller to create a custom hand-made guitar celebrating his affinity for his home state. See Greg's fine work here.

Orchestral Composition

There are numerous symphonic and orchestral works by Bryan Johanson.  Contact for more information.

Playing Violins

Selected Videos

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MUSIC
Bryan Johanson Page 149

Bryan Johanson Page 149

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'Pluck, Strum, Hammer (Bryan Johanson)' by the Mela Guitar Quartet

'Pluck, Strum, Hammer (Bryan Johanson)' by the Mela Guitar Quartet

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Johanson 'Fresco II' played by Duo Solaris

Johanson 'Fresco II' played by Duo Solaris

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Bryan Johanson - I dreamed about you last night - performed by Michael Neumann

Bryan Johanson - I dreamed about you last night - performed by Michael Neumann

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