John Craig Johnson

J. Craig Johnson, baritone, is currently teaching at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, a position he has held since 2005. He teaches voice, diction, and a general education music class, and is faculty adviser for Point Loma Opera Theatre and the Point Loma Musical Theater Club. He taught voice at La Sierra University, from 1998 to 2005, serving as its Director of Vocal Studies from 1999 to 2005.

An honors graduate from Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City, he completed a master's degree in vocal performance at the University of Oklahoma in 1994 and a DMA in vocal performance at the University of Southern California in 2001.

Johnson is regarded as one of Southern California's leading young baritones, whom Opera News has praised as a singer who performs with "solid technical facility and impressive, rich, singing." The Los Angeles Times has called him "a very appealing bass" and a singer who performs "roles with honor and conviction."

Johnson has sung principal roles with Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera, and the San Bernardino, Bakersfield, and Palisades Symphonies. In one of his performances, he was heralded as "the star of the evening . . ." by the Pasadena Star, with his role being described as "deliciously comic and richly sung."

Highlights of his solo appearances include Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation and Lord Nelson Mass, Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Symphony 9, and Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions with the Los Angeles Bach Festival and Angeles Chorale. Johnson has sung with Orange County Opera and has been a bass section leader and soloist for the internationally televised Hour of Power Choir at the Crystal Cathedral, singing under the direction of Donald Neuen.

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Sources: Point Loma Nazarene University website and other online websites.