Meet Isaac Schanno Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Schanno Johnson.

Isaac, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m a musician, composer, and conductor and I went to Berklee College of Music over in Boston, where I studied film scoring and classical composition and minored in conducting. I moved out to LA in 2017 and started working as the music director at a youth theatre program and did some teaching. While at Berklee my primary instrument was guitar, but now I play piano for a lot of the places I work. I also sing and play melodica, trumpet, violin, cello, and a tiny bit of flute, clarinet, and saxophone.

After being in LA for a little bit, I started working as the conductor of a youth orchestra and released an album of my own electronic music in 2018.

Since then, I’ve been writing and releasing my own music and currently work as the music director at a church and direct two youth orchestras and two string ensembles. I’m also getting a master’s degree in music education and plan on getting a master’s in orchestral conducting after that.

And this fall I’ll be MDing a production of Lizzie the Musical, which is about Lizzie Borden. I’m super excited for that. It’ll be a fun show.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I mean, being a musician and finding work as an MD, conductor, or composer is rough I think for most people, especially at the beginning when you’re first starting to find work. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the gigs I’ve worked and how I’ve been able to use seemingly unrelated jobs to get me closer to where I want to be.

It’s a lot of finding gigs, auditioning or applying, getting turned down, and just continuing that process. But the good thing about all of that is that that whole process gets easier the more you do it. Getting turned down doesn’t feel as bad, and auditioning and finding gigs becomes easier and easier.

And a lot of gigs can be related in some way; it’s just about finding out they’re related and how one thing will help you do another thing. That also gets much easier the more you do.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a composer, conductor, and musician. I currently direct a number of ensembles that include both choirs and orchestras.

There are a few things I’ve done that I’m super proud of. I released an album of electronic music that’s structured as a four-movement symphony titled Expanding (An Electric Symphony) a few years ago that I think has some pretty hip music in it. I dedicated it to a former teacher of mine, Vuk Kulenovic because the things he taught me about composing were a huge part of that process. I also added a small homage to him by using the title of one of his pieces; Electric Symphony.

I’m also proud to be the music director at the United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks because I get to lead the music every week and rehearse the choir and be a part of a great community.

Being the conductor at both the Saturday Conservatory of Music and the Los Angeles Music and Art School is something I’m proud of as well because I get to program the music and rehearse the groups each week. Getting everyone together and putting together concerts is such an exciting process so I’m happy to be organizing them.

What sets me apart from others is my breadth of experience and knowledge of music. My first instrument was the guitar; then I learned trumpet in middle school. In high school, I started playing piano and got more serious about the guitar and got into instrumental rock and heavy metal. In college, I learned both jazz and classical music theory and since graduating, I’ve worked on so many different styles of music from classical choral music to classical orchestral music to electronic music to musical theatre. Another thing that makes me a bit unique is how many instruments I have experience playing and teaching. I’m at varying levels on them, but I sing and play piano, guitar, melodica, cello, trumpet, and violin. I can play a few things on flute, clarinet, and alto saxophone.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In music in the next 5-10 years, I imagine there will be more music being released and more concerts of new composers’ music. The technology for music creation (DAWs, samples, and hardware like keyboards and everything) is much more affordable now than it used to be, so I imagine with more people able to create music (of all different genres), there will be lots of new music being released.

Especially for orchestral music, I imagine more people having access to high-quality samples will allow more people to write music for orchestra.

And my hope is that that’ll allow more new works by living composers to be performed live by orchestras. This is already starting to happen a bit more now, but I’m excited to see that expand and to be a part of adding to it.

I’m super excited for those two things to happen because I always enjoy hearing new works by living composers, and it’ll be great because historically, writing for orchestra has been something that hasn’t been accessible due to it being gatekept or it being too expensive to learn.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.musaacbyisaac.com
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