Lucien
Johnson is a saxophonist and composer from Wellington, New Zealand.
He also plays the flute, organ, piano and clarinet. Over the last
ten years he has divided his time between Europe and New Zealand performing
in various music ensembles and composing for theatre and dance productions.
Johnson has played and recorded in New Zealand with groups such as
the Village of the Idiots, the Jonathan Crayford Quartet, Leila Adu,
the Yoots and the Greg Malcolm Trio, as well as leading various groups
under his own name.
In Europe he has performed with Marylin Crispell, Lol Coxhill, Itaru
Oki, John Betsch, Damo Suzuki, Mario Canonge and Alan Silva. A trio
formed with Silva and Japanese drummer Makoto Sato recorded in Paris
in 2006 and their album is to be released by the Swiss label Hat Hut
in 2010.
A series of compositions for piano entitled “To the Sea”
were premiered by Jeffrey Grice at the Salle Gaveau in Paris in 2006.
Johnson’s experience in multi-media projects is equally varied.
He composed for Albert Belz’s theatre production “Te Awarua”
at the Lille 2004 festival. In 2006 he toured India with the French
troop “Clowns Sans Frontieres”, composing and performing
the music live. He composed for choreographer Megan Adams’ contemporary
dance production “White Lie” Wellington 2008 and the same
year performed as saxophonist/clarinettist/flautist in a Silo Theatre
production of Brecht and Weill’s “Threepenny Opera”
at the Maidment Theatre in Auckland. He took part in “My Heart
is a Beast” a street theatre production at the 2009 Christchurch
Arts Festival.
Johnson composed and directed a music theatre piece entitled “The
Night’s Plutonian Shore”, inspired by the works of Edgar
Allan Poe. Village of the Idiots presented the show at the Nelson
Arts Festival, the Wellington International Jazz Festival and Womad
2008. They released a CD of the same name (“The Night’s
Plutonian Shore”, Explorer’s Club Recordings 002).
In 2009 he travelled twice to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he wrote
the music to “Zannimo Late”, a play by France Hervé
inspired by Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. The play premiered
at the Festival des Quatre Chemins. After the 2010 earthquake Johnson
organised a benefit concert in Wellington with proceeds going to the
Pye Poudre Cultural Centre in Port-au-Prince.
Johnson has also composed for film, the first being a 24 minute silent
film “Hades’ Window”, directed by France Hervé
which premiered at the Festival des Antipodes in St Tropez. Geoff
Murphy directed a film based around footage from the Plutonian Shore
concerts entitled “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” which
premiered at the Wellington International Film Festival in 2009.
