Lura Johnson, Pianist

Photography by Katya Chilingiri

“Composers pray for players that are this imaginative and intelligent, this risk-taking and expressive. Christina [Jennings] and Lura not only bring already composed works of mine to renewed life, but actually feed my fancy new ideas and sounds. Add to this the duo’s power and virtuosity and you have every composer’s dream.”
-Gabriela Lena Frank, composer

JOHN ADAMS (b. 1947)
Doctor Atomic Symphony
Fearful Symmetries (1988)
Violin Concerto

JUDAH ADASHI (b. 1975)
The Dark Hours (2007)

KATHRYN ALEXANDER (b. 1955)
From the Faraway Nearby

STEVE ANTOSCA (b. 1955)
++kairos: time outside of time (2008)
++chamber set ~  threads (2009)

DEREK BERMEL (b. 1967)
Turning (1995)

WILLIAM BOLCOM (b. 1938 )
Garden of Eden Suite (1969)
Recuerdos (1991)
Three Dance Portraits (1986)
Violin Sonata No. 2

PIERRE BOULEZ (b. 1925)
Derive 1

DOUGLAS BOYCE (b. 1970)
Palimpsest: A Composition of Maps (2004)
A Book of Songs (2006)

MARTIN BRESNICK (b. 1946)
My Twentieth Century (2002)

DAVE BRUBECK
Ansel Adams: America

JOHN CAGE (1912-1992)
Nocturne (1947)
Amores (1949)
Credo in US (1942)

ELLIOTT CARTER (b. 1908)
A Mirror on Which To Dwell

JOHN CORIGLIANO
Circus Maximus, Symphony No. 2
Pied Piper Fantasy

HENRY COWELL (1897-1965)
The Tides of Manaunaun (1917)
The Aeolian Harp (1923)
Exultation (1919)

CINDY COX (b. 1961)
Axis Mundi (2005)

GEORGE CRUMB (b. 1929)
Eleven Echoes of Autumn (1966)

C. CURTIS-SMITH (1937)
Twelve Etudes (2000)

MICHAEL DAUGHERTY
Red Cape Tango, from Metropolis Symphony

TOM DELIO (b. 1951)
Transients/Resonances (2006)

LINDA DUSMAN (b. 1956)
++Diverging Flints for Piano Trio

HALIM EL-DABH
Clytemnestra (ballet) (prepared piano)

MORTON FELDMAN (1926-1987)
Four Instruments

GABRIELA LENA FRANK (b. 1972)
Sonata Andina (2000)
Sueños de Chambi (2002)

PHILIP GLASS (b. 1937)
Glassworks
Icarus at the Edge of Time
Life: A Journey Through Time
Symphony No. 4, “Heroes”

GEOFFREY GORDON (b. 1968 )
Fallen Eve (2004)

SAMUEL HAMM (b. 1955)
Absence of Joy (2001)

JENNIFER HIGDON
Percussion Concerto

DAVID HEUSER (b. 1966)
Catching Updrafts (2000)

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
The Concord Sonata (1910-1915)
Piano Trio (1909-10, revised 1914-1915)

AARON JAY KERNIS (b. 1960)
Newly Drawn Sky (2005)

LEON KIRCHNER (b. 1919)
Trio I (1954)

WILLIAM KLEINSASSER
++A Gift of Possible Futures (2006)
Innocent Proteins (2004)
++Interstitial Dances (2009)

GYÖRGY KURTÁG (b. 1926)
Jatekok (1975-)

LIBBY LARSEN (b. 1950)
Solo Symphony

JONATHAN LESHNOFF
Theme and Variations on a Beloved Tune

LEI LIANG (b. 1972)
Trio for Piano, Cello and Percussion (2002)

DAVID T. LITTLE (b. 1978)
Screamer

WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI (1913-1994)
Concerto for Orchestra

DONALD MARTINO (b. 1931)
Notturno (1973)

A.J. MCCAFFREY (b. 1973)
++**Reflections on Beati Quorum Via (2003)   (recorded on the Foxridge Label)

ERIC MOE (b. 1954)
Rip Rap (1989)

PAUL MORAVEC (b. 1957)
Andy Warhol Sez (2005)
Chamber Symphony (2003)
Tempest Fantasy

LAWRENCE MOSS (b. 1927)
Four Songs, From the Chinese  (recorded on the Innova Label)

JEFFREY MUMFORD (b. 1955)
for Elliott (1983)
tango-variations (1983-1984)
++four dances for Boris (2003)
**++a gracious accord: romance (2005)  (recorded on the Foxridge Label)
**++an evolving romance (2005)
undiluted days, for piano trio (2000)
a diffuse light… (1989)
a focused expanse… (2003)
++of ringing and layered space (2010): Mvt. II: Lura

TRISTAN MURAIL (b. 1947)
Feuilles à Travers les Cloches

MARK O’CONNOR
Americana Symphony   (recorded for OMAC Records)
Violin Sonata

SAMUEL NICHOLS
Axis

EUGENE O’BRIEN (b. 1945)
Embarking for Cythera (1978 )

ARVO PÄRT (b. 1935)
Fratres
Spiegel im Spiegel (1978)    (recorded for Centaur Records)

ESA PEKKA-SALONEN (b. 1958)
Dichotomie for solo piano (2000)

GEORGE PERLE (b. 1915)
Critical Moments (2001)

SHULAMIT RAN (b. 1949)
Mirage (1990)

GEORGE ROCHBERG (1918-2005)
Viola Sonata (1979)         (recorded for Centaur Records)
Between Two Worlds (1982)
Contra Mortem et Tempus (1965)

MATHEW ROSENBLUM (b. 1954)
Maggies (1997)

ALFRED SCHNITTKE (b. 1934)
Suite in the Old Style (1972)
Cello Sonata (1978)

JOSEPH SCHWANTNER (b. 1943)
Black Anemones
New Morning for the World  (1982)

LAURA SCHWENDINGER (b. 1962)
High Wire Act (2005)

JUDITH SHATIN (b. 1949)
++Tower of the Eight Winds (2008)  (premiered at the Library of Congress)

ROBERTO SIERRA
Sinfonia No. 4

OTAR TAKTAKISHVILI (1924-1989)
Flute Sonata

MARK ANTHONY TURNAGE
Ceres

ANTHONY VILLA
Duo for Piano and Percussion

DAN VISCONTI (b. 1982)
Fractured Jams (2005)

CHARLES WUORINEN (b. 1938)
New York Notes (1982)

CHEN YI (b. 1953)
Qi (1997)

SAMUEL ZYMAN (b. 1956)
Flute Sonata

**commissions

++premieres

“Lura Johnson is the ideal pianist for new music, with a wonderful technique and exceptional insight into the character of the new music she is performing.   She instinctively performs it as the composer intended…”  (Lawrence Moss, University of Maryland, College Park, MD)