Richard Johnston (composer)

Richard Johnston (7 May 1917 – 16 August 1997) was a Canadian composer, conductor, editor, folklorist, music critic, music educator, music producer, and university administrator of American birth. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1957. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in February 1997. The library at the University of Calgary holds a substantial amount of his papers, manuscripts, and transcripts in its "Richard Johnston Canadian Music Archives Collection". His original fieldwork tapes and transcripts made during his research as a folklorist are part of the collection at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Born Albert Richard Johnston in Chicago, he began his musical education with Ruth Crazier-Curtis. He entered Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois in 1934 but left the school after just one year. He later matriculated to Northwestern University where he earned a Bachelor of Music in 1942. He briefly taught on the music faculty of Luther College in Wahoo, Nebraska before beginning private studies with Nadia Boulanger in Madison, Wisconsin in 1943-1944. With her he performed the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos (1944). He pursued graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music from 1944-1947 where he earned both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Philosophy in music. He later studied music education throughout Eastern Europe, notably with Zoltán Kodály in Hungary in 1965.

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