Christopher Johnson is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma and a graduate of The Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. He presently serves as Director of Music and Organist at The Riverside Church in New York City, Artist-in-Residence at Union Theological Seminary, and as Director of Music at the Interchurch Center in New York City. In addition to previous appointments as Director of Music and Organist for the Woodstock/St. Paul Community at Columbia University, Assistant Organist and Associate Director of Music at The Riverside Church, he also served as Assistant Organist at Christ Church United Methodist in Manhattan.

An orchestral musician by training, Chris held a two-year tenured position as section violist with the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed as section violist, as well as solo violist, flutist and bassoonist with the Tulsa Philharmonic and a number of other professional orchestras throughout the Midwest. Having studied at The Cleveland Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music, his teachers have included Thomas Murray, Todd Wilson and Adeline Huss for organ studies and Joshua Smith, John Mack, and Robert Vernon, Principals of The Cleveland Orchestra, for orchestral studies. Chris is proud to be a flutist with The Knights, an exceptional young group of musicians that has toured Europe and made two recordings for Sony Classical in the last year.

A prizewinner at the 2001 San Marino Organ Competition and the 2003 National Association of Negro Musicians’ Organ Competition, Chris maintains an active concert schedule, presenting recitals throughout the United States and Europe. During the summer, he also presents concerts with Ensemble Eccolo, a chamber ensemble based in Altenburg, Germany, performing throughout Europe and the Middle East. An enthusiastic and avid flyer, Chris is a rated commercial pilot and flight instructor.

Jonathan Yates, Choir Master

Jonathan Yates has earned high praise as a conductor, solo pianist, and collaborative artist for his musicianship, intellect and the remarkable variety of his musical endeavors. He made his professional orchestral conducting debut at 23, leading the National Symphony Orchestra in a Millenium Stages Concert. The following year he made his Carnegie Hall debut as a pianist in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Concerts. Jonathan received his Graduate Diploma in conducting from the Juilliard School where he studied with James DePreist and Otto-Werner Mueller; his Masters’ of Music at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he worked with Gilbert Kalish; and his Bachelors’ of Arts from Harvard University, magna cum laude, where he studied piano with Robert Levin and composition with Bernard Rands and Ivan Tcherepnin. Currently, he serves as Music Director of Camerata Notturna and as the conductor of the Sarah Lawrence College Orchestra.