Composer, violinist and pianist Brannon Warn-Johnston loves to go backpacking with her violin
and staff paper. She often takes inspiration for her compositions from nature and the outdoors.
Nov. 23-24: Seattle Festival Orchestra performing
Dr. Yuchi Chou leads the Seattle Festival Orchestra season opener. Both Saturday’s and Sunday’s performances open with works by Brannon Warn-Johnston.
“Misty Oasis in Scorching Heat” takes the audience on a journey into the wilderness, where Warn-Johnston goes backpacking with her violin and staff paper, to experience scorching heat, cool waters and hope.
“Escape” focuses on going through something hard and then escaping into the world, nature and being free again.
Two more works round out the weekend’s performances: SFO’s own Liam Frye-Mason playing the beautiful and melodic Cello Concerto by Kurt Atterberg, followed by Sibelius’s triumphant Symphony No 2.
Saturday’s performance at 2 p.m. is at St. Stephen Episcopal Church, 4805 NE 45th St., Seattle. Free tickets are here. Sunday’s 2 p.m. performance is at Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave., Seattle. Tickets from free to $22.15 are here.
From left, Avah Girges, Brannon Warn-Johnston and Julia Yi. Photo: Nate Watters Photography.
Sound Off!
Brannon Warn-Johnston, Avah Girges and Julia Yi performed several of her compositions in a chamber ensemble February 24th 2024 as a part of MoPOP’s Sound Off! Read more here.
‘Escape’ premiere
Nov, 10, 2023
Dr. Anthony Spain conducts soloist Brannon Warn-Johnston and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of Brannon’s “Escape” at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The performance was a part of composer Mateo Messina’s 2023 fundraiser for Seattle Children’s Hospital. More on Messina and the hospital fundraising guild he founded in 2005 is here. The Symphony’s website is here. Brannon’s notes on her composition are here.
STREAMING NOW on Seattle Symphony+
The Young Composers Workshop: Follow the journey of five teenage composers as they develop original works to be performed by the Seattle Symphony. Filmed over the course of one year, hear the stories behind the music and discover the challenges of writing for a full orchestra.
Watch the full 33-minute documentary here. Trailer is here.
The workshop led to a May 18, 2023 concert that included Brannon Warn-Johnston’s Misty Oasis in Scorching Heat composition. Watch the full performance on a video here.