Arts Listings

Candace Johnson can belt out a Mozart opera aria with the soul of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. A chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley’s music department, Johnson dazzled an audience at her debut vocal recital on campus in September.  

Johnson, 33, infuses classical music with jazz, spiritual, and improvisational elements in a repertoire rich with African-American art songs. 

“I sing the music that represents what I have to say,” Johnson said. Her latest program, which consisted of works by African-American composers, gave her that very opportunity.  

“I enjoy singing all classical music, and I chose to specialize in works by African-American composers,” she said. “This body of literature is rich and beautiful, but unfortunately is infrequently performed.” 

One series of songs, entitled “Three Dream Portraits,” includes verses written by Langston Hughes. “These powerful words are couched in this sweet-sounding music,” she said.  

Her music advisor Olly Wilson said Johnson has successfully put the art form within a cultural context. 

“A real serious interest in scholarship in the tradition feeds her performance,” Wilson, an African-American composer and UC Berkeley professor emeritus, said.  

The Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, a two-year program designed to increase minority representation in university teaching positions, is awarded to four people annually. 

“Candace has an incredibly unique background in terms of not only her discipline, but also as a remarkable performer,” said Cristina Perez, facilitator of the prestigious fellowship. “Her work crosses so many boundaries. It makes your heart stop, it’s truly beautiful.” 

Johnson began singing at the age of 5 when she volunteered to perform in a church concert in her hometown of Jackson, Tenn. She continued to sing in local churches and took music lessons in elementary school.  

“Singing was always my first love because it felt very natural to me,” Johnson said. 

Johnson’s mother, who served as her daughter’s first voice coach, helped develop her skills. “My mom knew how to cultivate talent,” Johnson said.  

Growing up, Johnson never thought she would make classical music a part of her life.  

“I expanded from church music to inspirational and light pop. Classical wasn’t in the picture. I thought I was going to be the next Whitney Houston,” she said. 

But when Johnson entered a NAACP-sponsored singing contest in high school, a judge saw her potential for singing classical music. 

“This was the first person who helped me realize there was a difference in the way you sing classical. I didn’t really know what it was because you don’t really see a lot of African-Americans singing classical. You tend to do what you’ve already seen,” she said. 

Soon after Johnson watched a DVD concert of two popular African-American classical singers, she started to become more interested in this musical style. “I became entranced with what I saw. I could relate to this because they were singing spirituals, which is part of my cultural heritage. They were singing it in a way that was glorious.”  

She decided to study voice at Vanderbilt University, where she was confronted with a dilemma: whether to give up the style of singing she grew up with in order to further her classical career. Her instructors told her she couldn’t do both since it would strain her voice. 

“I had a struggle going on in my heart,” she said. “I wanted to do what I loved, which was gospel and inspirational while studying classical. I really believed I could do both.” 

During her doctoral studies in Michigan, Johnson discovered that art songs could combine soulful, spiritual expressions with the European classical tradition. So, she decided to make that her focus. 

Though she enjoys the academic part of studying music, she remains a performer at heart. “I wanted to do something with music that would touch people’s lives,” she said. 

Not only does Johnson reach out to audiences through her singing, but she also instructs a new generation of singers as a teacher for underprivileged children in the Young Musicians Program. 

“She has the god-given gift to inspire young children to want to learn classical music,” said Daisy Newman, Director of the Young Musicians Program. 

Johnson, who has enjoyed teaching from an early age, hopes to influence young people. 

“Historically, classical music was a tradition designed by and for affluent people. I want to make classical music accessible to everyone, from the inner-city person who listens to rap to the rural person who listens to folk.” 

She plans to audition for regional opera houses and continue performing. “I enjoy acting, so I’ll definitely do opera. It demands a lot of energy.” 

Photograph by Sonia Narang  

Candace Johnson, a chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley’s music program.