Gunnar Johansen

Full biography Gunnar Johansen

Gunnar Johansen was a Danish-American composer, pianist, and conductor who was born on June 20, 1906, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He began studying the piano at the age of four and made his debut as a concert pianist in Stockholm at the age of nine. Johansen and his family migrated to the United States in 1917, settling in Racine, Wisconsin.

In 1923, at the age of seventeen, Johansen moved to Chicago, where he studied composition with Leo Sowerby and conducting with Frederick Stock. He also studied piano with Rudolph Ganz and later became his assistant at the Chicago Musical College.

Throughout the 1930s, Johansen toured extensively as a concert pianist and performer, both nationally and abroad. He made his official orchestral debut in 1935 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductor Frederick Stock.

In addition to his piano playing, Johansen was also a prolific composer, writing in a variety of styles, including opera, chamber music, and orchestral works. Some of his most well-known compositions include his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 24, and his opera The Dictator, which premiered in 1940.

Johansen also worked as a professor of music at several institutions, including the University of Michigan School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin. He was a strong advocate for contemporary music and was instrumental in the development of new music programs at many of the institutions where he taught.

Gunnar Johansen died on September 25, 1991, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, leaving behind a legacy as a talented pianist, conductor, and composer who helped shape the classical music scene in the United States.