Dr. Trace Johnson
is a cellist from Madison, Wisconsin. Trace has appeared as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral musician in a wide variety of ensembles and settings around the world. Equally at home teaching in the studio or performing on stage, Trace is a devoted and thoughtful communicator who enjoys a varied career as a cellist, teacher, and musician.
Orchestra
Trace is an avid orchestral musician and a member of several symphony orchestras. Trace has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Artosphere Orchestra, Juneau Symphony Orchestra, Florentine Opera, Sarasota Opera, Nu-Deco Ensemble, ArtHaus Ballet Orchestra, Florida Grand Opera, New World Symphony Orchestra, and in touring productions of Disney’s Anastasia, Hello Dolley, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Andrea Bocelli, Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, and Candlelight Concerts.
Chamber Music
As a chamber performer, Trace has had recent chamber collaborations with members of the Willy Street Chamber Players, Hunt String Quartet, Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Ancora String Quartet, LunArts Festival in Madison, Wisconsin and in Fairhope, Alabama at the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival where he is one of two Co-Artistic Directors.
Recording Work
An advocate of contemporary music, Trace has been involved in many different projects performing the works of modern composers. From 2015-16, Trace performed as the solo cellist of the touring crossover ensemble, Barrage8, across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Trace recorded the full cello tracking on the debut Barrage8 album released in 2016. In November 2020, Trace recorded solo cello work, All the Pretty Little Horses, by Wisconsin composer and UW-Professor of Composition, Laura Schwendinger, at Oktaven Studios in Hoboken, New Jersey. The work has since been released on Trace Johnson’s debut album, Works for Cello, released on PARMA Records in July, 2025. The new album featured the premiere of a new work for solo cello by New-York based composer Melinda Wagner.
Education
Trace received his Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2012 and his Master’s of Music from Lynn Conservatory in December 2016, his principal instructors have been David Cole, Dr. Melissa Kraut, Joseph Johnson, and Dr. Tanya Carey. Trace recently received his Doctor of Musical Arts, DMA, degree with a minor in Electro-Acoustic Music from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music as a Collins Fellow under the tutelage of cellist and Feldenkreis practitioner, Uri Vardi and Pro Arte Quartet cellist, Parry Karp. While a doctoral student at UW-Madison, Trace was a top-prize winner at the Bolz Center for Arts Administration’s Arts Business Competition in addition to receiving the Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Graduate Student Award in the Creative Arts, Creative Arts Division Creative Arts Award, and the Mead Witter Music School Graduate Student Grant Competition award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.