Order of Canada bestowed upon local musician
Lisha Van Nieuwenhove
Eighty-three Canadians were recently appointed to the Order of Canada by Governor General Mary Simon, and Uxbridge resident Beverley Johnston’s name was on the list.
Renowned percussionist Beverley Johnston, who resides in Uxbridge, was recently named to the Order of Canada. Photo by Bo Huang, courtesy of beverleyjohnston.com
The citation for Johnston, who was appointed as an Officer (O.C.) of the Order (the second highest honour in the three levels of the Order) reads as follows: “Beverley Johnston is an internationally renowned percussionist. Since the 1980s, she has been at the forefront of the development and promotion of Canadian music, commissioning, performing and recording compositions from numerous Canadian composers. At the University of Toronto, she inspires female percussionists to excel in a mostly male-dominated field. Her achievements as a musical innovator have brought classical and contemporary percussion to concert halls and venues worldwide.”
“It was a bit of a surprise to me, when I first learned of it,” says Johnston from her Uxbridge home. “I received an email from the Governor General’s office and I thought it was spam! I investigated a little and found out that the person who emailed me was really a government official who worked in the Governor General’s office!”
She also learned that it was her former percussion teacher at the University of Toronto, Russell Hartenberger, who had nominated her for the honour, and had reached out to others for letters of support.
Johnston’s list of accolades and accomplishments also recommend her for the appointment. She began her career at 13, when she was first introduced to various band and orchestra instruments. She was attracted to percussion instruments because “they weren’t difficult and the variety appealed to me.” After studying at Vanier College in Montreal, then at U of T, Johnston was the first female percussionist to graduate.
“It was never my ambition to be a female percussionist, or the first at anything - I was female and that’s what I was attracted to!”
She has been awarded the distinction of “Canadian Music Centre Ambassador” and was nominated for the 2023 Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance.
Johnston plays the marimba, along with a variety of other percussion instruments, and according to a biography on her website, she has “enjoyed collaborating with other musicians including the Amici Chamber Ensemble, the Penderecki String Quartet, The Blue Rider Ensemble, The Art of Time Ensemble, violinist Marc Djokic, flautist Susan Hoeppner, NEXUS, TorQ Percussion Quartet and the Joint Venture Percussion Duo.” She was one of the hosts for the CBC radio show “This is my Music” in 2016, a featured guest for percussionist Casey Cangelosi’s popular internet podcasts (2017) and has had feature articles in DRUM! Magazine and Percussive Notes. She was also the subject of an hour-long documentary on CBC Television’s nationally broadcast Sunday Arts and Entertainment. Her performance on this program was nominated for a GEMINI Award in the category of “Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program.” In 2022, she was inducted into the CBC ‘In Concert’ hall of fame.
Johnston teaches at the University of Toronto and is a Marimba One and PAISTE artist.
“I started to teach at U of T in 1996, and when I first started, even though I had a degree in music education, I didn’t know how to relay my concepts to my students because everything I was doing I was doing inside my head!” says Johnston with a laugh.
She has established her reputation beyond the border of her native Canada where she tours and performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been invited to numerous internationally renowned marimba and percussion festivals over the years and has recorded seven solo albums. She can be heard as soloist and chamber musician on many other recordings.
Johnston is married to Greek-Canadian composer and musician Christos Hatzis. Hatzis has earned two Juno Awards for his compositions, and also teaches at U of T.
“When we moved to Uxbridge, he had a studio built for me on one side of the house - he’s on the other!”
Johnston, who says she is friends with local musicians like Tom Baker and Anne Mizen, has performed in Uxbridge with the Uxbridge Chamber Choir and the Monday Morning Singers, “and I have always enjoyed the music and art events that happen in the area!”
Johnston says she has received a couple of lapel pins and a pen in recognition of the honour, but will not receive the formal award until a ceremony that will likely occur in two years.