Known for his innovative ideas for advancing the arts, since joining Chicago Sinfonietta, Mr. Johnson has expanded the organization’s reach and community programming. He launched the Artist-in-Residence initiative, expanded the flagship Freeman Fellowship program, and most recently led complex negotiations, establishing a historic partnership with Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, the orchestra’s new home and performance venue beginning the 2023-2024 season, in addition to Naperville’s Wentz Concert Hall. He also launched the orchestra’s first annual fund to great success, extending the funding base beyond Chicago by 36%.  In addition to music and audience diversity, Johnson has also expanded economic diversity, designing and introducing the nationally acclaimed Pay-What-You-Can Program in fall 2021. Praised by The New York Times, the program has inspired classical organizations throughout the nation, resulting in numerous organizations adopting the practice.

In 2019 he was responsible for the overall management of security, travel, and logistics of 48 antique string instruments, and artistic planning of 16 lecture recitals with numerous community collaborators for the successful Louisville, Kentucky, community collaboration of the world-renowned Violins of Hope: The Violins of Hope Project - an international community program of hope, peace, and respect comprising more than 30 educational and inspirational events, exhibits and performances honoring the Jewish people whose lives were taken during WWII.

A former professional cellist and protégé of Michael Tilson Thomas at New World Symphony, where he received extensive leadership training, Mr. Johnson’s focus on arts administration and education began while he was a music student at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. An accomplished musician, Johnson has performed as a member and soloist with ensembles such as Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and the National Repertory Orchestra in the US; with the New York Symphonic Ensemble’s 2017 Japan tour; with Chineke! Orchestra in the UK, and Sinfonietta Polonia in Poland. Music Festival appearances include Spoleto Music Festival USA (principal), Brevard Music Festival and France’s Aix-en-Provence Music Festival. A former featured artist on NPR’s nationwide radio program, “From the Top,” with Christopher O’Riley, and NPR’s “What makes it Great?” with Rob Kiplow, he can be heard on recorded works by Richard Danielpour, Claudio Gabriele, and Poul Ruders.

While at Blair School of Music, Mr. Johnson founded and served as Program Director of Classical Cake, a free concert series aimed at introducing first time audience members to a diverse spectrum of music in concerts that ranged from salon size performances with local artists to partnerships with large ensembles on tour in the Nashville area. Following the success of Classical Cake, he expanded his concept, creating the Music Education for Youth Initiative, serving as Artistic Founder/Director, and fostering meaningful exchange between the Nashville Symphony, W.O Smith School, and Vanderbilt University students with under-privileged youth within the Nashville community for several years. Later positions include serving as Assistant Personnel Manager of the Spoleto Music Festival USA and recently, as Director of Learning and Community for Louisville Orchestra, and as an Arts Advisory Council Member in Louisville, Kentucky. Other organizations with which Mr. Johnson has worked in arts education and outreach include Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, El Sistema, and the Academia Filarmónica de Medellín.

Mr. Johnson’s recent honors and awards include the 2022 Brevard Music Center Distinguished Alumni Award, the Chicago Urban League 2022 Impact Fellowship, awarded by The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the 2022 Chicago Community Trust Daniel Burnham Fellowship, awarded by Leadership Greater Chicago to Greater Chicago Region leaders who “in their roles, are able to play a part in shaping the future of Chicago”. As a musician his awards include winner, The World Competition Audience Choice Award, the Daniel Rains Concerto Competition, and the Brevard Music Festival Concerto Competition. He is a prize winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition and a recipient of the Blair School of Music’s Jean Keller Heard Prize for musical excellence.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Blake-Anthony Johnson holds a MM from Cleveland State University, a BM from Vanderbilt University, Blair School of Music, and a certificate from Manhattan School of Music in Orchestral Performance. Additional studies were with Martin Löhr, Aline Champion, David Geber, Alan Stepanksy, Alan Rafferty, and Wolfram Koessel. Former posts include three seasons as a member of the Steering Committee of Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative (2020- 2023), two terms on the National Endowment for the Arts Music Panel, and as a judge in Chicago’s 2021 3Arts Awards. Johnson has also served in the roles of emcee, moderator, and facilitator – including for the 2021 League of American Orchestras' 76th National Conference, and as a speaker at League's 2020 Mid-Winter Conference. In 2023 he gave the closing remarks at the 2023 Collision Conference, Toronto Stock Exchange, in Canada. Johnson’s professional training also includes participation in workshops in education, community engagement and collective bargaining at The League of American Orchestra’s 2018 Conference, and a Certificate of Study in American Law from the University of Pennsylvania.