Roadblocks and Detours

It was my privilege  last summer to interview Craig Hella Johnson, founder and conductor of Conspirare. This music group is one of Austin’s live music organizations that you won’t see on ACL, but one that actually won a Grammy Award. (They made a cameo appearance at Life in the City a few months ago.) Mr. Hella Johnson developed a unique presentation style that has revolutionized the concept of choral music, no mean fete.

During my years of service on the Austin Arts Commission, I encountered many artists struggling to express their individual artistic visions. Usually they were focused on their own self expression. I heard a very different story from Craig Hella Johnson. He told about facing a concert in which he knew his music would not connect with his audience, his despair at facing the possibility, and his determination to find some way to bridge the gap between Renaissance art and contemporary audiences. Johnson knew in his heart the gift this music had to give, and from personal experience, he understood the barriers that stood between the audience and that gift. He went into retreat at Galveston, determined not to return until he had found a solution. The answer came from his own experience of feeling alienated from a performance of “high art.” Here is his story.

Although he had been well taught as a high school student, when he arrived at St. Olafs University, Johnson was sometimes overtaken with what he terms “museum fear,” a feeling of reticence about his ability to embrace “high music.” This feeling was particularly strong when the campus en masse was attending a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. “Everyone on campus was attending. I stayed in my dorm room. However, the performance was broadcast live on radio, so I turned it on to listen.”  He noted with proper respect the impressive opening chords, the recitatives and vocal excellence. Then came the chorale, familiar from years of playing organ in a Lutheran church. “Bach in his wisdom and generosity had included an old familiar chorale in this magnificent work.” That moment of touching the familiar in the midst of the grandeur of the Bach oratorio broke through his emotional barrier. “I found myself crying. I threw on my clothes and ran across the campus to the concert.”

From this experience, and his determination to bridge the gap between the audience and the music, Johnson developed a unique style that combines contemporary popular music with the highest of high art, and incidentally put him and his organization on the international map. For Johnson however, it’s all about the invitation, never about himself or his artistic expression. 

As stewards of the kingdom of God, what do we need to do to remove the barriers between unchurched people and the wonderful gift of the grace of God?