David Johns, concert pianist, was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, on March 25, 1951. He is the son of the late George Reginald Johns, a civil Servant and economist, and his wife, the late Joyce M. Johns, who was a piano teacher.
He was educated at Westbrook Preparatory School and the Priory School in Jamaica, and then at the Royal Academy of Music, London. His teachers included Ivan Davis, Maria Curcio and Peter Feuchtwanger, pupils of Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Schnabel and Clara Haskil.
He made his debut at the Wigmore Hall, London in 1980 and the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1981.
He has given concert performances throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia and Europe, as well as in the United States, Canada, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and the Cayman Islands. He gave the World Premiere of Shostakovich’s Suite for two pianos at the Wigmore Hall, and the first broadcast of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Sonata for Flute and Piano with the English Flautist Richard Adeney.
_ Johns has recorded and performed chamber music with members of the Melos Ensemble, the English Chamber Orchestra, and eminent musicians such as violinist Mayumi Fujikawa, cellists Raphael Wallfisch and Arto Noras, and clarinettist Thea King. He has also made numerous recordings for the BBC and given recitals in the BBC’s Concert Hall Series and the BBC lunchtime concerts at St. John’s, Smith Square.
He was pianist in residence of Florida State University in 1990 and examiner to the Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music with extensive tours of the United Kingdom and the Far East.
[written a decade ago]