Name: Incantation by Ryan Johnston
Duration: 8 min 16 s
Description: A meditative piece for flute and piano. Written for Kaitlyn Clawson and Andrew Cannestra. Recorded in Urness Recital Hall at St. Olaf College on November 2nd, 2019.

Jack Yarbrough, piano
Mathew Carey, percussion

Performed live on April 9th, 2022 at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee

"the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs..."

Sean McCarty, bass trombone
Julian Gau, piano

Performed live on April 9th, 2022 at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Sonata - Fantasie

Kian Hirayama, english horn 
Walter Yee, bass clarinet 
Wilson Poffenberger, alto sax
Maya Shiek, horn
Sean McCarty, bass trombone 
Mira Steenbrugge, violin
Zeynep Yigitoglu, viola
Jerrel Martin, cello

Performed live on April 9th, 2022 at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee

L'Accord Sacré

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Commissioned by the Horizon Ensemble for the pianist, Andrew Cannestra. Premiered on April 27th, 2024 at the Church of the Covenant, Boston, MA.

Piano Concerto (2024)

A piece for Piano based off of the painting, "Magdalena Bay" by François-Auguste Biard. Performed by Andrew Cannestra at Urness Recital Hall on February 17th, 2018.

Song of the Arctic

A set of songs on the poetry of Louis Jenkins.

I. Thoughtberries
II. Horse
III. Wind from the West
IV. Rock Collecting

Jenkins Songs

In the Woodlands

Adverse Possession

Performed by the Oasis Ensemble at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center in Newport, Oregon on May 17th, 2025.

Oasis Ensemble
Dawn Weiss - Flute
Louis Lowenstein - Cello
Andrew Cannestra - Piano

Ecstatic Landscape

Snow! Snow on the ground - Two Goddess Choruses from "Montevergine"
Kendra Preston Leonard, libretto
Steven Sérpa, music

Maureen Broy Papovich, Cybele
Inversion Ensemble: Da Capo
Jordan Walsh, percussion; Benjamin Dia, piano
Katrina Saporsanto, director
Central Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX, March 1 & 2, 2025

At its heart, our opera "Montevergine" explores themes of identity, love, and acceptance. Inspired by a 13th-century Neapolitan legend, the plot follows two young men on pilgrimage to the shrine of Mamma Schiavona, the Black Madonna of Montevergine, for the Feast of Candlemas. Mamma Schiavona, the “Slave Mother,” venerated as protector of outcasts, is rooted in both Christian and ancient pagan traditions—her shrine built on the site of an older temple to the Phrygian goddess Cybele, “Mother of Gods.”
The men are in love and condemned by their community for that love. They are subjected to a brutal lynching, stripped naked, bound and pack in with snow and ice, and left to die on the mountainside. Mamma Schiavona intervenes, melting the snow with her divine warmth and saving the couple, while admonishing the villagers for their hatred.
“Snow! Snow on the ground” is one of Two Goddess Choruses from the opera. In this scene, a femminiello—a third-gender identity in Naples—blesses the couple and urges them to honor both the Madonna and Cybele. They are interrupted by the arrival of Cybele herself, accompanied by her Galli: ancient eunuch priests who renounced maleness to serve the goddess, adorned in vibrant yellow robes with painted faces and bleached hair. This ritual chorus with aria bridges past and present, as it draws on the timeless cycles of death, rebirth, and the transformative power of love and acceptance.


Snow! Snow on the ground - Two Goddess Choruses from Montevergine

A meditative piece for flute and piano. Written for Kaitlyn Clawson and Andrew Cannestra. Recorded in Urness Recital Hall at St. Olaf College on November 2nd, 2019.

Incantation

Ryan Johnston is a composer who writes music that plays with human's perception of time, working with limited material to create music of reflective stasis. Ryan strives to choose melodies, harmonies and rhythms that are sensual, evocative, and at the same time familiar. His principal teachers have included Michel Merlet, Mischa Salkind-Pearl, Marti Epstein, and Reinaldo Moya.

Incantation

Ryan Johnston

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