Dr. Blake Johnson is instructor of oboe and musicology at Campbellsville University, where he teaches oboe lessons, studio, and reed class; undergraduate and graduate courses in music history, research methods, and music appreciation; and coaches the undergraduate Honors Woodwind Ensemble.

Johnson’s research investigates the ways in which foreign oboists influenced the musical life of London through the styles, instruments, and compositions they brought with them; collaborations between performers and composers, particularly in the works of George Frideric Handel; the development of the oboe and technical ability throughout the eighteenth century; and issues of narrative and gender in Handel’s arias with obbligato instruments. Dr. Johnson has published articles in Early Music, Early Music Performance and Research, and The Double Reed. His research on collaborations between Handel and his oboists was supported by the American Handel Society’s 2022 J. Merrill Knapp Research Fellowship. Dr. Johnson has presented his research at meetings of the American Handel Society, the North American British Music Studies Association, and the South-Central Chapter of the American Musicological Society, as well as at the Ninth-Annual Conference in Historical Performance at Indiana University.

Dr. Johnson’s interest in works by oboist-composers extends to his recitals which frequently feature compositions by such composers spanning from the eighteenth century to the present. Johnson is Principal Oboist of the Sacred Winds Ensemble, previously performed as a member of the Cave Run Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a guest oboist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil in Ecuador and the Midwest Chamber Ensemble. He has performed at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, Kentucky Music Educators Association, and the North American Saxophone Alliance. 

Dr. Johnson has an active interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning and has published on aspects of oboe pedagogy in The Double Reed. In addition to his college teaching, Johnson maintains a private studio of all age levels and his students have consistently placed in All State and other honor ensembles in both Kansas and Kentucky. He has presented masterclasses at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise and Morehead State University, as well as at the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano and Universidad de las Artes in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Dr. Johnson earned his DMA in Performance and MM degrees in both Performance and Musicology from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory. His primary teachers are Celeste Johnson, Thomas Pappas, Mary Lindsey Bailey, and John Viton. He was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel in 2023, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Governor of Kentucky.