Violinist and composer Douglas Bruce Johnson was born in Oakland, California in 1949, and grew up on the Pacific north coast. From 1970-72 he studied with composer Friedrich Neumann at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, Austria. After earning the B.A. at Humboldt State University in 1974, he was active as a performer in chamber groups and orchestras.  In the 1980's he joined the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra under Kent Nagano, who commissioned his first large orchestral works.  He earned the Ph.D. in Music at the University of California, Berkeley in 1989, working with Andrew Imbrie, Olly Wilson, and Michael Senturia. In 1988 he joined the Trinity music faculty, and earned tenure in 1995.

Johnson asserts that all musicians share a common goal: to communicate, to connect with others through their thoughts expressed as sounds. This goal over-arches all styles, traditions, and periods.  He bases his teaching on the firm conviction that real musical mastery comes with a comprehensive approach. Each component of one's musicianship needs regular training and exercise. Whatever the stage of musical development, steady progress results from cultivating four aspects of musicianship.

Listen: to many kinds of music, again and again; and, to yourself, whether practicing or performing
Pulse: look for just the right quality of the pulse that supports each moment of the music and its message
Study: get (and stay) curious about every aspect of music: music's cultures, histories, theories, and performance practices
Practice: regularly, with the brain engaged, to identify and solve problems, and always with the listener in mind, asking: what have I got to say with this music, right now?

Compositions in the last decade (for performance history, see composer's website):

• Johnson, Douglas B. E la montagna e nera (Michele Mari ). TTBarB male chorus, commissioned by Asssociazione Quadrivium, Riva del Garda, Italy, 2006.
• Johnson, Douglas B. A Cradle Song (Wm. Blake), SATB chorus, flute obbligato; Hymn Tunes for "Andrew Heard a Voice" and "Once Lord, You Called" (C. L. Webber), 2005.
• Johnson, Douglas B. Poet Power (Denise Levertov), for contralto solo, 2004.
• Johnson, Douglas B. Work in progress: opera based on Depression-era Indiana oral history project, 2003.
• Johnson, Douglas B. Hymn Tune for "God's Mighty Word" (C. L. Webber), 2002.
• Johnson, Douglas B. Palabra, Obra y Corazon: cinco poemas de Medardo Arias-Satizabal, contralto, alto flute, viola and rototoms; Hymn Tune for "Lord of the Journey" (C. L. Webber); Hymn/Anthem version of "A Hymn for the Church" (C. L. Webber) SATB and organ, 2001.
• Johnson, Douglas B. Four Songs on texts by Wally Swist, high voice and piano; Hymn Tune for "A Hymn for the Church" (C. L. Webber); Mercy and Truth Have Met Together, (Psalm 85:10-11), SATB and organ, 2000.
• Johnson, Douglas B. il terzodecimo canto, Ralph Kenneth Johnson (1914-1963) in memoriam, string quartet, 1999.
• Johnson, Douglas B. To a Locomotive in Winter (Walt Whitman), baritone voice and piano; Tre Canzoni per "Le Aguane" di P. D. Malvinni, contralto voice and guitar; Fantasy on the American Folk Hymn, "Land of Rest" organ solo, 1998.
• Johnson, Douglas B. four traveling musicians sit waiting on the platform for their train as evening approaches, saxophone quartet, 1996.

• Barbieri Endowment Grant: partial funding, recordings for CD release; Faculty Leave Extension Grant for Fall, 2003.
• Helen M. Saunders Charitable Foundation Grant: partial funding, recordings for CD release, 2001.
• Faculty Summer Research Grant: revision of Concert Overture for piano trio, 1994.
• Gordon and Cynthia Morrill Endowment for Chamber Music: performance of Neruda Fragments, 1991.
• Chevron Employees Fund Grant: work commissioned by Young People's Symphony Orchestra, Berkeley CA, 1987.
• Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California Academic Senate; Christofolos Prize, U.C. Berkeley Department of Music, 1986.
• University of California Regents Fellowship, 1985 and 1986. 
• Eisner Prize in Music, U. C., Berkeley, 1985.
• Distinguished Teaching Award, U. C. Academic Senate, 1984.
• California Meet-the-Composer Grants, works commissioned by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano, conductor, 1981 and 1983.