SHORT
Bradley Johnson is a Classical Guitarist and Mandolinist based in London, and Artistic Director and Performance Coach of the Wimbledon classical Guitar Society (WiGS), where he curates and leads their concert series. His work reflects a deep commitment to contemporary music, shaped by collaborative work developing new solo repertoire with composers Gary Carpenter, David Gorton, and Philip Cashian, and by partnerships with figures such as Georg Friedrich Haas and Edward Cowie.
His passion for modern repertoire was ignited by a performance of Tippett's Sonata – The Blue Guitar, which earned him First Prize in the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award and drew praise from Classical Guitar Magazine for its "strongly formed musical ideas and natural spontaneity." He subsequently gave a notable recital at the International Guitar Research Conference in 2016.
Formally trained under Professor Michael Lewin at the Royal Academy of Music, Bradley graduated with Distinction in 2019, receiving the DipRAM (the Academy's highest performance honour) as well as First Prize in the Blyth Watson Guitar Concerto Prize. A full scholarship recipient for the Advanced Diploma course, he premiered and recorded new compositions for the Academy's Bicentenary 200 Pieces project, and was awarded the Bache Fund Prize upon graduating in 2021.
He also holds a First-Class Honours Degree from the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied under Craig Ogden. Since 2018, he has been a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and was named an IGF Young Artist from 2021.
LONG
Bradley Johnson is a Classical Guitarist and Mandolinist based in Wimbledon, London, and Artistic Director and Performance Coach of the Wimbledon classical Guitar Society (WiGS) - a role in which he shapes and leads the society's concert series, bringing a strong focus on contemporary and exploratory programming to the local classical guitar community.
His broader performance career has taken him to some of the UK's most prestigious venues and festivals, including Cadogan Hall, King's Place, St. John's Smith Square, Bridgewater Hall, Duke's Hall, and the International Guitar Research Conference. He has taken masterclasses with David Russell, Fabio Zanon, Zoran Dukic, Ricardo Gallen, and Sergio and Odair Assad.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music's Advanced Diploma course under Professor Michael Lewin, Bradley developed a strong affinity for contemporary music that directly informs his programming at WiGS. His work has yielded four premiere recordings — by composers Gary Carpenter, Phil Cashian, David Gorton, and Marino-Arcaro — released by the Academy as part of their Bicentenary, with further recordings featured on the Siccas Guitars YouTube channel.
His studies at the RAM culminated in an MA with Distinction and the DipRAM (the Academy's highest performance award) during which he performed for the 400+ and Tuesday/Thursday Series, and received guidance from David Russell, Fabio Zanon, Professor Stephen Goss, Timothy Walker, and early music specialists Nigel North and Elizabeth Kenny. Prior to this, he studied with Craig Ogden at the Royal Northern College of Music, graduating with First Class Honours.
Bradley has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Bache Fund Prize, a Special Commendation from the Boise Foundation Scholarship Trust, twice the Blyth Watson Charitable Trust Award, and the Charlotte Fraser Award. He won First Prize in the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award and First Prize in the Blyth Watson Guitar Concerto competition. He is also a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and an IGF Young Artist.
As an ensemble player, Bradley has performed with the Cerulean Trio (alongside guitarists Michael Matthews and Gonçalo Maia Caetano) at the Uppsala Guitar Festival in Sweden, after reaching the final of the festival's competition. He has represented the Worshipful Company of Musicians at the International Guitar Research Conference (IGRC) at the University of Surrey, and performed at the Centenary celebrations of Reginald Smith-Brindle, where he played solo works and rare guitar duos with Professor Steven Thachuk from California State University — their first performance since the premieres by Julian Bream and John Williams.
In addition to the guitar, Bradley performs on mandolin with the Academy Symphony Orchestra, the Manson Ensemble, and the Castalian String Quartet. His performance of Don Giovanni's Serenade with Academy Opera was praised by Brian Dickie of Chicago Opera as "astonishingly beautiful."
A dedicated teacher, Bradley holds the LRAM teaching diploma with Distinction and has tutored guitar for the BMus course at King's College London. He performs on guitars by Philip Woodfield (Grand Concert II – Orsolya) and Manuel Contreras (Doble-Tapa).