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S

E V E R A L W E E K S A G O ,

I was getting some work

done while on a ight from Orlando back to Chicago.

Part of my agenda was to digest the libretto of Craig

Hella Johnson’s poignant oratorio

Considering Matthew

hepard.

I already owned the Grammy-nominated recording

on Harmonia Mundi and had been profoundly moved by it,

but this was the rst time I had actually read the entire text

itself. I was, quite frankly, undone. e plane vanished from

my cognizance, along with the din from the overwrought

Disney vacation families that dotted the cabin. I sat there with

tears streaming down my face. I felt a tap on my shoulder and

looked up to see a startled ight attendant named Tammy. Her

eyes so ened as she said, “Here’s your Diet Coke, hon.”

e couple beside me then engaged me in one of those pithy

conversations one sometimes has with strangers. We discussed

Matthew Shepard’s death and legacy today, here at a time in

which societal unrest and bigotry are sadly on the rise. Shepard

was the University of Wyoming student who in

was tied

to a fence and murdered in one of the most horri c gay hate

crimes in modern history. His death led to the passage of the

Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Preven-

tion Act in

, and the formation of the Matthew Shepard

Foundation, which promotes antiviolence awareness through a

variety of initiatives. He has also inspired a plethora of writ-

ings, lms, and musical projects from the arts community, [one

of the earliest and most widely known being Moisés Kaufman’s

play

e Laramie Project

]. Craig Hella Johnson’s

modern-day Passion is quite conceivably the most powerful

artistic response to Shepard’s story to date.

Johnson is an interesting guy. His conversational style

reveals an understated intensity graced by palpable brilliance

and enveloping warmth as we discuss a journey of artistic

creation that became “deeply personal” for him. Born in Crow

Wing County, MN, Johnson began piano studies in childhood.

He attended St. Olaf College and pursued graduate work at

the University of Illinois and Juilliard before scoring a fel-

lowship to study with Helmuth Rilling at the Internationale

Craig Hella Johnson

plants a fencepost to

welcome Matt Shepard

Story by Mark Thomas Ketterson

Photography by James Goulden

RAVINIA MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 – MAY 11, 2019

12