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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
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