Cameron (UV) Johnston-Ushijima

Cameron Johnston is a composer, sound artist, producer, and programmer. He describes himself as “media agnostic” producing works in any medium that fits that particular project. Music and sound has been a part of his life since he was eight years old when he joined the school band. He started on trumpet, eventually switched to tuba for his primary instrument. Cameron started composing in high school where he made arrangements as well as original works for chamber ensembles and wind band. Cameron earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Composition from California State University, Long Beach. Here he wrote music for a number of collaborative projects: film, dance, video games, and theatre. Additionally, he gained skills in music production, recording, and mixing. Cameron developed a practice in experimental performance and electronics due to his time in New Music Ensemble and Laptop Ensemble. He values collaborating with other artists, which lead him to his senior project: King George VI. This opera was the culmination of the collaborative work Cameron had developed during his time at CSULB. He has performed original works in a variety of venues in the Los Angeles Area and in New York. Cameron is earned his Master’s in Music Composition with Interactive Media from Cal State Long Beach in 2022. He graduated with an award in Distinguished Achievement in Creative Activity. He directed the New Music Ensemble where he harbored an environment of creativity and collaboration, allowing the students to compose the bulk of the pieces for performances. He manages the live stream for the ensemble’s recent concerts and mixes the ensemble for those performances. Diving deep into the virtual performance space, Cameron has taken advantage of their all digital concerts by adding audio and visual effects to enhance the performance. He also was the graduate assistant for the university offered Max course and the Logic/Garageband class. He premiered the first two acts of his opera _j0bs at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. Currently Cameron works as an Audio Visual Technician in the Anthropology Department at USC. He also works at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles as an Audio Visual and Live Stream Technician. Cameron works as a freelance AV and live stream tech in the Los Angeles area.