Celeste Johnson is currently serving as Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. She has recently presented performances and clinics at International Double Reed Society conferences as well as the Oklahoma and Texas Music Educators conferences. Ms. Johnson has performed as a substitute with the Kansas City Symphony and was formerly a member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, where she performed as a featured concerto soloist.

Ms. Johnson has held numerous faculty positions at universities and summer programs. Formerly a faculty member at Oklahoma State University (OSU), Ms. Johnson has also taught at the University of Kansas and Roberts Wesleyan College. She has served as a faculty member at the Bay View Music Festival and the Filármonica Joven de Colombia in South America. A founding faculty member of the UMKC Double Reed Institute, she has also taught for camps at Oklahoma State University and Bocal Majority/Operation Oboe in Texas. Ms. Johnson has also taught master classes at high schools and universities across the country.

As a performer, Celeste is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Recently, she has performed with Summerfest, a chamber music festival based in Kansas City. She was awarded honorable mentions as one of five finalists in the Gillet/Fox International Oboe Competition in 2001 and 2003. She was a finalist in the Barnett Family Foundation Competition and a semi-finalist in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. As an undergraduate student, she won the University of Illinois Concerto Competition, consequently being featured as a soloist with the university orchestra. Celeste has also been featured as a concerto soloist with the UMKC Conservatory Wind Symphony, OSU Wind Ensemble and OSU Symphony Orchestra.

As an orchestral player, Ms. Johnson has performed with the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, Russian String Orchestra, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Tulsa Opera Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic and Quad Cities Symphony.

Ms. Johnson has worked with oboists across the globe as the recipient of fellowships to a number of music festivals and programs. She has received fellowships to attend the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland. She has also performed at the Sarasota Music Festival, Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Pine Mountain Music Festival, and at the Banff Centre master classes in Alberta, Canada.

Ms. Johnson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has studied with Richard Killmer, Nancy Ambrose King, Dan Stolper, and Phil Koch.