Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson, clarinet

Biography

Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson is a British clarinettist known for his stylistic versatility, magnetic stage presence, and deeply expressive artistry. With a growing international profile, he is passionately committed to widening access in classical music and championing the work of living and historically marginalised composers. 

As both a soloist and chamber musician, Mebrakh has performed at some of the world’s leading venues and festivals, including Wigmore Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Verbier Festival, Adelaide Festival and Edinburgh International Festival. He made his U.S. concerto debut in 2024 with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, performing David Baker’s Jazz Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra, and appeared as guest principal with Barry Manilow and his Orchestra at Radio City Music Hall. He has also performed and recorded with Chineke! Orchestra as principal clarinet, played saxophone with them at the BBC Proms, served as guest principal E-flat clarinet with Britten Sinfonia, and made his Carnegie Hall debut as principal clarinet of the Juilliard Orchestra. 

A dedicated interpreter of historical performance, Mebrakh performs on 5-10 key boxwood clarinets and was the first clarinettist at The Juilliard School to minor in historically informed performance. 

As a multi-instrumentalist, he made his televised Proms debut in 2019 on saxophone and clarinet in Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts with Nu Civilisation Orchestra. He later appeared at the Berlin JazzFest and London Jazz Festival with Jason Moran and the Bandwagon, performing on clarinet, flute, and piccolo in a programme celebrating James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters. 

His artistic reach extends beyond the concert hall. In 2022, he collaborated with Gustavo Dudamel and Tyler, the Creator in Virgil Abloh’s final Louis Vuitton Men’s Fashion Show in Paris with Chineke!, and was later featured in Louis Vuitton: The Book #15. That same year, he made his film debut in Downton Abbey: A New Era. 

Mebrakh is a committed advocate for equity and inclusion in music. At the Royal College of Music, he led a major overhaul of the undergraduate and postgraduate performance syllabi to include works by Black, Asian, and female composers, and created a weekly newsletter highlighting their stories. In 2020, he helped produce the College’s first Black History Month concert, and later inspired the creation of FestivALL, a student-led summer festival showcasing underrepresented composers. The festival has since been featured in the Great Exhibition Road Festival, in partnership with Imperial College London. 

At Juilliard, he served as Chair of the Student Congress and was a Clarinet Fellow with the Music Advancement Program, where he authored inclusive teaching resources and policy proposals. Through his Morse Fellowship, he brought music education to underserved communities across New York City. 

Mebrakh began taking clarinet lessons at 14. He holds a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Richard Hosford and Peter Sparks, and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Anthony McGill as a Jerome L. Greene Fellow, supported by the Julius Isserlis Scholarship, The Munster Trust, and generous family and friends. 

Beyond music, Mebrakh has volunteered in hospitals and pharmacies, observed open-heart surgeries, and published zoological research through The Nuffield Foundation. He is an avid traveller, linguist, and lover of global cuisine - favourites include chicken buss-up shut and duck confit.