Okorie “Okcello” Johnson

presented by, Baby Grand Smiles, K.I.N.G.S, and “I Am”

Okorie “OkCello” Johnson is an Atlanta-based cellist, composer, looper, improviser, and storyteller who has been featured on the Tamron Hall Show, held a Kennedy Center Office Hours Artist Residency, presented at the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 2022 Biennale, and co-composed and performed Liminal: An Atlanta Concerto with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. He has scored an Emmy award-winning documentary, Imperfect Alibi; composed the original score for American Voices Against Apartheid, which premiered at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg before moving to the Kennedy Center; and scored a Suzi Bass Award-winning children’s theatre production, Head to Toe for Alliance Theatres’ Theater for the Very Young.

His four studio albums — Liminal, Resolve, Beacon, and his most recent, Funny How Things Work Out (October 2025) — mark the milestones of an artist who has never stopped pushing.  From concert halls to corporate keynotes, his cello has taken him everywhere. In 2024, that included Pixar in Oakland. In 2025, he headlined the Johns Creek Juneteenth Celebration, performed at the Aspen Institute Business Summit, and completed two concert voyages aboard the Ritz-Carlton Ilma superyacht. So far in 2026, he has taken his show to the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska — headlining performing arts centers in Rolla, MO, Eugene, OR, Fairbanks and Anchorage, AK to enthusiastic full houses.

Okorie has opened for Maxwell, performed with India Arie, De La Soul, and Big Boi of OutKast.