Violinist / Pastor / Educator / Acoustic Hip Hop Artist
Dr. John “Adidam” Littlejohn is a violinist, pastor, educator, and acoustic hip-hop artist who has been featured on NPR, CBC, ViolinChannel.com, RapRemnant.com, DMC TV (Egypt), and in the Baltimore Sun, Georgia Strait, and Strad Magazine.
Dr. Littlejohn holds five university degrees (DMin, MDiv, GPD, MMus, BMus). He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute (Johns Hopkins University) where he completed a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Performance Diploma in violin performance with Herbert Greenberg, after completing a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Michigan. His former teachers include Anthony Elliott, Andrew Jennings, Ann Schoelles, and Yizhak Schotten (viola). Since graduating he has toured throughout Europe, Egypt, China, and North America as a soloist and one-third of Infinitus, the beatboxing string trio. As a member of Infinitus he has held multiple performance residencies with the Lincoln Center in NYC. In addition, he has performed with Michael Bublé, Weird Al Yankovic, the Clark Sisters, Richard Smallwood, Regina Carter, Elmo, Andrea Bocelli, the TransSiberian Orchestra, Rod Stewart, Blake Shelton, and Kehinde Wiley. He has served as the concertmaster of the Newark (Delaware) Symphony, and Darin Atwater’s Soulful Symphony; and has been a member of numerous orchestras and ensembles including the Baltimore Opera Orchestra.
In addition to being a violinist, John “Adidam” Littlejohn is a composer and emcee known for his unique style, lyrical ability, and distinctive cadence. In 2022, he composed an original score for Bard on the Beach’s production of Djanet Sears’ award-winning play, “Harlem Duet.” He was referred to in the Vancouver Sun as an “incredibly talented violinist and composer.” He has produced three full-length albums, “Violinistik,” “All Day I Dream About Music,” and “Caterpillar Chronicles.” Tim Smith, music critic of the Baltimore Sun, called his music "distinctive" with "tightly rhymed lyrics," and a VH1 entertainment journalist called his compositions "extremely original and magnificently arranged and played."
Dr. Littlejohn is deeply committed to changing lives through music education. He has taught violin and viola for over 25 years and is the founder and director of the Thrive City String Boot Camp, a tuition-free intensive retreat for intermediate to advanced string players. Additionally, he has performed over 1500 outreach performances in schools with Infinitus. He is currently on the faculty of the Vancouver Academy of Music and the Delta Community Music School. While in graduate school he received specialized training in violin pedagogy and curriculum development from Rebecca Henry, co-chair of the Peabody Preparatory String Department. His students have won competitions and have gone on to study music in university. He is a frequent clinician and adjudicator at music festivals, camps, workshops, and seminars.
In 2019, Dr. Littlejohn was ordained and is serving as a co-lead pastor at Kingdom Life Community Church in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. In 2023 he completed a Doctor of Ministry degree in Theology & Apologetics at the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity (Liberty University), where he also completed a Master of Divinity in Global Studies in 2021.
Currently, John resides in the greater Vancouver area with his wife Paula and their children.