Bonnie Johansen-Werner
Bonnie Johansen-Werner is a freelance musician in Joliet, Illinois where she teaches piano, voice, and composition in her private studio.
She teaches music theory, sight-singing, and ear training at the University of St. Francis where she is the Composer-in-Residence and also serves as one of the staff accompanists.
Bonnie publishes with The United Methodist Publishing House, Alliance Publications, Augsburg-Fortress Publications, Darcey Press, and Waterton Brass.
She is a member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), the American Composers Forum, the Iowa Composers Federation, the Illinois Association of Teachers of Music, the National Guild of Piano Teachers (American College of Musicians), Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts.
She is active in the Joliet Area Music Teachers Association and is a Colleague in the American Guild of Organists (CAGO).
Bonnie is a Diaconal Minister in The United Methodist Church, affiliated with Grace United Methodist Church in Naperville.
In addition she is the principal organist at St. Luke Presbyterian church in Downers Grove.
A number of her organ works were performed in the summer of 2010 in Germany, France, and Slovakia by Ms. Johansen-Werner and her husband, Duane. Bonnie's compositions are for choir, vocal solo, keyboard (mostly organ), and chamber ensembles. Composition premieres in 2011 include "Festival Rondo" At St. Joseph church in Joliet with the JJC Brass Ensemble, "Majerka Rhapsody" for piano at the JJC Steinway Benefit Concert, and "Variations on 'Nun Danket'" in Majerka, Slovakia in September. Her composition teachers include Alice Parker, Richard Hillert, and Carl Schalk. She has graduate training in voice and vocal pedagogy, studying with Karen Brunssen. She also trained as an observer and accompanist in lessons with the late Bernard Taylor of New York City. Bonnie is currently training in the Taubman technique of piano performance with Teresa Dybvig of New York. Bonnie has a B.M.U. in Music from Augustana College, magna cum laude, where she majored in piano performance, an M.C.M. from Concordia University (River Forest) where she completed an emphasis in liturgical composition, has served as a full-time organist/choral director at First United Methodist Church in Moline, Illinois, and served as the McCosh Assistant Professor of Music at Upper Iowa University for 13 years. She has completed graduate theological studies at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Methesco, and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. Bonnie is married to Duane Werner and together they have five children and seven grandchildren.