EXPERIENCE AS AN ACCOMPANIST
Ms. Johansen-Werner has considerable experience as a performer on both piano and organ. She accompanied choirs throughout her high school years at Barrington Consolidated High School. She continued accompanying as an undergraduate at Augustana College where she played for numerous vocal recitals. From 1979 to 1989 she served as Organist at First United Methodist Church in Moline, Illinois. (Beginning in 1983 she also served as Director of Music at First UMC.) In the 1990s she accompanied on piano extensively at Upper Iowa University, mostly playing vocal works from the classical repertoire. She plays for school masses at St. Jude Church in Joliet and is on the accompanist staff at the University of St. Francis. Her undergraduate degree is in piano performance from Augustana College, Rock Island where she studied piano with Brynolf Lundholm and Dr. Ronald Moore. She studied organ with Dr. Tom Robin Harris.
Sample accompanying repertoire includes Italian art songs by Caccini, Monteverdi, A. Scarlatti, Parisotti, among others, and operatic works by Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Ponchielli, Saint-Saens, Puccini, Strauss, and Verdi. Numerous sacred vocal and choral works by classical and contemporary composers are also part of Bonnie’s repertoire. Every winter Bonnie accompanies young vocalists and instrumentalists for contest, playing a wide variety of classical and folk song literature.
Bonnie Johansen-Werner accompanying at the University of St. Francis. Singers are Nathan Henry, Ashley Gilbertson, and Leann Ernest.