Passionate as a composer, teacher, and performer, Bonnie Johansen-Werner is a freelance musician in Joliet, Illinois where she teaches piano, voice, and composition in her private studio. At the University of St. Francis she accompanies the Claritas Master Chorale and teaches courses in keyboard skills and music theory. Bonnie publishes with The United Methodist Publishing House, Alliance Music Publications, Augsburg-Fortress Press, and Darcey Press. She is a member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), the American Composers Forum, the Iowa Composers Forum, the Illinois State Music Teachers Association, the National Guild of Piano Teachers(American College of Musicians), and Music Teachers National Association, (MTNA).
Bonnie Johansen-Werner is active in the Southwest Area Music Teachers Association and is a Colleague in the American Guild of Organists (CAGO), affiliated with both the Fox Valley and Southwest Suburban AGO chapters. Bonnie is a Diaconal Minister in The United Methodist Church, affiliated with Grace United Methodist Church, Naperville. In addition she is organist at First United Methodist Church in Lockport First United Methodist Church, Lockport. Bonnie’s compositions are primarily for choir, vocal solo, and keyboard (mostly organ). Major commissions include Tree of Anguish-Tree of Hope, a full-length service for Good Friday at Grace UMC in Naperville, and choral/instrumental works for St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Downers Grove, Illinois and First United Methodist Church in Iowa City, Iowa. Other premieres of interest include Where Are Our Friends performed by the Ames Children Choir at Iowa State University, Festival Rondo premiered by the JJC Brass Ensemble at St. Joseph Church, I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad for piano octet at Kankakee Valley Piano Camp, Majerka Rhapsody at Joliet Junior College, and Variations on Now Thank We All our God for organ at Majerka Evangelical Lutheran Church in Slovakia. A number of her organ works are available on youtube. Her composition teachers include Alice Parker, Richard Hillert, and Carl SchalkCarl Schalk. Ms. Johansen-Werner has graduate training in voice and vocal pedagogy, studying with Karen Brunssen and training as observer and accompanist in lessons with the late Bernard Taylor of New York City. She is currently training in the Taubman technique of piano performance with Teresa Dybvig of New York. Ms. Johansen-Werner 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 (Chicago) where she pursued an emphasis in liturgical composition, has served as a full-time organist/choral director at First United Methodist Church (now Riverside) 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, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. Bonnie is married to Duane Werner and together they have five children and ten grandchildren.
