Bonnie Johansen-Werner
Bonnie Johansen-Werner has been composing and arranging music for over 20 years. Her organ
works are published with Darcey Press and Augsburg-Fortress Press and receive regular
performances at St. Luke United Presbyterian Church in Downers Grove, Illinois, where she is
principal organist. Formerly the McCosh Professor of Music at Upper Iowa University where she
directed three choirs, Bonnie has written and arranged numerous choral works, which have been
performed throughout North America, The Bahamas, and Bulgaria. Bonnieʼs choral works have been
commissioned and performed by numerous midwestern choirs, with a recent premier of “Where Are
Our Friends” performed by the Ames Children Choir at Iowa State University in the fall of 2010.
Several liturgical works are published with The United Methodist Publishing House. Her “Festival
Rondo” for brass and organ was premiered in 2011 by the Joliet Junior College Brass Ensemble at St.
Joseph Church in Joliet with the composer at the organ.
In addition to composing, Bonnie is a freelance performer and teacher in Joliet, Illinois where she
teaches piano, voice, and composition in her private studio and music theory, ear training, sightsinging, and composition at the University of St. Francis. In addition to her ministry at St. Luke
Church, she is Diaconal Minister of Music associated with Grace United Methodist Church
(Naperville) in the ministry of organ and composition. With her husband, Duane Werner, Bonnie
recently completed a tour of her ancestral villages in Europe, giving concerts in the churches of her
ancestors in Germany, France, and Slovakia. Previously, she taught applied voice at Joliet Junior
College 2003 to 2011 and was Director of Music and Organist at Riverside United Methodist Church
in Moline, Illinois.
Bonnie writes for both the classical concert hall and the church, with a commitment to composing
music of a spiritual nature that reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of church life. Mysticism
and spirituality play an important role in her music, with a focus on the presence of the holy in all of
life.
Ms. Johansen-Werner holds a B.M.U. in Music from Augustana College (Rock Island) and an M.C.M.
from Concordia University (River Forest). In addition to her music studies she has completed
graduate theology studies at Garrett Theological Seminary, the University of Dubuque, and Methesco. Her composition mentors include Richard Hillert, Carl Schalk, and Alice Parker. Bonnie is married to
Duane Werner, and together they have five children and seven grandchildren.
You can reach her with any questions or comments at johansen-werner@watertonbrassmusic.com
