Kari Johnson Barroso

Dr. Kari Johnson Barroso is a pianist and educator currently based in Topeka, Kansas. With a passion for both contemporary and historical repertoire, she has been featured as a performer at Electronic Music Midwest, the Thailand International Composition Festival, SEAMUS, the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, and ICMC. After more than a decade away from the concert stage, she made her return in 2025 with a performance at Electronic Music Midwest in Kansas City. ​

Kari holds a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from Central Missouri State University; a Master’s in Piano Performance from Bowling Green State University; a Master’s in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Her principal teachers include Dr. Mia Kim, Dr. Robert Satterlee, Dr. Timothy Ehlen, and Professor John McIntyre. ​

In addition to her performing and teaching work, Kari is currently pursuing an RCM ARCT Diploma and creating pedagogical arrangements of both classical masterworks and popular music. She is especially interested in developing listening calendars and curriculum materials to help young students build meaningful relationships with classical music.

Concert Dates

  • February 3, 2026 - 7:30pm CST St. Charles Borromeo Convocation Hall, Romeville, Illinois
  • March 5, 2026 - Central Missouri State University

15 one-minute selections for Kari Johnson Barroso

  • Epigram op. 13 no. 4

    Faruk Mehić

    Epigram op. 13 no. 4 is a composition written for solo piano. It uses twelve-tone technique compositional technique.

    Faruk Mehić is a composer from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently studying composition at the Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka in the class of prof. Tatjana Milošević Mijanović PhD.

  • Room 850

    Michael Coleman

    Room 850 is dedicated to Kari Johnson and the work is built around a recurring motivic idea. The title refers to one of the composers favorite rooms to rehearse and practice.

    Michael Coleman has participated as composer/pianist in numerous new music programs and festivals in the U.S. and Russia and has also had works performed in North & Central America, Europe, and Eurasia. He currently teaches at Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida.

  • Shimmer

    Jane Wang

    Walden Pond. Some random hour between sunrise and noon in mid-summer. Translucent green fish swimming just under the surface close to the shore. A blue heron makes an appearance at the far side of the pond, stares down and admires his own reflection.

    Composer/musician Jane Wang has frequently written and performed her own music for theatre and dance. A 2013 Drama Desk Award “Outstanding Music in a Play” Nominee, she was also selected for three 60x60 projects. She continues to compose and perform remotely (being immune compromised). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Wang_(composer_and_musician)

  • Autumn Where I Am

    Kevin Rose

    "Autumn Where I Am" is a quiet meditation on seasonal change. A brief passage nods to the jazz standard "Autumn in New York," but the work unfolds in atonal space, drawing from Takemitsu's use of silence and sustained tones. The spaces between notes are as essential as the notes themselves.

    Kevin is a composer and contemplative practitioner based in Ridgewood, NJ. He teaches music and mindfulness to young children, integrating artistic practice with awareness and presence through Mindful Arts NJ. He has a degree in Music Composition from Indiana University and studied film scoring at NYU.

  • Dancing Lines: clear!

    Chung Eun Kim

    This piano solo combines samba-driven rhythms with harmony built from stacked fourths and playful gestures inspired by the iconic Super Mario soundtrack. Its shifting movements and rising momentum evoke a stage-like progression, ending with a glissando suggesting a final “clear” moment—all conveyed through the voice of one piano.

    Chung Eun Kim, a composer based in Korea, earned her PhD in Composition from Rutgers University. Her work draws from both Western and non-Western traditions, combining contemporary classical techniques with influences from jazz and pop. She explores a flexible, cross-genre approach that reflects her diverse musical background.

  • Echoes

    Avery Chan

    Echoes makes heavy use of the sostenuto pedal on the piano, which is often ignored. Harmonics ring clearly, but also somewhat unpredictably. *As if singing into a cave.*

    Avery Chan is a composer, improviser, and instrumentalist from Hong Kong. Based in The Netherlands, she is currently studying composition under Vykintas Baltakas at Conservatorium Maastricht.

  • Two Movements for Piano: Line, Melodie

    Nick Redfern

    Two Movements for Piano and two contrasting miniatures. The fist is sporadic and intense, whilst the second is sustained and reflective.

    I was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, on 25th December, 1962, and completed my school years at what was then known as Ashby Grammar School. I studied Music at Huddersfield Polytechnic, King’s College London, The Royal College of Music and The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

  • For Arvo Pärt

    Leopold Brauneiss

    Birthday piece for Arvo Pärt: 90 notes in the left hand, based on a motif of three notes: A-(rvo P)-A-E-(rt).

    Leopold Brauneiss, (b. 1961) Austrian composer, musicologist and teacher, Dr. Univeristy of Vienna, lecturer for harmony and counterpoint at University of Vienna and Musikhochschule Leipzig. The main stylistic and aesthetic influence is the Tintinnabuli Style Arvo Pärts, whom he knows personally for many years.

  • PRELUDIO

    Carlos Ocando

    Carlos Ocando, Venezuelan composer. He graduated in composition from the José Ángel Lasmas Higher School of Music under the guidance of Maestro Gerardo Gerulewicz. As a composer, he was awarded the Municipal Music Prize in 2012 in the category: Chamber Music for the work “Al borde,” inspired by the poet Sylvia Plath. His works have premiered in various venues in the city of Caracas. In January 2021, the Prelude No. IV for piano was premiered in London, performed by the English pianist María Marchant, as part of the international call for works “7 Notes in 7 Days.” In the same year, 2021, the work “Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet” was premiered, performed by Carmen Borregales as part of the International Clarinet Festival ICA 2021. In November 2021, the flute piece “Nivelillo” premiered in New York City as part of the international project “Vox Novus.”Interpretation performed by the Estonian flautist Alise Anna Alksne.

    In 2022, the clarinetist Carmen Borregales commissioned her a study for solo clarinet for her doctoral thesis at the University of South Carolina in the USA. Thanks to the work "Sonatina for Clarinet and Flute" and the choral work "Missa Brevis," she was selected to participate in the master's course in composition in St. Petersburg (2022) alongside the Molot ensemble. In May 2023, the solo clarinet piece "Preludio al estilo antiguo" premiered in Spain, performed by Spanish clarinetist Salvador Navarro Valero. The pianist Carlos Marín Trigo (Spain) premiered four piano pieces from the work "Cuaderno musical" during 2023 and 2024. By the end of 2023, she was selected to write a piece for a trio titled "Rostro Solar" (piano, viola, and clarinet), which premiered in Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States, performances carried out by the trÍos Ensamble Flex (Australia), Lemont Trio (USA), and Pelgrim Trio (Netherlands) as part of the project 'Towards a Brighter Light' organized by the Australian composer Paul Kopetz.

  • Aldyn Ala Sezym ("Premonition")

    Kadisha Onalbayeva

    "Aldyn Ala Sezym" (“Premonition”) evokes an inner vision that rises from memory, weaving lyrical fragments with moments of stillness and uncertainty. The work reflects a quiet intuition that guides the listener through shifting colors, leading toward an atmosphere of reflection and emotional clarity combined with apprehension.

    Kadisha Onalbayeva is the first pianist from Kazakhstan to be named a Steinway Artist. She is Director of Piano Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Mobile and is an active recitalist, chamber musician, composer, and orchestral soloist. Website: www.kadishaonalbayeva.com

  • Komorebi

    Mark Langford

    Komorebi is a Japanese word that describes the effect of sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees, creating a dappled pattern of light and shadow on the ground below.

    I completed my degree in composition at Victoria University. Then I continued my studies at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht. I have received commissions from various organisations, and I have had my music performed in New Zealand and overseas. )

  • AIR

    Volker Ignaz Schmidt

    I am the impulse of all whispers, I am the place for a rush of birds, I am the whole intention of the sky And the place for coining words. (Spell of The Air by Elizabeth Jennings)

    Volker Ignaz Schmidt (born 1971 in Germany) studied computer science although his passion is music. He has composed solo works, chamber music, vocal pieces, orchestral music, one opera, conceptual and electronic music. He has written piano textbooks and he worked in school projects on contemporary music.

  • Sólstafur

    Ólafur Geir Guðlaugsson

    Sólstafur (directly translates to sun staff) is the Icelandic word for a crepuscular ray.

    Ólafur Geir Guðlaugsson is an Icelandc composer born in 1995. Mostly self-taught, he briefly studied composition at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts.

  • Emergence

    Kamil Kosecki

    Emergence is a one-minute piano piece where the left hand plays continuous quarter-note triplets and the right hand plays double eighth notes. The dynamics constantly shift from loud to soft, creating the impression of a process g

    Kamil Kosecki is a Polish composer whose works span symphonic, choral, instrumental, electroacoustic, film, and theatre music. A graduate of the Chopin University of Music, he has received numerous international awards, including the Northern California Viola Society Competition and the Baird and Landa-Romero prizes. radually emerging.

  • Eucalyptus Leaf

    Paul G McCurdy

    Eucalyptus Leaf is a short piece for solo piano that captures the introspections of a leaf fallen on a forest path.

    Paul G. McCurdy is a pianist and composer who recently moved from San Francisco to Manhattan. He taught piano and served as collaborative pianist at the University of San Francisco. A frequent performer and collaborator, Paul’s focus is on composition, improvisation, and general musical creativity .