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

  • March 5, 2026 Central Missouri State University

15 one-minute selections for Kari Johnson Barroso

  • Prélude en Si bémol majeur

    Jean-Pierre Vial

    A short prelude, somewhat challenging, dedicated to pianist Kari Johnson.

    Jean-Pierre Vial, born in 1946 near Paris, France, is a former software designer. At an early age, he learned the piano, the organ, and composed several pieces for both instruments. Over the last decade, various soloists, small ensembles, or orchestras have performed his music worldwide.

  • Jeux d'eau

    David Bohn

    The piece is a "classic" theme with variations, lasting one minute. The first variation is the most similar to the theme. The second variation is a retrograde form of the theme. The third variation is a two-part invention. In the fourth, a melodic line with tremolos returns. Use the pedal ad libitum. In the last variation, the tremolo must be divided between the two hands; the performer is free to choose which hand to use to play each note of the melody.

    David Bohn received degrees in composition from the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Illinois. He currently resides in West Allis, Wisconsin, and is the music coordinator at Peace Methodist Church in Brookfield. He is the President of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers. [no program note] [in score] Little theme with four micro-variations Marina Romani Marina Romani is an Italian composer and music teacher. Her music has been performed in Italy and abroad: U.K., the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Croatia, Belgium, and in one edition of “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” (2023).

  • Little theme with four micro-variations

    Marina Romani

    The piece is a "classic" theme with variations, lasting one minute. The first variation is the most similar to the theme. The second variation is a retrograde form of the theme. The third variation is a two-part invention. In the fourth, a melodic line with tremolos returns. Use the pedal ad libitum. In the last variation, the tremolo must be divided between the two hands; the performer is free to choose which hand to use to play each note of the melody.

    Marina Romani is an Italian composer and music teacher. Her music has been performed in Italy and abroad: U.K., the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Croatia, Belgium, and in one edition of “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” (2023).

  • That Came On Fast

    Stacey Barelos

    “That Came on Fast” evokes the abrupt arrival of a storm, unfolding through sudden shifts in texture, energy, and momentum. Bursts of sound collide with moments of suspension, heightening a sense of instability.

    Dr. Stacey Barelos is a composer, pianist, and sound artist. A certified Deep Listening practitioner, she creates experimental works rooted in found sound, expanded techniques, and collaboration. Her music has been performed on five continents, with recent performances in Italy, Greece, and Brazil.

  • I already spilled my double espresso

    Clayton Trumbull

    Clayton Trumbull (b.2002) is a queer, American composer, violist, and optimist from Saratoga Springs, NY. His music is cathartic, often incorporating his original poetry, empathetic presentation of struggle, indeterminacy, modality, as well as passion for community and interpersonal connection. He is pursuing a M.M. in Composition at Penn State.

  • Night Piece #7 - MOONSTRUCK

    Jay Anthony Gach

    Since the first time I heard Chopin's Impromptu in C# minor it has always "moonstruck" me! Night Piece #7 MOONSTRUCK paraphrases a few of Chopin's motifs from his Impromptu in C# minor and re-examines the pianistic techniques therein from a totally different tonal perspective.

    Jay Anthony Gach is an internationally performed and recorded professional composer. He writes music for the concert stage and the mass media. From my series of Night Pieces for piano, #7 is titled "Moonstruck". Moonstruck describes being lost in a reverie or fantasy, dazed and distracted with romantic sentiment by the influence of the moon.

  • Fire and Ice

    David Heinick

    Fire and Ice attempts to capture within a single minute both the virtuosity and the expressive nature of Kari Johnson's playing.

    David Heinick retired in May of 2018 after forty years of teaching, the last twenty-nine at SUNY-Potsdam’s Crane School of Music. He is the composer of over 150 works. With Carol Heinick, he has played music for two pianists, and has been active as a collaborative pianist.

  • Butterfly's beat

    Sakiko Kosaka

    Is the “footfall” of a butterfly truly “silent”? What happens when its resonance is amplified hundreds of millions of times? Butterfly's Beat is a piece that could be described as like “body percussion performed with a butterfly's own body” using extended techniques of piano.

    She received Doctor degree from Tokyo National University of FAM. Her musical style is based on Gagaku雅楽 and were performed at Italy, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, USA etc. Award: Gino-Contilli, ISCM-Sweden, Biennale-FBS, Karol-Lipinski, Basel-Composition-Competition, The 1st Hong Kong-International-Chromatic-Harmonica-Competition etc. She is member of ensemble KOCHI.

  • 1' Scherzo

    Richard Campanelli

    The 1" Scherzo is a rhythmic somewhat upbeat work for piano solo with a motoric beat that divides the melody between the hand to sound like a continuous stream of music.It should be brisk and energetic.

    Richard completed his academic musical education by receiving a DMA from the University of MI where he studied with Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom. Some of the awards he has won include the Holtkamp Prize for new organ music, a Ludwig Vogelstein grant, yearly ASCAP awards, a Marimolin prize for a new work for violin and marimba, a Charles Ives Scholarship and a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and several Michigan Council for the Arts grants. Richard currently lives in Ann Arbor, MI and is working on a piano concerto.

  • Equinox

    Ross James Carey

    In ‘Equinox’ for piano solo I wanted to portray something of the beauty and majesty of the motion of our planet through space as our Sun appears to cross the celestial equator on its southwards journey. Composed on 22 September 2025 (the Southward Equinox) for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame with Kari Johnson.

    Ross James Carey is a composer and collaborative pianist based in China’s Central Plains. Ross’ recent activities include writing for various Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame calls, the Seoul Toy Music Ensemble, a PhD project featuring Sabahan indigenous instrument the biula and a project commemorating the 100th death anniversary of author Katherine Mansfield.

  • Prelude to a Twilit Field

    Joel Rutherford III

    Prelude to a Twilit Field is rhythmic, playful, and darkly rich in texture, drawing inspiration from dim landscapes and scenic post-sunset imagery. This short piece intends to capture the dark and foreboding feeling that can occur during those final dwindling moments of sunlight before night falls upon us.

    Joel Rutherford III is an aspiring composer currently in their last year of his B.M. at Western Michigan University. Studying under Dr. Richard Adams, Dr. Elainie Lillios, and Dr. Christopher Biggs at WMU, he plans to write for live instruments as well as fixed media in his future endeavors.

  • a small study on sounds that remain

    Rafael Zambiazzi

    Rafael Zambiazzi is a Brazilian composer holding a bachelor’s degree in Composition and Conducting from the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná. He sustains an extensive catalogue spanning solo works to full orchestral scores and composes soundtracks for audiovisual productions screened internationally.

    Joel Rutherford III is an aspiring composer currently in their last year of his B.M. at Western Michigan University. Studying under Dr. Richard Adams, Dr. Elainie Lillios, and Dr. Christopher Biggs at WMU, he plans to write for live instruments as well as fixed media in his future endeavors.

  • Chorale for the Left Hand Alone

    Edward Strauman

    Chorale for the Left Hand Alone is a call to professional and nonprofessional pianists. At first glance, the composition appears simple. Yet, it is deceptively challenging. The one-minute piece is intentionally written with pedagogical attraction for the virtuoso and the amateur. The performer is invited to produce the texture, fabric and contrast of sound typically established by two hands in one non-dominant hand. And… in order to accurately carry out such a task -- playing thirds and other harmonic intervals smoothly and evenly -- fingering must be meticulous and purposeful.

    EDWARD J. STRAUMAN A recognized Yamaha Artist/Educator, Eubie/Marion Blake scholar, nominee of the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, two National Endowment Grants, several ASCAP Awards, a Telly Award, the Roger Phelps Award, the Margaret Jory Award and funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

  • Most Lines

    Gene Pritsker

    Most Lines' references an older composition of mine called 'The Most Romantic Lines of Literature'. In 'Most Lines' I focus on one f the musical grooves from that piece and develop it to be a short stand alone composition.

    Composer/guitarist/rapper/Di.J. Gene Pritsker has written over 1000 compositions. All of his compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles and are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures. He is the leader of the eclectic ensemble: Sound Liberation, and co-director of Composers Concordance. www.genepritsker.com

  • Resistance

    Tyge Thomas

    Resistance uses a set of 9 randomly generated pitches at the start to generate material for the entire 1-minute piece, and represents the unwavering spirit of resistance in the face of oppression, with a continuous tempo and energy despite changing material.

    Tyge Thomas (b. 2006) is a composer and tenor based in Pennsylvania. Recent accomplishments include attending the Cortona Sessions for New Music and Composer’s Sandbox Summer Intensive as a selected composer, receiving premieres of his original works at each. Tyge is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at Pennsylvania State University.