OUR DIRECTOR
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John H. Steinke is a musician and former music educator in the Milwaukee area. He has been the Principal trombonist with the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra for nearly thirty years, and currently also plays with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Madison. During his career as a professional musician, he has performed with most of Milwaukee's major musical organizations. His experiences range from recording studios to symphonic venues, and cover the gamut from Broadway shows to big band jazz and the circus. Mr.
Steinke was appointed music director of the Knightwind Ensemble in 1978.
Since then, he has established high musical standards for the band, providing
talented musicians an opportunity to perform music of significance and
quality. His selection of repertoire,
although often favoring original wind compositions, tends toward a variety of
styles and genres. And although his
programming was once referred to as “somewhat eclectic”, in point of fact, he
maintains that he is merely trying to choose an interesting mix in his
musical selections - without, he adds, "causing undue panic for the
players or inadvertently frightening the audience". A
graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Mr. Steinke earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music performance and a Master of Music
degree in conducting. His principal trombone teachers were Frank Crisafuli of
the Chicago Symphony and George Powers of the Milwaukee Symphony, and his
conducting mentor was Tom Dvorak. Since then he has also pursued course work
in music technology at the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. |
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Besides his involvement in music, he appreciates good coffee, enjoys reading, and is an avid road cyclist. |
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