Dr. Kenneth Johnson currently resides in Tallahassee, Florida, where he is the Principal Trombonist of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Gulf Coast, and Bass Trombonist of the Gainesville Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with the Ocala Symphony, the Fredericksburg Brass Institute Faculty Ensemble, the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra, and the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra. Kenneth has been a finalist in national and international solo competitions such as: the 2016 International Trombone Association Alto Trombone Competition and the 2014 American Trombone Workshop National Tenor Trombone Solo Competition Division II. He is also a founding member of Invicta Trio.
He recently completed his doctoral studies at Florida State University, where he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Dr. John Drew. He earned his Master’s degree in Trombone Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Peter Ellefson. In 2013, he graduated cum laude from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education, where he studied with Dr. Keith Jackson and Dr. Brian Plitnik. In the summers, Dr. Johnson serves on the faculty of the Fredericksburg Brass Institute, Tidewater Brass Institute, and Music for the Sake of Music Summer Festival in Green Bay, WI.
Eric Ziolek, composer and pianist, was born in North Tonawanda, New York and began his musical training with his father who owned a music store there. He received degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Iowa, where his composition teachers were William Hibbard and Richard Hervig. His compositional output consists mainly of chamber music, which has been performed in Germany, Malaysia and Brazil, as well as the United States. He has written numerous commissioned works and was twice named MTNA composer of the year in Michigan and Iowa. His music is published by TAP Music, Lingua Press, and American Composers Edition. Ziolek is a pianist who has performed hundreds of recitals as an accompanist, chamber musician and orchestral pianist. He is currently the pianist with Venner, a group of current and former Cleveland Orchestra musicians specializing in trio repertory. Ziolek served on the faculty of Grand Valley State University and the University of Iowa, where he was musical director of the Center for New Music from 1989-1992. Since 1992 he has been on the faculty at Cleveland State University where he serves as Chair of the Department of Music. In 2005 he was awarded a Distinguished Faculty Award for teaching.
Fragments - Eric Ziolek
Recorded at home in Tallahassee, FL, July 2020
Kenneth Johnson, trombone
Mastered by Robert Scott Thompson, Aucourant Records.
Property of Shelter Recording Project, American Composers Alliance
