Biography
Here's where you can learn a little about me, my musical journey, and my current work. If interested, you can download my current CV at the bottom of this page.
“Rusty guided us through meaningful and constructive conversations every day, helped us formulate and apply curriculum ideas, and engaged with and challenged our viewpoints and perceptions, all in a friendly and compassionate manner. The material that was used in the course was excellent. I will be thinking about this course for a long time, and I am sure that the last week turned me into a better teacher, musician, and person."
– Hartt Summerterm Master's Student in "Teaching Children to Create and Compose in The Classroom: The Colgrass Class"
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“If Rusty is anything, he is a kind soul. I have worked with many conductors in the past who do not show musicians the respect they deserve. Rusty communicates his ideas is kind way that makes the band more responsive to his conducting. Rusty has discovered that you do not have to be feared to be respected, and you do not have to yell to get your way, and I appreciate that so much. His excitement is contagious, and he has made me so excited to go to band. I also love that he always says thank you. It means a lot to have someone recognize the good in our playing when the nature of the job is to point out the bad.” –
Undergraduate member of the Hartt Symphony Band
“I love Rusty's enthusiasm and his passion for music and theory is extremely clear. If I could take every theory class with him, I would! I
really liked that he had students come up to the board to work out examples so he could informally test their understanding and walk them through the process if something wasn’t clicking.”
– Undergraduate Diatonic Music Theory Student
Education
John R. “Rusty” Koenig holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting and a minor in Music Theory from The University of Hartford, The Hartt School of Music. He completed his Master's degree in Wind Conducting at Western Michigan University, and holds a Bachelor's of Music Education, Instrumental, from The Florida State University. He is a proud graduate of Key West High School in Key West, Florida. His primary mentors have been Franko Richmond (piano), Yehuda Gutman (piano), Heidi Louise Williams (piano), Jeff Keesecker (bassoon), Mary Roman (harp), Gary Hernandez (music education), Laurie Zentz (music education), Akane Mori (music theory), Richard Clary (conducting), Scott Boerma (conducting), Edward Cumming (conducting) and Glen Adsit (conducting).​
Dr. Koenig's career has been shaped and defined by a service to students through teaching. He began his teaching career at age 15 at the Bahama Village Music Program in Key West, Florida, a non-profit organization that offers free music lessons to children in Key West. After earning his BME, he taught middle school band to over 200 students at River Springs Middle School in Orange City Florida where his students won the Lakeside Jazz Festival and Competition in 2019.
In his master's degree, Dr. Koenig taught conducting and marching band at Western Michigan University. He is currently adjunct faculty at The Hartt School where he teaches courses in the Music area as well as serves as an accompanist and music director in the Theater department. He is also the orchestra director at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, CT.
An active writer and presenter, his research has appeared in the WASBE World Magazine and he has given presentations on a variety of topics for local and national conferences in Florida, Michigan, Connecticut, and Texas. He was a featured presenter at the 2024 College Band Director's National Association National Conference.
Teaching Experience and Scholarly Work
Artistic Experience
He has appeared with ensembles across the U.S. and internationally. As a guest conductor, he has performed with The Hartt Wind Ensemble, The Hartt Symphony Band, Foot in the Door Contemporary Ensemble, The West Hartford Symphony, and the Sofia Philharmonic in Sofia, Bulgaria. An active proponent of new music. Dr. Koenig has premiered over 15 works in the last three years including the world premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s Fast Track: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble.
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Dr. Koenig is an active musical theater music director in the Connecticut area and has collaborated with Seven Angels Theater, Playhouse 44, and the Hartt School Theater Department. He also serves as an on-call accompanist for many churches in Connecticut and has served as music director at churches in Michigan and Florida.