John Rusty Koenig

Dr. John R. “Rusty” Koenig recently completed his doctoral degree in instrumental conducting at the University of Hartford, Hartt School of Music where he studied with Glen Adsit and Edward Cumming. At Hartt he co-directed the Symphony Band, Wind Ensemble, and the Foot in the Door contemporary ensemble and served on the conducting and music theory faculties. In the summer, John teaches a course on teaching school children to compose for the Hartt Master’s Degree Summer term program. He also frequently collaborates with the Hartt orchestra, conducts for ballet performances, and music directs in the theater department. 

Outside of Hartt, he has conducted bands and orchestras in Italy and Bulgaria. He has collaborated with leading composers including Shuying Li, Susan Botti, Michael Torke, Gilda Lyons, and Joseph Schwantner. A proponent of new music, he has premiered over fifteen works in the last three years, including the world premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s newest percussion concerto, Fast Track: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble, an analysis of which was the basis for his doctoral essay which can be found on ProQuest. 

Prior to his studies at Hartt, he studied wind ensemble conducting with Scott Boerma at Western Michigan University. Before arriving at WMU, he studied music education at The Florida State University and taught middle school band in Florida where he offered beginning, intermediate, advanced, and jazz band instruction to over 200 students. His teaching career began at age 15 when he joined the faculty of the Bahama Village Music Program in his hometown of Key West, Florida, and he has been teaching ever since. 

John has recently been an adjudicator and clinician for the 2025 Six Flags festival at Stratford High School for jazz band, concert band, and orchestra in April of this year.  He has also been adjudicator for the Connecticut Music Education Association’s regional honor bands from 2023 until the present.