Joseph Bognar

Biography

Joseph Bognar is the Frederick A. and Mazie N. Reddel (Associate) Professor of Music at Valparaiso University, where he teaches music theory and piano, and since 2012, he has held the post of Associate University Organist. He completed undergraduate studies in piano and organ at Valparaiso University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Awarded two university fellowships, he studied piano with internationally renowned accompanist John Wustman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his DMA in Performance and Literature.

He has played to enthusiastic audiences in the United States, Europe, and Asia and served on the faculties of the Maud Powell Music Festival, Lutheran Summer Music, and the Stamford International Music Festival, where he received acclaim for “his superb technique … one could only marvel at this talented performer.” (Evening Telegraph, U.K.). He was a founding member of the Castillon Piano Trio, whose performances in the United Kingdom were featured on BBC radio. His live chamber performances from Symphony Center, Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center have aired on WFMT-FM, while his solo performances have featured some of the most formidable 20th-century piano works, including Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and Ives’s Sonata no. 2: Concord, Mass. For the last ten years, his piano duo collaborations with pianist Nicole Lee have enthralled audiences with their powerful, energetic, and dynamic programs. With a unique versatility as a pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, he continues to perform in concerts, festivals, and conferences nationally and internationally.

With a focus on administration since 2009, he has served as Chair of the Department of Music at Valparaiso University (2009-2018). Other administrative roles at the University included Chair of the Education Policy Committee (2016-18) and the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee (2021-present).

Recent teaching interests have drawn him towards collaborations with colleagues in the STEM disciplines. In conjunction with the Department of Computer Science at Valpo, he developed and team-taught an interdisciplinary course in computational music, and he has mentored student research projects combining music with engineering and mathematics. As a further musical expression of these collaborations, he is the founder of ValpLork, Valparaiso University’s first laptop orchestra.

He has served as Associate Regent on the national board of Pi Kappa Lambda (national music honor society) and is currently the President of that organization. He is a visiting team member and chair for the National Association of Schools of Music in the work of accreditation throughout the nation.