Cynthia Johnston Turner is an active conductor, speaker, and conducting and ensemble clinician in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Canada.
Before joining the Cornell faculty in the fall of 2004, Cynthia taught at the University of Rochester (River Campus), where she directed the Wind Symphony, and served as Director of Music at Parkside High School, Dundas, Canada. Earlier in her career Cynthia taught middle school beginning instrumental music in Toronto and choral music in Switzerland. She currently serves as a faculty member with the summer Performing Arts Institute at Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Seminary and as a guest conductor with the Syracuse Society of New Music, the Ensemble formally known as X and the Austrian Festival Orchestra in Salzburg.
A Canadian, Cynthia completed her Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees at Queens University and her Master of Music in music education and conducting at the University of Victoria. Touring with her ensembles inspired her master’s thesis on the musical and personal transformations that occur on tours, and her D.M.A. thesis at the Eastman School of Music centered on Dialogues and Entertainments by William Kraft, one of this generation’s leading composers. At Eastman Cynthia was the recipient of the Eastman Graduate Teaching Award in conducting, where she studied with Donald Hunsberger, Mark Scatterday, Brad Ludman, and Neil Varon. She was nominated for the Canadian Prime Minister’s Leadership in Teaching Award and received the National Leadership in Education Award (Readers Digest Foundation), the Excellence in Education Award (Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation), and the Marion Drysdale Leadership Among Women Teachers Award (also from OSSTF).
At Cornell, Cynthia is the Director of Wind Ensembles, overseeing the Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Chamber Winds, and other chamber ensembles. She also serves as faculty advisor to CU Winds, a student-driven organization devoted to the promotion and performance of wind music. Cynthia has commissioned numerous new works for wind band, many of which incorporate other artistic media, and she continues to actively promote commissions by today’s leading composers around the world. She works closely with the Cornell DMA candidates in composition to help present their new works for wind ensemble in concert. Under her direction, the Wind Ensemble was invited to perform at the College Band Directors National Association’s Eastern Division Conference in 2007. In 2008, the Merrill Presidential Scholars at Cornell recognized Cynthia as an outstanding educator, and in 2009, she was awarded the Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship. Ensembles under her direction have been praised by such composers as Steven Stucky, William Kraft, Steven Bryant, Dana Wilson, and Karel Husa.
Since January 2006, Cynthia has led the Cornell Wind Ensemble on biennial performing and service tours to Costa Rica that include performances across the country, conducting masterclasses with Costa Rican teachers, instrument masterclasses for Costa Rican children, and the donation of over 250 instruments to music schools across the country.
Among other recent engagements, Cynthia has guest conducted the Provincial Honor Bands of Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario, as well as the National Youth Band of Canada (Montreal), Concordia Santa Fe (www.concordiasantafe.org), the Ithaca College Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Latin American Honor Band, the National Band of Costa Rica (San Jose), the National Orchestra of Heredia, the Montclair State Wind Ensemble, SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble, and the Paris Lodron Ensemble and Austrian Festival Orchestra in Salzburg.
Selected Presentations
- Music Leadership and Service Learning: What More Can We Be Doing in Our Performing Ensembles to Engage, Inspire, and Transform, New Directions in the Humanities International Conference, Spain, June 2011
- An Answer for Every Question: Why the Humanities Matter at Cornell and Beyond, Merrill Presidential Scholars Meeting, May 2011
- “The Media is the Message”: Choosing quality repertoire that fulfills our students’ needs, our audiences’ needs, and our needs. Presentation at Kentucky Music Educators Conference, January 2011
- That was a Great Rehearsal: Week-long conducting symposium, San Jose, Costa Rica, November 2010
- CU Winds/Costa Rica: Journey and Service; Presentation with students from CU Winds at First Annual Service Learning Conference, Cornell University, March 2008
- Journey+Service+Purple Cow: A Rich Pedagogical Model; Presentation at Arts Education: to what end? Conference at New York University, Steinhardt School, March 2008
- Prepare with Purpose: Presentation at Alberta Music Educator’s Conference, November 2007
- Leaving the Safe Harbour–Musical and Ensemble Explorations Beyond the Known. Lecture/presentation at The International Society for the Investigation and Promotion of Wind Music, Echternach, Luxembourg, July 2008.
- The Wind Band Concert–’Marketing Imagination. Lecture/presentation at World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Singapore Conference, July 2005.
- The Wind Band Concert: A Bleak Future? Lecture/presentation at World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Jonkoping, Sweden, July 2003.
Selected Publications and Recordings
- Leaving the Safe Harbor: Music, Social, and Ensemble Adventures, International Journal of the Humanities, 2009
- “Serendipity” 2-CD release with the Society for New Music (Innova, 2010), available on iTunes and Amazon.com (Winner of 2010 “Sammy” award)
- “A Grease Fantasy” CD for Double Bass and String Orchestra (That’s Right I Said Music, 2012)
- Canzon 26 by Pietro Lappi, arranged for Wind Ensemble, Tierolff Musiekcentrale, Netherlands, 2009
- Nine sili nebesniye (Rejoice now heavenly powers) by Alexander Sheremetiev/arranged for trombone choir by C. Johnston Turner, Tierolff Musiekcentrale, Netherlands, 2009
- Leaving the Safe Harbor: Music, Social, and Ensemble Explorations Beyond the Known; Presentation at the International Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik, Echternach, Luxembourg, July 2008
- Music! It’s Role and Importance in Our Lives, 2nd Edition, Disc 13, Conductor of Eastman Wind Orchestra on Adolphus Hailstork’s American Guernica, 2006
- “Dialogues and Entertainments by William Kraft: An Interpretive Analysis.” Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, 11 (2004).
- “The Wind Band Concert: A Bleak Future?” Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, 10 (2003).
- “Music and Journey: Personal and Ensemble Transformation on the Band Tour.” Canadian Music Educator, 43/2 (2002).
- Music and Journey: Personal and Ensemble Transformation on the Band Tour. Master’s thesis. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria Press, 1998.
Selected Performances
- New Jersey All-State Symphonic Band, Feb. 2012
- National Youth Band of Canada, May 2011
- National Orchestra of Heredia, Costa Rica, Dec. 2011
- National SiNEM Orchestra, CR, July 2011
- Western Kentucky Honor Band, January 2011
- Ontario Honor Band, November 2008
- National Band of San Jose, Costa Rica, May 2009, November 2010
- University of Costa Rica Wind Ensemble, May 2009
- SiNEM National Wind Ensemble, May 2009
- Salzart ’08: Austrian Festival Orchestra, Salzburg Austria, 2008
- Ithaca College Wind Ensemble, 2008
- Montclair State University Wind Ensemble, New Jersey, guest conductor, December 2007
- Alberta Canada Honour Band, conductor, November 2007
- Latin American Honor Band, conductor, February 2007
- Eastman Wind Ensemble, guest conductor, February 2007
- Quad State Honor Band, conductor, February 2007
- Salzart ’07: Paris Lodron Ensemble, Salzburg Austria, 2007
- Light in Winter Festival, The Tiger’s Ear: Listening to Modern Art by Bruce Adophe. Ensemble X, 2007
- Commission and World Premiere: Hue and Cry by Steven Stucky. Eastman Wind Ensemble, 2007
- Commission and World Premiere: Music for Piano, Percussion, and Wind Ensemble by Xi Wang. Cornell Wind Ensemble, 2007Frankenstein!! by H.K. Gruber. Ensemble X, 2006
- Commission and World Premiere: Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble by Eddie Mora Bermudez. CUWE, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2006
- Concerto in F (Allegro) by George Gershwin/trans. Cynthia Johnston Turner. CUWE, 2006
- Commission and World Premiere: Canzona III by Norbert Palej. Cornell University Wind Ensemble, 2005
- Canzona 26 by Pietro Lappi/trans. Cynthia Johnston Turner. Eastman Wind Ensemble, 2004
- Commission and World Premiere: Soft by Kyle Blaha. University of Rochester Wind Symphony, 2004
- Commission and World Premiere: Oratorio by Daniel Bukvich. Parkside Wind Ensemble, 2001
- Rocky Mountain Music Festival “Showcase Ensemble,” Parkside Wind Ensemble, 2000
Contact
Office: Lincoln Hall 340 — Office Hours by Appointment
Email: cpj6 {at} cornell(.)edu
Phone: (607) 255-3712
Upcoming Engagements
March, 2012 CBDNA Eastern Division Conference Wind Ensemble Performance
April, 2012 University of Louisville Wind Ensemble
June, 2012 Salzburg Festival Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Paris Lodron Ensemble, Austria
February, 2013 Kentucky All-State Band
