John A Behnke

Dr. John Behnke is Professor of Music at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, where he teaches organ and directs The Alleluia Ringers, Concordia's touring handbell choir. He is also organist at Historic Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church in downtown Milwaukee where he plays on an 1878 Schuelke organ.

Dr. Behnke is also a frequent organ recitalist, handbell clinician, and festival director. He enjoys composing and arranging, having handbell, choral, and organ compositions in print with seventeen different publishers in the United States, Germany and Taiwan.

He was honored in December of 1993 being named MVP (Most Valuable Player) in the Milwaukee area by Milwaukee Sentinel music critic, Nancy Raabe. He has also received an ASCAP Composers Award every year since 1998.

A 1974 graduate of Concordia‑River Forest, Illinois, he received his M. Mus. in Church Music and Organ from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, in 1978. His D. Mus. was awarded to him in 1984 by Northwestern University, where he was elected into the Alpha Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, a National Honorary Music Society. From August 1978 to July 1979 Dr. Behnke studied at the Westphalian Church Music Institute in Herford, W. Germany, where he passed the "A" Exam in Organ with the grade of "1‑Excellent."

You can visit his site at www.johnbehnke.com.