Horn Faculty

Dr. Kiirsi Maunula Johnson

Canadian hornist, Dr. Kiirsi Maunula Johnson is the horn professor at the University of Akron, where she was recently the recipient of the 2023 Buchtel College of Arts & Sciences ‘Outstanding Teaching’ award. An active clinician, chamber musician and soloist, she has performed and presented on national and international stages for the International Horn Society, Ohio Music Educators Conference (OMEA), Music Fest Canada National Conference, and the CBDNA National Conference in 2015. Recently, she was a featured soloist with the University of Akron Wind Symphony, and in 2018 premiered Michael Conway Baker’s Remembrances for solo horn and brass ensemble at Memorial University, Canada.

An advocate of new music, Dr. Maunula Johnson is co-founder of Conspiratus Brass, which celebrates the promotion and commission of underrepresented Canadian and American repertoire for the trumpet, horn, and piano. Together, they have commissioned half of the repertoire written for this instrumentation, and through generous grant support, they released their first album of newly commissioned works in April 2020. 

Dr. Maunula Johnson spends her summers teaching at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Horn at the Crane School of Music (SUNY, Potsdam). She holds degrees from Florida State University, the University of Cincinnati (CCM), and Western University.