Mr. Johnathan De Soto Jr. is the current Adjunct Instructor in Applied Low Brass at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and will attend the University of Missouri-Kansas City as a graduate teaching assistant, performing with the acclaimed Volker Brass in Fall 2023. Johnathan has received two Master of Music degrees in Orchestral Conducting and Tuba Performance from Pittsburg State University and a Bachelor of Music in Tuba Performance from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

 

As an active performer, Johnathan has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall and with professional bands and orchestras such as the Hawaiʻi and Springfield Symphony Orchestras, Maui Pops Orchestra, and The Royal Hawaiian Band. As an educator, Johnathan has taught extensively for the low brass instruments since 2016 and has had an active studio in Hawaiʻi and the Four-State region. Some of his current and former students have gone on to place in All-State ensembles and receive top rankings in solo and ensemble competitions. Those who have pursued music in college have become music majors and/or earned scholarships at the university level.

 

His work in the band, orchestra, and choir fields has resulted in performances in Carnegie Hall in 2016 and performances in 2020, that includes performances in the College Band Directors National Association in Tacoma, WA premiering the wind band edition of Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds in 2020 as well as the first Hawaiian Choral Festival in Carnegie Hall.

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In Pittsburg, he has been a part of the world premiere for Genesis: A Symphonic Arche by John Hartmann and has premiered two wind band compositions later this 2022 season, Kindred Spirits by Kimberly R. Osberg and Symphony No. 2: The Song of the Mountains for Wind Ensemble by Tyler Harrison. Johnathan also led a consortium for tuba and vibraphone titled CYCLES, in honor of his late teacher, Dr. A. Doug Whitten, and premiered in December of 2022.

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As an educator, Johnathan has been teaching private lessons in brass with a specialization in low brass pedagogy since 2016, and an enthusiastic chamber musician, Johnathan performed with the Pittsburg State University Faculty Quintet, UHM Brass Quintet, has co-founded the UHM Tuba/Euphonium Quartet along with other freelance ensembles across Hawaiʻi. His primary teachers include Dr. T.J. Ricer, principal tuba at the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra; Dr. A. Douglas Whitten and Mr. Robert Kehle, professors at Pittsburg State University; and Derek Fenstermacher, principal tuba at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. His conducting teachers include Dr. Andrew Chybowski and Dr. Raul Munguía of Pittsburg State University.

 

Johnathan is also currently working on a chamber ensemble composition that focuses on the history of Hawai’i. The composition Ka Pō’ai is expected to premiere in the near future.