John Walko

John Walko studied Theory and Composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and Huntingdon College; he studied with Russian-American pianist Annette Freeze, Lithuanian pianist Andrius Kuprevicius, Russian pianist Tatyana Tsukanova, and Haitian pianist Liliane Quéstel; he studied Organ and Harpsichord with German organist/composer Dr. Harald Rohlig, and Gene Jarvis, and Organ with John Balka. He coached with French organist Marie-Claire Alain and Hungarian pianist Lili Kraus, both legendary recording and performance artists.

John performed on location with the symphony orchestras of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Havana, Cuba, for the five-hour silent film Napoleon, to audiences of 30,000 people. He worked with composer Carmine Coppola and director Francis Ford Coppola in the preparation of film scores and can be heard accompanying the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in the Oscar-nominated film Godfather III.

John is a staff organist at San Francisco’s historic California Palace of the Legion of Honor and accompanies the San Francisco City Chorus and Diablo Choral Artists. He has performed with Masterworks Chorale, Cantare Con Vivo, Baroque Choral Guild, San Francisco Boys Chorus, OAKE National Children’s Choir, Bella Musica, and WomenSing, among many others. John performed many solo recitals in the USA, also in Paris, Prague, and on the famed Riga Dom organ in Latvia. John has guided numerous organist’s tours throughout France, Holland, England, and Switzerland. He was the sole American adjudicator for the Bank District English/American Organ Festival Playing Competition in London.