About Justin

Justin M. Brauer is a musician and educator specializing in theatre music, music preparation, and keyboards. His career includes work with Music Theatre International, the University of Illinois Department of Theatre, the Curtis Institute of Music, Purdue University, Children’s Musical Theater San Jose, Parkland College, Illinois Summer Youth Music, the Illinois High School Theatre Festival, and other colleges and high schools across the country. He currently plays keyboards in the “midwest couchcore” band Junkyard Radio, has served as music director, arranger, and keyboardist for singer Kevin T. Hobbs and roots-rock band Whiskey Shadows, and has appeared with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra as principal keyboardist.

From 2015-2017, Justin served as Music Director for the UIUC Department of Theatre acting studio and co-taught and -developed the curriculum for Broadway Musicals in U.S. Culture, a cultural survey of the American musical through historical and critical placement of works as a reflection and development of the identity of the United States.

A passionate supporter of accessible and equitable arts education, Justin previously served on the Board of Directors of the D.O.S.E. Foundation, providing theatrical opportunities to under-served students in the Champaign-Urbana area. From 2012 to 2014, Justin founded and served on the Executive Board of Illini Student Musicals, a 501(c)3 corporation devoted to the performance of musical theatre at the University of Illinois. From 2014-2017, Justin was a Production Assistant in the Events office at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, where he had the privilege of working with artists such as Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge, Marc Ribot, and Cameron Carpenter. He currently draws on his years of experience in arts management and fundraising as a development consultant for small theatres, and works for the University of Illinois Office of the Vice Chancellor of Institutional Advancement as Assistant Director of Strategic Engagement.

Justin holds an MM in Musicology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where his research focused on American musical theatre. He also received a BME with a concentration in Choral Music from UIUC, and holds the title of Drum Major First Class from Smith Walbridge Clinics. In his free time, he enjoys baking bread and making puppets.