Johanna Cox Pennington is Visiting Assistant Professor of Oboe at the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music at Oklahoma State University. An internationally recognized soloist, recording artist, orchestral musician, and educator, her teaching career spans more than two decades and includes appointments at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Performing Arts and tenured positions at Louisiana State University and the University of Oklahoma.

A three-time Carnegie Hall performer, Pennington made her solo debut there in 2005, of which the New York Concert Review wrote, “…a solid recital of high standard, excellent musicianship, and a sense of taste and proportion.” In her hometown of Rochester, New York, she won her first concerto competition at age seventeen and performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recognized for her commitment to expanding the repertoire for oboe and English horn, Pennington has commissioned, premiered, and recorded numerous works by leading composers. Her Albany Records releases include Orion Nocturne: World Premiere Music for Oboe and English Horn, featuring five commissioned works, including Kenneth Fuchs's Orion Nocturne and Miguel del Aguila's Broken Rondo Concerto for English Horn with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto. Her chamber recordings also include American Breeze, featuring the premiere recording of David Maslanka's Quintet No. 4, and Gail Force with the Prairie Winds.

As an orchestral musician, Pennington has appeared as a guest with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra. She has also performed regularly with the Canton and Akron Symphonies in Ohio, the Louisiana Philharmonic and Baton Rouge Symphony in Louisiana and has held orchestral positions with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, and the Breckenridge Music Festival.

An active international performer and educator, Pennington has been a featured recitalist at multiple International Double Reed Society conferences and has presented concerto performances, recitals, master classes, and clinics throughout the United States and abroad, including Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Spain.

She continues to mentor the next generation of oboists while maintaining an active international career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral performer, recording artist, and clinician.

Pennington studied with Richard Killmer at the Eastman School of Music, Alex Klein at Northwestern University, and Heinz Holliger at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg in Germany.