A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. Turk holds degrees from Baldwin-Wallace College and Indiana University. While at Indiana University he held two graduate fellowships and was awarded the University's coveted Performer's Certificate. He has studied with William Bell, Harvey Phillips, Keith Brown, Chester Schmitz, and Ronald Bishop. In 1967 and 1968 he was an Arthur Fromm Fellow performing with the Berkshire Festival Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Center. He had also performed with the United States Army Band in Washington D.C., the National Orchestral society of New York, the Blossom Music Festival Band, the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. Mr. Turk has performed under such noted conductors as Sir Adrian Boult, Jorge Mester, Aaron Copland, Erich Leinsdorf, and David Effron.

John Turk has been principal tuba of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra since 1972. During his tenure with the orchestra he has performed both the Concerto in F Minor for Bass Tuba and Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Tuba Concerto by John Williams. He has also appeared as a soloist on the orchestra's Pops Concerts as well as the inevitable performances of Tubby the Tuba on Children's Concerts.

John Turk has been a member of the faculty of the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University since 1972, holding the academic rank of Professor. In addition to teaching tuba and euphonium, he directed the Dana Contemporary Music Ensemble for eleven years. He also instituted and teaches one of the nation's first college-level courses in the history of rock-and-roll music. In 1994, Mr. Turk was awarded Youngstown State University's "Distinguished Professor Award". Daniel in the Lion's Den by W. Francis McBain is featured on the Youngstown State University's DC entitled Lions, Jugglers, and Dragons, Oh My! Low Blows! his CD of solo and chamber works for the tuba, was nominated for a 1993 Grammy Award. Mr. Turk's recently completed book, The Musical Danas of Warren, Ohio, presents a detailed history of the Dana School of Music1 .