Dr. Eric Hanson
Eric Hanson has been Director of Instrumental Music at Seattle Pacific University since 1979, and has been teaching for 39 years. His degrees include a Bachelor of Music Education from Wheaton College Conservatory, a Master of Music in Conducting from Colorado State University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Washington. His dissertation plumbed the elegant relationships between the symphonies of Gustav Mahler and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.
Dr. Hanson’s honors include Mu Phi Epsilon Music Professor of the Year (Beta Phi Chapter), the Weter Award for Meritorious Scholarship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to Harvard, and an NEH grant to study at the Beethoven Institute. He is an Oxford Roundtable Scholar. Dr. Hanson has conducted dozens of orchestras including the Denver Symphony. He recently retired after 23 seasons as music director of Thalia Symphony. He is a frequent guest conductor with the Northwest Mahler Festival and frequently lectures for the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and other local groups.