Hannah Schendel, Music Director
A brilliant and collaborative conductor, Hannah Schendel is driven to perform and program compelling music that explores the human experience.
In addition to serving as Music Director of the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, Schendel serves as Cover Conductor with the Minnesota Orchestra where she has assisted Osmo Vänskä, Ruth Reinhardt, and Tito Muñoz.
Schendel recently participated in masterclasses with renowned maestri including the Järvi Academy/Pärnu Music Festival led by Paavo Järvi, the LEAD Foundation!/Fiskars Summer Music Festival led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Eva Ollikainen, and the Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music led by Cristian Măcelaru. Highlights of the 2024/25 season include performances of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem in partnership with the Wayzata Symphony, Two Rivers Chorale, and Edina Chorale, and collaborations with soloists Cassie Pilgrim and Gao Hong. Additionally, Schendel was reinvited to cover performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, and is working on a long-term collaboration with violist, Nathaniel Sendi, on Jörg Widmann’s Viola Concerto.
Schendel is passionate about crafting performances that celebrate contemporary music and underrepresented composers alongside well loved classics. Recent and upcoming performances include works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Nkeiru Okoye, Elfrida Andrée, Lili Boulanger, Gao Hong, Cécile Chaminade, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Jennifer Higdon, Chen Yi, and Stella Sung. A natural and astute collaborator, Schendel has recently conducted performances of Lalo’s Cello Concerto with Anthony Ross, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with Yucheng Zeng, and was invited to guest conduct a variety of concerti with the Starling Chamber Orchestra.
Schendel has served as Assistant Conductor for Gregory Spears’ renowned American opera, Fellow Travelers, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and has served as Cover Conductor for numerous performances and soloists including Steven Banks, George Li, and Njioma Chinyere Grevious, Stuart Skelton, and Catherine Martin.
In demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and guest speaker, Schendel is passionate about inspiring young musicians and demystifying classical music for audience members. Schendel has been invited to guest conduct the Brevard Philharmonic, the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, and recently conducted at the 2024 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Festival. She has appeared on podcasts and radio interviews, and was recently invited to lead the Listening Lab, a new initiative hosted by the Lakes Area Music Festival which provides a welcoming environment for community members interested in classical music to learn and ask questions about a wide range of repertoire and topics.
Schendel was a semifinalist in the 2023 Sergey Kussewitzky International Conducting Competition, and won conducting prizes in The American Prize (2021) competition. She was selected by Diane Wittry to be a Conducting Fellow with the Allentown Symphony during the 2018/19 season.
Schendel studied orchestral conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with Mark Gibson, and has been mentored by Johannes Schlaefli, Marin Alsop, Larry Rachleff, Joe Miller, Kathy Romey, Jonathan Martin, and Michelle Miller Burns, among many others.