Michael Hanawalt

Michael Hanawalt is the Director of Graduate Choral Studies at Florida State University, where he conducts the Chamber Choir, teaches graduate courses in conducting and choral literature, and serves as Artistic Director for the Tallahassee Community Chorus. Previous appointments include Director of Choral Activities at Wichita State University, Chorus Director at the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and Visiting Instructor of Music at St. Olaf College.
Hanawalt is a founding member of the professional male vocal ensemble Cantus, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Throughout his eleven-year tenure with the organization, he recorded twelve CDs, participated in 200 educational outreach events, and performed in or oversaw the booking of over 500 concerts, including collaborations with the King’s Singers, the Boston Pops, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra. He also served for six years as Cantus’ Executive Director, overseeing its growth through organizational management, fundraising, and board development.
Active as a conductor and tenor soloist, Hanawalt has conducted choirs and honor choirs in and from Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, as well as the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Puerto Rico. His choirs have appeared at conventions of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) and the American Choral Directors Association’s (ACDA) Southern Region. Past solo engagements include the Evangelist in J. S. Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Bethany College Messiah Festival of the Arts, as well as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and in Mozart’s Requiem with the Tarleton State University choirs and orchestra and at Westfield State University in Massachusetts.
Hanawalt’s choral arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Colla Voce, the Niel. A Kjos Music Company, and Alfred Music. His setting of “Amazing Grace” has been performed at two national conventions of the American Choral Director’s Association, and his arrangement of “Loch Lomond” is featured on the Cantus recording, Let Your Voice Be Heard.
Hanawalt holds the B.M. in Vocal Performance from St. Olaf College, the M.M. in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University, and the PhD in Choral Music Education from Florida State University. He is the recipient of a 2024 award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching from Florida State University and the 2016 Mickey and Pete Armstrong Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Wichita State University College of Fine Arts.
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