President-Elect Candidates
Dr. Mark Bartel (pictured left)
Associate Professor of Music; Director of Choral Music
Friends University
Mark Bartel is in demand as a
versatile conductor and music educator. He is the Director of Choral Music at
Friends University and Conductor of the Singing Quakers. In July 2010,
Dr. Bartel was appointed Artistic Director and Conductor of the Wichita
Chamber Chorale — the third artistic director in the choir’s history.
A native of Niagara-on-the-Lake,
Ontario, his career has taken him to several cities in the United States and
Canada. He has held faculty positions at Hobart and William Smith Colleges,
Geneva, N.Y.; the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario; and Canadian
Mennonite University in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As doctoral fellow in choral
conducting at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., Dr. Bartel
was the conductor of the Repertory Singers and Assistant Conductor of the
Eastman Chorale and the Eastman-Rochester Chorus. His doctoral research
focused upon 18th century musical-rhetorical theory and the choral music of
Bohemian composer, Jan Dismas Zelenka.
Since arriving in Wichita, he has
led choirs in several performances at Kansas Music Educators Association and
regional American Choral Directors Association conventions. In February 2010,
he conducted the 100-voice Wichita Community Children’s Choir in
performance at the Southwestern convention of the ACDA in Denver, Colo. He has
toured with the Singing Quakers throughout the United States, Germany, and
Canada. In addition to the Singing Quakers, Dr. Bartel conducts the
Madrigal Choir, Women’s Chorus and Choral Union, and teaches applied voice and
conducting at Friends University.
Dr. Bartel is active as a
conductor of musical theatre in the Singing Quakers’ annual Broadway show,
Symphony of Spring. As an orchestral conductor Dr. Bartel has been
artistic director of several youth and community orchestras in Canada. As a
conductor of choral-orchestral works, he regularly led the Mennonite Oratorio
Choir and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He conducts Friends University
Choirs in choral masterworks and frequently prepares the Singing Quakers for
performances with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Active in the wider choral community,
he is a sought after guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator.
Dr. Bartel has held church music positions in both Winnipeg and Dallas,
and is the Kansas Choral Directors Association Repertoire and Standards Chair
for Community Choirs. He is the founder and director of Choral Connections, an
annual festival which brings Kansas high school choirs to Friends University to
study and perform under the baton of internationally-renowned specialists in
choral music.
Dr. Bartel is a recipient of the
Canada Council’s prestigious Sir Ernest Macmillan Prize in Conducting. He holds
the Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music degrees from Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, Texas, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
Dr. Michael Hanawalt (pictured right)
Assistant Professor of Choral Music
Wichita State University
Michael Hanawalt is Director of Choral Activities at Wichita State University, where he
conducts the Concert Chorale, the Women’s Glee Club, and teaches courses in conducting
and choral literature. Dr. Hanawalt also serves as Chorus Director for the Wichita
Symphony Orchestra and Director of Music at University Congregational Church in
Wichita. Prior to his appointment at Wichita State, Dr. Hanawalt was Visiting Instructor in
Music at St. Olaf College, where he conducted the Chapel Choir and the Viking Chorus.
Dr. 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 tenor soloist, Dr. Hanawalt is the winner of competitions held by the Schubert
Club in Minneapolis, MN, Thursday Musical in St. Paul, MN, and the National Association
of Teachers of Singing in Collegeville, MN. Recent past engagements include the Evangelist
in J. S. Bach’s Weinachts-Oratorium with the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra and
Chamber Choir, as well as tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Wichita Choral Society
and Mozart’s Requiem with Tarleton State University choirs and orchestra. Upcoming
engagements include the Evangelist in J. S. Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Bethany College
choirs and orchestra.
Dr. Hanawalt’s choral arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Colla Voce, and
the Niel. A Kjos Music Company. His setting of “Amazing Grace” was premiered by the
Michigan State University Women’s Chamber Ensemble at the National Convention of the
American Choral Director’s Association in 2009. His arrangement of “Loch Lomond” is
featured on the Cantus recording, Let Your Voice Be Heard, and was recently performed by
the Florida All-State Men’s Chorus.
Dr. Hanawalt holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from St. Olaf College, an M.M. in Choral
Conducting from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in Choral Music Education from
The Florida State University.
