Meet the Candidates

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.