Biographical Statement

Dr. Erika Svanoe is a conductor and wind band specialist in the greater Twin Cities area. Originally from Whitewater, Wisconsin, her previous roles include Director of Bands at Bemidji State University, co-director of the Bemidji Area Community Band, Director of Athletic Bands at the University of New Hampshire, and Director of Bands at Mukwanago (WI) High School. In 2007, she was a featured guest conductor with the USAF Heritage of America Band. An active supporter of new and innovative music, she has commissioned and premiered works by Andrew Boysen, Asako Hirabayashi, and Matt Saunders.

In addition to conducting and ensemble direction, she has served as an instructor of clarinet, bassoon, instrumental arranging, 

music appreciation, wind literature, and music theory at the college level. She has served as an adjudicator and clinician in New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Her instrumental performance credits include clarinet and bass clarinet with the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, saxophone with the Bemidji Big Band, and EWI with the MIDiots contemporary electronic music ensemble, of which she was a founding member. She has been a student of James Pyne, Babette Belter, and Richard Fletcher.

She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from The Ohio State University, an MM in Wind Conducting from Oklahoma State University, and a Bachelor of 

Music Education from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. Her principal conducting teachers include Russel Mikkelson, Joseph Missal, Hilary Apfelstadt, and Marshall Haddock. She has had further study with H. Robert Reynolds, Craig Kirchoff, Allan McMurray and Michael Haithcock.

Dr. Svanoe is a member of several professional organizations including the College Band Directors National Association, College Music Society, and the National Association for Music Education. She is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the National Music Honor Society.

She is married to designer and graphic novelist Erik Evensen.

website by Evensen Creative