About Me
Hannah Mae Swanson is a collaborative pianist, music director, educator, and organist. Hannah is a well-versed musician and educator and is skilled in performing and instructing multiple styles of music, including classical, musical theatre, and jazz.
Hannah greatly enjoys music directing and loves the world of theatre. She has experience music directing ages five to adult. Hannah is currently music directing Into the Woods and recently assistant music directed Spring Awakening, both at Colorado State University. She has co-directed four grades K-2 musicals and two grades 3-4 musicals at Trollwood Performing Arts School, acting as music director, instructor, and collaborative pianist. She has also taught and accompanied musical theatre courses at Trollwood and Lundstrum Performing Arts.
Hannah is passionate about connecting with people through music, which drew her to collaborative piano. Hannah has performed as a collaborative pianist at numerous conferences and festivals, including the Colorado Music Educators Association Conference, the North American Saxophone Alliance Regional Conference, Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, and the Minnesota and Colorado-Wyoming National Association of Teachers of Singing conferences. She has also performed and worked as a collaborative pianist at numerous universities across Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Colorado. Hannah greatly enjoys working with instrumentalists but has a soft spot for coaching and accompanying vocalists in the musical theatre and classical areas.
Hannah also has extensive experience performing solo classical piano repertoire. She has given solo performances around Minnesota, Colorado, and North Dakota. Classical piano aside, Hannah enjoys playing jazz as both a solo and ensemble musician. She has performed as a jazz pianist for jazz combos and ensembles in Minneapolis and Fargo and at Bemidji State University. Notably, she played for a clinic with Victor Wooten with the Blue Ice Jazz Combo at the Jazz Education Network conference in Lousiville in 2016. Hannah enjoys writing and covering jazz and funk tunes and most recently did so with her Minneapolis band Pulp Funktion.
Hannah has substantial experience working as a piano instructor. She has been teaching piano since 2015 and has taught at four music academies and schools and teaches private piano independently. She has taught piano in both private and group settings. In recent years, Hannah has directed the piano camp portion of Bemidji MusiCamp as sole piano instructor and was formerly the organization’s choral accompanist. She enjoys working with choirs immensely and in addition to her work with Bemidji MusiCamp has been a choral accompanist at multiple elementary, middle, and high schools, at the University of Northern Colorado, and for church choirs.
Hannah has a budding love for the organ and has studied organ at Colorado State University with Dr. Joel Bacon. Hannah has worked as an organist at two churches and greatly enjoys playing organ repertoire. She performed Lefébure-Wély’s “Boléro de Concert” at the 2022 Organ Halloween Extravaganza at Colorado State University.
Hannah has a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from North Dakota State University after studying with Dr. Tyler Wottrich. At her undergraduate alma mater, she was selected as the 2017 Presser Scholar by unanimous vote of the music faculty. Hannah has her Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano Performance from the University of Northern Colorado, where she worked as a graduate assistant during her studies. Hannah studied with Dr. Edward Rothmel during her graduate degree.
Hannah grew up in Minnesota and takes an inordinate amount of pride in her home state. Hannah is currently based in Fort Collins, CO. She is adjunct faculty at Colorado State University, where she music directs for the theatre department and works as a collaborative pianist. Additionally, Hannah works as a freelance piano instructor and serves on the Bemidji MusiCamp board of directors. Hannah splits her time between her adventures in the realm of music and spending quality time with her cat Cosmos.