IN MEMORIUM

Dr. Richard K. (Rik) Hansen is Professor of Music at St. Cloud State University, where he teaches conducting, music history, and interdisciplinary arts. Hansen has received two Outstanding Teaching Awards and the Professional Contributions Award from SCSU, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Sioux Falls. Recently, Professor Hansen created an innovative interdisciplinary arts Honors course, Music and Hearts—The Vibrant Now.

Professor Hansen possesses abundant international perspectives, having conducted in Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Scandinavia, and throughout the United States. He is a visiting conductor for both the Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble in Tokyo and the Musica Viva! Wind Band program in Lombardia, Italy. Hansen has made cutting edge wind band recordings for Sony, BRAIN, Classical Arkiv, Vienna Modern Music Masters, GSA Recordings, and Mark Recordings. International composers and wind conductors alike have described Hansen's conducting as “soulful, compelling, insightful, and visionary.” 

Professor Hansen has presented on topics of concert programming, historical perspectives, and philosophical issues in conducting for several national and international conferences. In 2009 he became the first American scholar and conductor to present for the Oxford Round Table of Scholars, when he presented America’s Artistic Response to Global Terrorism: In Search of Expression and Renewed Spirituality, and in 2013 he presented and presided over sessions at the Harvard International Arts and Sciences Conference. This spring Dr. Hansen is leading the American Bandmasters and Japan Bandmasters Associations in sessions, culminating with his presentation entitled Shared Cultures—Shared Souls. Rik Hansen is a passionate advocate and scholar of music and the arts, and is frequently engaged as a guest conductor and motivational speaker.