Recognized for her musicality and technical command, Hannah Schendel has a reputation as a brilliant and collaborative young conductor. This season, Hannah has served as cover conductor with the Minnesota Orchestra this season assisting Osmo Vänksä, Ruth Reinhardt, and Tito Muñoz. This past fall, she was named a semifinalist in the Sergey Kussewitzky International Conducting Competition (Italy), and won positions as Music Director of the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, and Interim Orchestra Conductor at Carleton College. Hannah has since collaborated with Anthony Ross (Principal Cello, Minnesota Orchestra) on Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto, and is working on a long-term collaboration with violist, Nathaniel Sendi, on Jörg Widmann’s Viola Concerto.

This summer, she has been invited to attend the Parnü Music Festival: Järvi Academy led by Paavo Järvi, and the Fiskars Summer Festival led by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. She will also lead Listening Lab discussions with community members on select repertoire for the upcoming Lakes Area Music Festival.

Last summer, Hannah attended the Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music where she worked with Cristian Macelaru and Octavio Más-Arocas. During the 2022/23 season, Hannah assisted William Langley and conducted the final performance of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music premiere of Gregory Spears’ renowned American opera, Fellow Travelers, covered Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde sung by Stuart Skelton and Catherine Martin, and conducted Igor Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto performed by concerto winner, Yucheng Zeng. She covered and assisted Aaron Breid on short notice for Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and conducted Die Zauberflöte by W.A. Mozart at the Miami Festival of Music. Hannah was invited by renowned violin pedagogue, Kurt Sassmannshaus, to guest conduct the Cincinnati Starling Project where she led violin concerti by Erich Korngold, Camille Saint-Saëns, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Felix Mendelssohn, which were performed by young professional soloists. Additionally, she competed in the Erich Bergel (Romania) and Lake Como (Italy) International Conducting Competitions. 

She has covered Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss, and conducted performances of Symphony No. 3 by Louise Farrenc, and Ecstatic Orange by Michael Torke at the University of Cincinnati. Other highlights include guest conducting appearances with the Brevard Philharmonic where Hannah conducted in an all-John Williams program, and the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra where she conducted Charles Griffes’ The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Kahn and collaborated with Lisa Bost-Sandberg on Cécile Chaminade’s Concertino for Flute.

Hannah won conducting prizes in The American Prize (2021) competition, and was selected by Diane Wittry to be a Conducting Fellow with the Allentown Symphony during the 2018/19 season where she covered Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss and the Piano Concerto by Edvard Grieg, performed by George Li.  

Hannah studied Orchestral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) under the mentorship of Mark Gibson. She has been invited to masterclasses and has been mentored by Johannes Schlaefli, Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Larry Rachleff, and Joe Miller.