Mr. Hangen is on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory as Conductor of The Conservatory Orchestra and Director of Orchestral Activities, and is also Music Director of the Orchestra of Indian Hill (Littleton, Mass.). Recently Mr. Hangen also has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a position that was created especially for him reflecting the strong musical relationship built between him and the Boston Pops over 24 years. Mr. Hangen also has completed two years’ appointment to the Germeshausen Family Youth Concerts Conductor’s Chair at the Boston Symphony, for which he conducted the BSO’s Youth Concerts. From 1995 to 2003 Bruce Hangen was the Artistic and General Director of the Portland Opera Repertory Theatre (now PORTopera) of Portland, Maine. He founded, conducted and was the chief visionary and active force behind this company, whose productions have received wide critical and public acclaim. Earlier, from 1984 to 1996 Mr. Hangen was Music Director of the Omaha (Nebraska) Symphony. Under his direction, the Omaha Symphony achieved recognition for its significantly expanded program offerings, including the nationally-acclaimed “West Meets West”, the 1992 celebration of the Native American conceived and conducted by Mr. Hangen. Other past positions occupied by Bruce Hangen include Acting Resident Conductor of both the Utah and Kansas City Symphony Orchestras, Music Director and Conductor of the Portland (Maine) Symphony; Associate Conductor of the Denver Symphony; Music Director of the Arapahoe Chamber Orchestra in Denver; Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony, and Conducting Assistant of the Buffalo Philharmonic. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music with a major in conducting, Hangen was also a conducting fellow at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood for two summers. Mr. Hangen is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of New England, and in Omaha, he received the ICAN Foundation’s Browning Award for Career Excellence and Vision. Boston radio station WCRB also awarded Mr. Hangen its third annual Partner In The Arts award.
