Maestro Eric Hanson has twice conducted Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in Northwest Mahler Festival concerts, acted as chorusmaster for our Symphony of a Thousand, and has led reading sessions of Mahler's 2nd, 6th and 10th symphonies with the festival. Now in his eighteenth season with the Thalia Symphony, Dr. Hanson has been Director of Instrumental Music at Seattle Pacific University since 1979.  He has a Bachelor of Music Education from Wheaton College Conservatory and a Masters of Music in conducting from Colorado State University.  He completed a doctorate at the University of Washington, and has been teaching for over thirty years.  A clinician, adjudicator, Mahler scholar, and guest conductor, Eric Hanson has conducted the Denver Symphony, the Chicago Civic Chamber Orchestra, and European orchestras.  His book, Mahler and the Will, is used as a textbook at Seattle Pacific University.