Playing with "live-wire splendor" (The New York Times) violinist, Hanna Hurwitz, is a musician who equally enjoys performing classics of the repertoire as well as new music of our time. She is currently a member of two Chicago-based, leading new music ensembles including the acclaimed Grossman Ensemble and Ensemble Dal Niente, and she appears on numerous portrait albums of notable modern composers, an album of chamber music of the 1920s-30s, and even a companion CD for a widely used music theory textbook. Other recent activities have included performances at the SoundSCAPE Festival (Italy), the Valencia International Performance Academy (Spain), the Ritsos Project (Greece), the Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Washington Island Music Festival (Wisconsin), and June in Buffalo (New York).
Hanna also serves as co-founder and violinist of Zohn Collective, an ensemble interested in interdisciplinary collaboration and the creation of new music. The group has released studio recordings under the labels of Oberlin Music, Albany Records, and New Focus Records, and has been awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Ditson Fund, and New Music USA. Among Zohn Collective's recent engagements, the group performed as resident ensemble at the Festival de Mayo in Mexico, the Lange Nacht der Neuen Musik in Germany, and looks forward to performing at the Beijing Modern Music Festival in 2025.
Hanna also enjoys an active and varied teaching career. She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of String Studies at Denison University, where she has also been awarded the Bayley-Bowen Faculty Fellowship for outstanding junior faculty. Her recent guest teaching engagements have included residencies and workshops at Conservatorio G.B. Martini (Italy), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), Lawrence Conservatory, University of Chicago, and Vanderbilt University, among others. Previously, Hanna held positions at Northern Kentucky University and the University at Buffalo. She served as Teaching Assistant to Charles Castleman at the Eastman School of Music, and taught for two years at Buffalo String Works, a non-profit organization that provides free lessons to children of refugee families. Hanna holds a Bachelor's Degree and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, a Master's Degree from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts with a minor in Performance Psychology from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester.
