The Music

Scot Hanna-Weir

Headshot: Scot Hanna-Weir

Scot Hanna-Weir is an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Santa Clara University, and Artistic Director of the Santa Clara Chorale. He is recognized for his innovative programming, his fluency with technology in performance, and his engagement with issues of equity and social justice. In addition to regularly commissioning and premiering new works, he is also an active composer and arranger himself.

Scot's works tend to present innovative fusions of technology in choral performance or highlight issues of injustice or suffering. His composition Sympathy (co-created with SCU Faculty Member and electronic musician Bruno Ruviaro) has been widely performed. Buck v Bell (2017), sets the text of the 1927 Supreme Court decision by Oliver Wendell Holmes that legalized the forced sterilization of the "mentally feeble". The Wound, was commissioned by the San Diego Pro Arte Voices for their Disarm Hate project and highlights the role gun violence plays in suicide. His next major project is a 45-minute score for The Water Project, a collaborative theatre and dance piece that examines issues around water.

Scot holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Maryland, a Master of Music in choral conducting from the University of Wisconsin, and a Bachelor of Music in choral music education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His major conducting teachers have included Matthew Halls, Helmuth Rilling, Edward Maclary, James Ross, Beverly Taylor, William Carroll, and Welborn Young. scothw.com