Karen Fannin is Associate Professor of Music, Director of Bands, and Assistant Director of the School of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting, instructs courses in music education, and provides leadership for all aspects of the UNO band program. Dr. Fannin also holds the Edwin Clark Diamond Professorship in recognition of her teaching and research given by the UNO Alumni Association.
Previously, Dr. Fannin served as Director of Bands and Department Chair at Hendrix College. While in Arkansas, Dr. Fannin also held the position of Music Director and Conductor of the Little Rock Winds. A native of Iowa, Dr. Fannin began her teaching career in the Lynnville-Sully Schools as Director of Bands and subsequently served as Director of Bands at Lockport Township High School in suburban Chicago.
Dr. Fannin is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator around the country and abroad. Passionate about making interdisciplinary connections that impact a conductor’s work with an ensemble, Dr. Fannin has presented on topics such as pacing in rehearsals and performance, communication in music, parallels between the ensemble and business, and the lineage of Nadia Boulanger through wind repertoire. She is published in the Journal of Band Research and is a contributing author to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series published by GIA.
Dr. Fannin earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Colorado, a Master of Music in Conducting from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa, where she was honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award.
