Andrew Hacker
Andrew Hacker is Director of Instrumental Music and Music Department Manager at Menomonee Falls High School. As a community music advocate, he is the music director and conductor of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble. His previous teaching assignments were with Hartford Union High School, the Waukesha School District, and Waukesha Catholic School System.
Mr. Hacker is an active musician in the state of Wisconsin and frequently performs on tuba, bass trombone, and euphonium with a wide range of ensembles. He Is assistant conductor and principal tubist with the Milwaukee Philharmonic. In 2009, he was invited to lecture on the topic of “Improvisation Through Folk Wind Music” for the international convention of Gauverband Nordamerika and repeated this clinic at the 2011 and 2013 conferences. Mr. Hacker plays an active role in folk wind music in the Midwest and is the founder and music director of Blaskapelle Milwaukee, an 18-piece European-style wind ensemble. In 2007 and 2017, the Wisconsin Polka Hall of Fame inducted him into the organization for the Youth Achievement Award and Youth Mentor Award, respectively. In 2015, the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee named Mr. Hacker as Music Teacher of the Year and the University of Chicago recognized Mr. Hacker in 2020 through a student nomination for an “Outstanding Educator Award.”
Having studied at Carroll University and Cardinal Stritch University, Mr. Hacker holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership respectively. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in Music Education from Boston University. Mr. Hacker is a member of the National Association for Music Education, Phi Beta Mu – Wisconsin, and the Association of American Educators.