Ken Hakoda
Music Director / Conductor

Ken Hakoda is enjoying his fourth season as the music director / conductor of the Salina Symphony Orchestra. He is also the director of choral activities and assistant professor of music at Kansas Wesleyan University where he teaches Choirs, music history and music theory classes.  He is a native of Japan and has lived in the United States since 1989.  He received his Masters of Music degrees in Instrumental Conducting and Theory / Composition from Wichita State University, where he studied composition with Walter Mays and Dean Roush and conducting with Victor Markovich and Harry Davidson.  He received a Bachelor of Music degree in Theory / Composition and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from St. Olaf College, where he studied with Timothy Mahr and Peter Hamlin.

Hakoda is known for his talent as a composer with over 20 works to his credit.  He has won a number of awards and honors as a composer, including the 1998 Claude T. Smith Phi Beta Mu Composition Contest, the 1996 MMEA Collegiate Composition Contest and a Departmental Distinction at St. Olaf College.  He is in demand as a commissioned composer from several schools in the nation.  His recent commissions include Ellsworth High School, St. Olaf College, Hoisington High School, Oklahoma Youth Wind Symphony, and Wichita State University.

Hakoda is also the choir director at St. John Lutheran Church, and the Music Director of the Salina Youth Symphony.  He received the 2003 Outstanding Young Band Director Award from Kansas Band Master Association.