Amanda Sprague Hanzlik is President of the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) Eastern Region, Director of Choral Activities at Edwin O. Smith High School ( Storrs, CT) and Director of Music at Immanuel Congregational Church UCC (Hartford, CT). Twice a semifinalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award in 2022 and 2024, she is also a recipient of the 2023 Connecticut State Department Hero of the Arts Award.

Mrs. Hanzlik made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2023 and is a frequent guest clinician and conductor for all-state and regional honor choirs. The E.O. Smith Chamber Singers are regularly featured as selected/showcase ensembles at ACDA and NAfME festivals and conferences at both regional and state levels and her choral students regularly achieve high honors, performing with national and regional level choral ensembles and the A Cappella Academy in Los Angeles, CA.

Mrs. Hanzlik is especially passionate about commissioning and performing new choral music in collaboration with living composers, working to ensure that her students and colleagues have access to and are at the forefront of contemporary choral creation and performance. She strives to uplift and elevate the work of the artists of the choral art medium into all spaces of culture and society.

Notable collaborative and innovative initiatives include establishing the first Connecticut All-State High School Treble Choir, founding the first Children’s Justice Choir at The Aspen Music Festival, creating free online workshops, reading sessions and interactive resources through the CT-ACDA for choral educators and musicians during the 2020 pandemic and article publications in ChorTeach and The Choral Journal.

Deeply committed to the choral community in the state of Connecticut, Amanda served as president of the CT-ACDA chapter from 2019-2021, as coordinator for repertoire and resources from 2017-2019, and was co-chair and coordinator of the Connecticut CMEA Allstate choirs from 2018 to 2024.

Entering her 26th year as a music educator in 2024-25, Mrs. Hanzlik’s extensive experience spans K-12, early childhood, collegiate, community, faith-based, and senior-citizen ensembles across diverse urban and rural settings. Prior professional communities and institutions include the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts, the UCONN Community School of the Arts, Christ Church-Greenwich, Rye Country Day School and Rye Presbyterian Church.

Amanda Hanzlik holds a BA in Vocal Performance and K-12 Music Education from the University of Iowa and an MA in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.