Mark E. Olson
Mark Olson has been the Music Director of the Middlesex Concert Band since 2009. Under his leadership the band commissioned and premiered Erika Svanoe’s Determined Hearts, written in celebration of the band’s 50th anniversary and inspired by the ensemble’s own history.
At Harvard University, Mark serves as Director of Band and Wind Ensemble, conducting the Wind Ensemble and Sunday Jazz Band and advising the Harvard University Band. Under his direction the ensembles have premiered numerous new works and arrangements, including Cumba Cumbakín, commissioned from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Tania León.
In 2023 Mark became Music Director of the New England Brass Band, New England’s premier British-style brass band, and he currently serves as Assistant Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony. He has also served as Interim Conductor of the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and has been a guest conductor and clinician for bands across New England and the upper Midwest.
Mark earned degrees in music education from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota (B.M.) and the University of Minnesota (M.A.). His conducting teachers have included Craig Kirchhoff and J. Robert Hanson. An active trumpet performer, he plays with the Metropolitan Wind Symphony and has performed with the New Sousa Band.