Dr. Heidi Johanna MillerFaculty

Originally from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, Dr. Heidi Johanna Miller joined the faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College in 2014, where she conducts the Gustavus Wind Symphony and teaches courses in conducting and music education.  Previously she served as Artist-in-Residence in Winds and Director of the Williams College Wind Ensemble in Williamstown, MA.  Her varied career also includes appointments with the University of Massachusetts, the Pioneer Valley (MA) Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Ithaca College (NY), and Spring Lake Park High School (MN). Miller has also performed extensively with vocal ensembles in Minnesota and New England, and is fascinated by the intersectionality of vocal and instrumental music of all types, as well as how they interact with visual art and dance.

Miller has led numerous public school music festivals, instrumental and vocal ensembles, chamber ensembles, and has performed as a soprano specializing in contemporary and early music. Still deeply connected to New England, Miller guest conducted the Rhode Island Wind Ensemble in the spring of 2019, and adjudicates the MICCA festival in the Boston area yearly. Regularly appearing internationally, Miller has guest conducted the Gustavus Wind Orchestra in Sweden, Norway, Spain and France, and in September 2023 she conducted the Festival Band at the Bangkok International Band Festival at the International School in Bangkok, Thailand.

Miller is the conductor of the 2024-2025 Minnesota All-State Concert Band, and in that role will present at the Minnesota Music Educators (MMEA) Midwinter Clinic and conduct a performance in Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis) in February 2025. Miller also joins the Minnesota Symphonic Winds as a guest conductor in February 2025, and will join composer Julie Giroux at Lamar University in Texas for an honor band weekend in March of 2025. Engagements over the past year include the 2023 and 2024 Ordway Honors Festival, the 2024 conference honor bands in Wright County and the Tri-Metro area, the 2024 Mississippi 8 Honor Band, and the 2024 Southern MN MBDA 7-8 Honor Band, as well as serving as an adjudicator and clinician across Minnesota.  Other recent engagements include joining the conducting faculty of the International Music Camp in the summer of 2022, conducting and presenting at the 2022, 2019, and 2018 MMEA Midwinter Clinics, serving as a guest artist and clinician at the 2018 New England Band Directors Institute, and serving as guest conductor and clinician at high school festivals from California to New England. She also served as co-conductor of the Encore Wind Ensemble for the 2014-2015 season.  As a vocalist, Miller has performed with the Minnesota Chorale, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Anniversary Chorale, the Sapphire Chamber Consort, the Cornell University Chorale, the New England-based chamber choir Novi Cantori, and the Flux Ensemble.

An advocate for new music, Miller has guided premiere performances and commissioned works by many composers including Nubia Jaime Donjuan, Katherine Bergman, Shelley Hanson, Stephen Hartke, James Patrick Miller, Keir Neuringer, Carl Schroeder, Dawn Lenore Sonntag, and James Syler.  In her position at Gustavus she is a member of the 2020 Minnesota Consortium for Black American Composers and was part of the consortium that commissioned Nubia Jaime Donjuan to write “Monarch Migration,” a collaboration between the composer, an author, and many educational and community organizations. Currently her ensemble is part of a consortium who has commissioned Kevin Day.  Among others, Miller’s ensembles’ performances have been noted by Dana Wilson and Pulitzer Prize winning composers Karel Husa and Steven Stucky.  

Miller earned the D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Minnesota, the M.M. in conducting from Ithaca College, and the B.M. in music education and performance from the University of Minnesota. Her mentors in conducting include Craig Kirchhoff, Stephen Peterson, and Kathy Romey. Currently she resides in Saint Peter, MN with her husband, James, daughters Linnea and Ingrid, their two cats, Tisbury and Strider, and their betta fish, Speckle and Amigo.  Outside of music her interests include reading, cooking and baking, ballet, and running.

Courses Taught