Musician Biography
The TSO, Your Professional Symphony
Hannah Porter Occeña already knew by the age of 2 that she wanted to play the flute.
“My father was a hornist and played with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony woodwind quintet, and I came along to a quintet rehearsal. During the rehearsal, I pointed to the flutist and announced, ‘I want to play that one!’”
After that, Hannah and her father made regular trips to the music store to see if her fingers were big enough to play flute. She finally got a flute for her 7th birthday.
Music became a passion, but she didn’t initially pursue music as a career. She explained, “My dad counseled me that MDs could afford better instruments!” and so she explored other career paths: marine biologist, linguist, orthopedic surgeon, acoustical engineer, and lawyer. It wasn’t until spending a summer at the Interlochen Arts Camp that she decided to try a semester as a music major.
Hannah had found her passion. She worked tirelessly as the youngest member of the flute studio at UMKC and then travelled overseas to study at the Royal Academy of Music London. Moving back to Kansas City, she saw the audition flyer for the Topeka Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Flute and Piccolo chairs in 2014. She auditioned and won the principal flute chair. While completing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University, she committed to flying back and forth from New York to rehearse and play with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra.
“I keep coming back because I get to play great music — both the standards of the literature and new gems — with great people.”
Hannah will release her 3rd studio album this year, ConcerTea for Two, as well as continuing to solo with regional orchestras and touring with her chamber duo. She is Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Northern Iowa and continues to commute to Topeka each concert week to perform with the TSO.