About the Conductor

Erik Janners, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Knightwind Ensemble, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is internationally recognized as a conductor, scholar and performer.  He holds degrees in percussion and conducting from Alma College, the University of Utah, and the University of Alabama.

In addition to his duties with Knightwind, Dr. Janners serves as the Director of Music at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to his arrival at Marquette University in the fall of 2007, Dr. Janners served as Director of Bands at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, Illinois, as well as at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada.  His achievements in these positions included the founding of the Marquette University Wind Ensemble and the University of Regina Wind Ensemble, as well as the creation of the Saint Xavier University Conducting Workshop. He also served as Director of the University of Regina Honor Band, the University of Regina Conducting Symposium, and the Saint Xavier University Conducting Workshop. As Director of Music at Marquette University, Dr. Janners conducts the wind ensemble, orchestra, and pep bands. He also supervises the overall music program at Marquette. Dr. Janners was the recipient of the 2007 Excellence in Teaching Award from Saint Xavier University and has received the National Band Association’s “Award of Excellence” three times. He is in high demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator, and has presented a series of clinics on performance psychology at the State Music Conferences of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Alabama, and the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. He presented a major scholarly paper on Performance Psychology in July 2012 at the conference of the International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music in Coimbra, Portugal, which was published by the Society in July 2014. Dr. Janners has served as conductor of the National Band Association College All-Star Band on three different occasions, and has served on the conducting staff at the Blue Lake Fine Arts camp in the summers. He has also served as a pre-concert lecturer for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. 

In 2016 he entered into a collaboration with the Italian conductor Filippo Salemmi as a part of the International Music Project, and in July 2016 Dr. Janners conducted on a series of concerts in Italy, Germany and Austria. He led a study abroad program from Marquette University performing in Cesena, Pesaro and Salerno, Italy in Summer 2017 and taught a masterclass at the Conservatorio Bruno Maderna in Cesena, Italy in December 2017. In the summer of 2018 he conducted Schubert’s Deutche Messe for winds and choir in the Basilica of Montecassino, Italy, and at the Basilica Superiore in Assisi, Italy. Finally, Dr. Janners was a featured clinician and guest conductor at the XI Forum of the Baltic States Wind Orchestra Conductors in Riga, Latvia, in 2017, 2019 and 2024. He was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Diederich College of Communication in 2026.

As a scholar, Dr. Janners has had numerous articles published in the Instrumentalist magazine, as well as in Canadian Winds, the national periodical of the Canadian Band Association, and Alta Musica, the publication of the IGEB wind music conference. His research interests include wind band literature, conducting pedagogy and technique, and performance psychology in its application to the field of music. He is a member of the National Band Association, College Music Society, The World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), the College Band Director’s National Association (CBDNA), the Conductor’s Guild, and the International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music (IGEB).