Ginger Yang Hwalek is Teacher of the Year.

Ginger Yang Hwalek, NCTM, a native of South Bend, Indiana, was honored as MTNA Teacher of the Year at the 2006 MTNA National Conference in Austin, Texas.

Hwalek began piano studies at age 4 and has been involved with music ever since as a pianist, violist, teacher and conductor. She earned a bachelor of music degree in piano performance from Indiana University and a master of music degree in piano performance from Wichita State University. In 1988, Hwalek completed a doctor of music program in piano chamber music and accompanying at Northwestern University.

Among her influential teachers are Eugene Basabe, Sidney Foster, Hans Boepple, Robert Hamilton and Robert Weirich. Hwalek has taught at Illinois State University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. She has served as music director of the MacPherson (Kansas) Symphony Orchestra and the Central Maine String Orchestra (MUSE). Hwalek also conducted several piano monster concerts in Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Essex Junction, Vermont. In collaboration with soprano Nancy Ellen Ogle, Hwalek has performed and recorded three CDs of contemporary American art songs for the Capstone Records label.

At the University of Maine (UM), Hwalek teaches class piano, directs the chamber music program and is director of Maine Summer Youth Music, the music camp sponsored by UM's division of music. She also has a private studio of 11 pre-college piano students. She is active in MTNA and is a past board member. In March 2005, she began a two-year term as MTNA Senior Competitions coordinator. Hwalek resides in Bangor, Maine, with her husband, John, and their teenage children, Heather and Joseph. She is host mom to four daughters from Greenland, Hong Kong, Thailand and Italy.