Dr. Harger serves as Adjunct Professor of Ensembles at TAMUK, conducts the Concert and University Bands, and teaches undergraduate conducting, Music Entrepreneurship, undergraduate conducting lessons, and assists the Javelina Marching Band.
An advocate for new music and living composers, Dr. Harger continues to expand his contemporary music conducting as a Staff Conductor for the Sofia Symphonic Summit, Vienna Summer Music Festival, Tonal Composers Festival, and the São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival – where he collaborates with world-class ensembles and living composers to promote new music and international collaboration. Additionally, he serves as Managing Director for the Los Angeles Music Industry Summer Academy – an immersive hands-on festival housed within Paramount Recording Studios for students interested in production, engineering, and management. He is also excited to have been invited to work with the Austin-based chamber orchestra and new music collective Density512 this upcoming year.
Dr. Harger also serves as Associate Conductor for the Maryland Chamber Winds, an ensemble made up of professional musicians from around the United States and Canada. In that capacity he guest conducts the ensemble, produces and co-produces ensemble recording projects, and plans and implements children’s concerts.
Prior to his engagement at Texas A&M University Kingsville, he served as Music Director for the Young People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley. In the Spring of 2023, they were invited and featured as a select ensemble for the PMEA All-State Conference where they performed three world premieres written for them specifically. From 2020 to 2023, Dr. Harger served as Director of Orchestral Activities at Marywood University where he successfully grew the orchestra program during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath – expanding the student numbers, community involvement, and number of concerts offered. Guest conducting engagements have included the Maryland Chamber Winds, Oregon Mozart Players, St. Petersburg State Symphony, Sofia Philharmonic, PHACE New Music Ensemble, PMEA District IX Orchestra, and Marywood University String Celebration Honor Chamber Orchestra.
