Daniel Meyer |
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Winning acclaim for his dynamic programs, engaging presence and keen musical intellect, Daniel Meyer is at the forefront of American conductors today. Mr. Meyer’s guest conducting engagements this season include the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Rochester Philharmonic, the Knoxville and Hilton Head Symphony orchestras, and at the Westmoreland Symphony, where he serves as Artistic Director. Highlights of the 2010/11 season included a critically-acclaimed European debut with the Staatstheater Stuttgart Orchestra with violinist Thomas Zehetmair, as well as a return to the Pittsburgh Symphony. He also debuted with the Eugene Symphony and Asheville Lyric Opera, where he led a new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Mr. Meyer has conducted the Utah, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Youngstown, Lexington, Portland, Santa Barbara, Lansing, and Wheeling Symphonies. Major summer festival appearances have included the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, the Aspen Music Festival orchestras, the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. In 2003, Mariss Jansons invited Meyer to become Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, where he served until 2009. He worked closely with Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, Sir Andrew Davis, and Charles Dutoit, led the Pittsburgh Symphony on tour, and conducted performances with Pinchas Zukerman, Sarah Chang, and Marvin Hamlisch, among other notable soloists. He also led the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Symphony with a Splash, a series designed for professionals, as well as a Sunday matinee family series called Popular Classics. David Zinman awarded Meyer the prestigious Aspen Conducting Prize in 2002, and invited him to return as Assistant Conductor and to lead a subscription performance at the Aspen Music Festival. Committed to new music and contemporary composers, Meyer conducted several premieres at Aspen, was featured on the Adventures in Listening new music series, and has appeared on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. A passionate advocate for music education and community engagement, Meyer has developed a new series of youth concerts based on popular children’s books to promote music and literacy. He has been featured on WQED-FM, KDKA-TV, in Pittsburgh Magazine, and has appeared as a guest lecturer at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. Mr. Meyer and the PSO were awarded the 2006 Bank of America Award for Excellence in Orchestra Education for their groundbreaking work with the Wilkinsburg community in programs produced over five consecutive years. In 2007, he led the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s Pastime, based on the lives of the great American baseball players Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, and Henry Aaron. In 2009 Meyer led the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony on their first ever tour to China. In 2004, he led the Youth Symphony in a special performance at the first National Performing Arts Convention and conducted the orchestra on an international tour to Vienna, Prague, Leipzig and Budapest. He also led the orchestra in the world premiere of David Stock's Clarinet Concerto with soloist Richard Stoltzman, and conducted the premiere of a new work by John Harbison in May 2009. A native of Cleveland, Mr. Meyer is a graduate of Denison University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He composed and conducted works for ensembles at both schools, including a Stabat Mater for soprano, chorus and orchestra. At Boston University, Mr. Meyer received the Orchestral Conducting Honors Award. He also studied conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. |