As Music Director of the Asheville Symphony and Erie Philharmonic, conductor Daniel Meyer has reinvigorated both orchestras with his innovative programs, engaging presence and keen musical intellect.
In 2012/2013, Daniel Meyer’s guest conducting engagements include dates with the Alabama Symphony, where he leads a program of works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Rachmaninoff and Elgar, and the Phoenix Symphony, for a program of works by Christopher Theofanidis, Saint-Saëns, and Dvořák. He also leads the Pittsburgh Symphony (where he was Resident Conductor from 2003-2009) for the annual Holiday Pops program, and returns to the Westmoreland Symphony, where he serves as Artistic Director.
Highlights of recent seasons include a critically-acclaimed European debut with the Staatstheater Stuttgart Orchestra, with violinist Thomas Zehetmair, concerts at the Grand Teton Music Festival, with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Eugene, Knoxville and Hilton Head symphony orchestras, and a debut with the Asheville Lyric Opera, where he led a new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Meyer has led the symphony orchestras Utah, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Youngstown, Lexington, Portland, Santa Barbara, Lansing, and Wheeling. 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. In 2007, he led the Pittsburgh Symphony in the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s Pastime, a co-commission by the PSO, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony, and based on the lives of the American baseball players Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, and Henry Aaron.
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 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.
In 2002, David Zinman awarded Meyer the prestigious Aspen Conducting Prize, and invited him to return as Assistant Conductor and to lead a subscription performance at the Aspen Music Festival. While at Aspen, Meyer conducted several premieres, was featured on the Adventures in Listening new music series, and appeared on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.
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.
He is married to the violist Mary Persin.
(August 2012. Please discard previously dated materials and contact publicity@colbertartists.com before making any alterations or cuts.)
