Daniel Meyer

Biography

As Music Director of the Asheville Symphony, Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Meyer is recognized as one of the top young conductors of his generation. In Pittsburgh, he conducts over 40 performances a year, including subscription, pops, community, and education concerts. This season he led the orchestra in the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s Pastime, based on the lives of the great American ballplayers Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, and Henry Aaron. Mr. Meyer and the PSO were recently awarded the 2006 Bank of America Award for Excellence in Orchestra Education for their groundbreaking work with the Wilkinsburg community in programs produced over three consecutive years. In June 2007, he was named Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic in Pennsylvania.  In Asheville, he has already reinvigorated the orchestra and its impact on the community with innovative programs and his dedication to create and sustain an enthusiastic audience for classical music.

Mr. Meyer has worked closely with 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 as soloists. With a talent for creative concerts and a passion for connecting with audiences, he led the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Symphony with a Splash, an innovative series designed for professionals, as well as a Sunday matinee series for families called Popular Classics. Committed to music education and young audiences, Mr. Meyer has developed a new series of Tiny Tots 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 the Carnegie Mellon Business School.

In 2004, Mr. Meyer led the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony in a special performance at the first ever National Performing Arts Convention and conducted the orchestra on its first international tour in fifteen years to Vienna, Prague, Leipzig and Budapest in 2005. Last season he led the Youth Symphony in the world premiere of David Stock's Clarinet Concerto with soloist Richard Stoltzman and led the orchestra on tour in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Meyer was awarded the 2002 Aspen Conducting Prize after his second season as a fellowship Academy Conductor at the Aspen Music Festival. His residency there culminated in a performance at the Blossom Festival, where he made his debut conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. In 2003 he served as Assistant Conductor to David Zinman and returned the following summer to lead a subscription performance. Highlighting his commitment to new music and contemporary composers, Mr. Meyer conducted several premieres at Aspen, was featured on the Adventures in Listening new music series, and also appeared on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.

In addition to the Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Meyer has conducted the Utah, Forth Worth, San Antonio, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Mansfield, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Youngstown, Santa Barbara, Lansing, and Wheeling symphonies. He has also led the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, and orchestras at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Meyer was featured at the American Symphony Orchestra League’s 2003 National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony and made his debut with the Portland Symphony and Erie Philharmonic this season.

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. As a doctoral student 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.