- Home »
- Learn About »
- Music Director
Music Director
Music Director, Daniel Meyer
As Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic and Asheville Symphony, Daniel Meyer is recognized as one of the top young conductors of his generation. Recently completing successful tenures with the Pittsburgh Symphony as Resident Conductor and Pittsburgh Youth Symphony as Music Director, Meyer worked closely with Mariss Jansons, Sir Andrew Davis, Manfred Honeck, and Charles Dutoit, led the Pittsburgh Symphony on tour, and conducted performances with Pinchas Zukerman, Sarah Chang, and Marvin Hamlisch. With a talent for creative programming and a passion for connecting with audiences, he led the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Symphony with a Splash, an adventurous series designed for professionals, as well as a Sunday matinee series for families called Popular Classics.
In his third season with the Erie Philharmonic, Meyer has helped to reinvigorate the orchestra, enlivening the arts community with innovative programs and a dedication to create and sustain an enthusiastic audience for classical music. He has expanded the reach of the Philharmonic with annual performances in the Warner Theatre, Meadville, Edinboro, and Warren. Committed to music education and young audiences, Meyer has developed a series of Young People’s Concerts for students in northwestern Pennsylvania. He also appears regularly on WQLN-FM and visits area schools, clubs, and civic organizations to promote the Philharmonic.
Daniel Meyer has been featured on WQED-FM, KDKA-TV, in Pittsburgh Magazine, and has appeared as a guest lecturer at the Carnegie Mellon Business School. Meyer and the Pittsburgh Symphony were awarded the 2006 Bank of America Award for Excellence in Orchestra Education for their groundbreaking work with the Wilkinsburg community. He also designed and conducted an original series of Tiny Tots concerts for the PSO based on popular children’s books to promote music and literacy.
In 2002 Meyer was awarded the prestigious Aspen Conducting Prize after his second season as a fellowship Academy Conductor at the Aspen Music Festival. His Aspen residency culminated in a performance at the Blossom Festival, where he made his debut conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. He subsequently served as Assistant Conductor to David Zinman and returned the following summer as a guest conductor to lead the Aspen Concert Orchestra.
As a champion of new music, Meyer has commissioned and premiered works by leading American composers. In Aspen, he conducted several world premieres, was featured on the Adventures in Listening _new music series, and also appeared on National Public Radio’s _Performance Today. In Pittsburgh, he led the world premiere of David Stock's Clarinet Concerto with soloist Richard Stoltzman, a new work by John Harbison, and Richard Danielpour’s Pastime, based on the lives of the great American ballplayers Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, and Henry Aaron.
Meyer recently made his debut with the Fort Wayne, Richmond, Lexington, Portland, Youngstown and Lansing Symphonies. He has also guest conducted the Cleveland, Utah, Forth Worth, San Antonio, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Santa Barbara and Wheeling Symphonies as well as orchestras at the Aspen Music Festival. He was featured at the League American Orchestra’s 2003 National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony and made his debut at the Chautauqua Festival and Brevard Music Center in 2008. He has also conducted annual gala performances with the Tianjin Conservatory Orchestra, most recently in the new Performing Arts Centre in Beijing, China. Meyer led the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony on its first ever tour to China, a special performance at the inaugural National Performing Arts Convention, and conducted the orchestra on its critically-acclaimed international tour to Vienna, Prague, Leipzig and Budapest.
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. He is married to Mary Persin, violist of the Biava Quartet.