Daniel Brier
Director of Orchestral Studies
Believing in the transformative power of music to bridge divides and celebrate the
richness of the human experience, conductor Daniel Brier enjoys a dynamic career spanning symphony, opera, ballet, and live film performances.
Since 2019, he has served as Music Director of Opera Wilmington. Beginning in 2025,
he will join the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis as Director
of Orchestral Studies, where he will conduct the University of Memphis Symphony Orchestra
and lead the graduate orchestral conducting program.
He has conducted orchestras including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids
Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Monterey
Symphony, St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, and Toledo Symphony, among others.
In recent seasons, he has collaborated with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Pablo
Sáinz Villegas, Rachel Barton Pine, and Jennifer Frautschi. As an opera conductor,
he has led new productions of Don Giovanni, Tosca, La Traviata, Die Zauberflöte, La Bohème, and Le nozze di Figaro.
In 2022, he concluded an eight-season tenure with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra,
where he served as Resident Conductor and Interim Music Director. During his time,
he conducted a wide variety of concerts, including annual appearances on the subscription
masterworks, chamber orchestra, pops, family, education, and summer park series. Under
his leadership, the orchestra diversified its programming, expanded community partnerships,
launched innovative concert series, and inspired young audiences through imaginative
educational programming.
For over twenty years, he has maintained an active teaching schedule, serving on the
faculties of the University of Michigan String Preparatory Academy, Hope College,
Andrews University, Biola Conservatory, and others. He has served as Music Director
of Youth Music Monterey and has conducted the young musicians of the Kalamazoo Junior
Symphony Orchestra and the Orion Chamber Music Society.
Earlier in his career, he served as the founding Music Director of the Spectrum Orchestra
and as Cover Conductor of the Lexington Philharmonic. His artistry has earned recognition
including a prize at the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic International Conducting
Masterclass and Competition, as well as an invitation to study with John Nelson at
the Orchestre de chambre de Paris.
A graduate of the University of Michigan’s acclaimed conducting program, Mr. Brier holds degrees in orchestral and choral conducting, studying with Kenneth Kiesler
and Dr. Jerry Blackstone. He contributed as an assistant to the GRAMMY®-nominated
recording of Darius Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle (Naxos) and has participated in masterclasses with Giancarlo Guerrero, Hugh Wolff,
Jorma Panula, Alexander Polishchuk, Victor Yampolsky, Carl Topilow, and Ragnar Bohlin.
