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.

Updated May 2025
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