KU Symphony Orchestra

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KU welcomes new symphony director David Neely

David Neely is the Director of Orchestral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Kansas.

He brings extensive international professional experience to the job, having worked as a conductor in Germany for over 10 years. Equally at home in the symphonic and operatic areas, he has led concerts with the Bochum Symphony, the Dortmund Philharmonic, the Vorarlberg Symphony, The University of Texas Symphony and the opera houses of Bonn, Dortmund, Saarbrücken, Coburg, St.Gallen, Bielefeld, Kaisersautern, Halle, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He recently led Sarasota Opera's production of Moniuszko's rarely performed Polish opera Halka, having conducted that company's Die Fledermaus in 2006. In 2008, he will return to Sarasota to conduct a new production of Puccini's La Rondine.

In addition to possessing an extensive symphonic repertore, he has conducted over 50 stage works, including Otello, La Forza del Destino, Carmen, Eugene Onegin, Hänsel und Gretel, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Werther, and La Juive. In 2000, Maestro Neely led the German premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's ENO-commissioned opera The Silver Tassie in Dortmund, and in 2006 he led the U.S. premiere of Robert Orledge's completion of Debussy's La Chute de la Maison Usher at the University of Texas. He also has extensive ballet and musical theater experience.

Associated with Des Moines Metro Opera since 2003, he is senior music staff and Co-Director of that company's James Collier Apprentice Artist Program. In 2007 he was honored with one of two nationally awarded Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Assistant Conductor Grants for his work with that company. He is a respected vocal coach and collaborative pianist.

Previous to joining KU, he was Music Director of the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also served as Acting Director of Orchestral Activities for two years.

He holds degrees in piano performance and orchestral conducting from Indiana University and pursued post-graduate study in orchestral conducting at the University of Cincinnati's College-Consevatory of Music under Gerhard Samuel.