Daniel Stewart

Daniel Stewart is a conductor who leads the Santa Cruz Symphony across a full season of subscription concerts. His programs pair core orchestral repertoire, such as Dvořák and Tchaikovsky, with new commissions and community partners like youth choruses and folk ensembles, suggesting a conductor invested in connecting classical staples to living composers and local audiences.

Across these programs, listeners can expect a mix of orchestral landmarks and new voices. Dvořák's "New World" Symphony and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto sit alongside world premieres by composers such as Jackie Orzel and Daniel Strebulaev, suggesting a practice of commissioning new work to open alongside familiar repertoire. The programming also folds in American concert staples, Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," and film and stage music by Williams and Bernstein, alongside collaborations with youth choruses and regional folk ensembles from Mexico. The season closes with Prokofiev's narrated "Peter and the Wolf," paired with pop-culture arrangements and multicultural guest ensembles, pointing to programming aimed at bringing in new and younger listeners.