David Danzmayr
Conductor
A conductor bringing new American commissions alongside Beethoven and Dvořák this season.
In short
David Danzmayr appears as conductor with the Oregon Symphony in Portland and the Santa Rosa Symphony in California in the upcoming season. His Portland concerts pair Copland's Lincoln Portrait with a new Kahane premiere and Still's Fourth Symphony, while his Santa Rosa dates feature Montgomery, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, and Dvořák's Eighth Symphony.
On the podium
David Danzmayr's upcoming programs mix American orchestral repertoire with core European classics. In Portland, he leads Copland's Lincoln Portrait, a work for orchestra and speaker built around excerpts of Lincoln's own words set against solemn, hymn-like orchestral writing, alongside the world premiere of a new co-commissioned piece by Gabriel Kahane and William Grant Still's Fourth Symphony, subtitled "Autochthonous," which draws on blues and gospel-inflected melody. In Santa Rosa, the pairing is more traditional: Jessie Montgomery's short, propulsive string work Strum opens the evening, followed by Beethoven's stormy Third Piano Concerto and Dvořák's Eighth Symphony, a piece full of birdsong-like woodwind solos and sudden shifts between shadow and sunlight. Listeners can expect these programs to be shaped with attention to contrast between new and familiar voices.
Written by OrchestraFinder, reviewed September 2026.