"Nothing short of miraculous. The sheer excitement of witnessing such extraordinary music making was an experience to be remembered."

San Francisco Classical Voice

"The audience was gobsmacked; you could hear the gasps of people starting to breathe again. 

Maestro Daniel Stewart has shown how great an orchestra like the Santa Cruz Symphony can be. 

Clearly, he’s the real deal…..the quality of great music here is almost beyond belief."

Performing Arts Monterey Bay

"There was a buzz in the air. The might and vitality which Stewart brought out of the orchestra was just outrageous - in a fantastic way! 

 It was all incredibly stunning. People around me were literally jumping out of their seats.”

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Daniel Stewart has conducted leading orchestras around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Hessischer Rundfunk Orchester, Frankfurt Opern Orchestra, Boston Ballet, New World Symphony, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Opera companies of the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, and Aspen Festival. In 2021, at the invitation of Esa-Pekka Salonen, he made his subscription debut with the San Francisco Symphony in a program featuring Beethoven’s 9th Symphony

Now in his 12th season as Music Director of the Santa Cruz Symphony, his transformative tenure has earned international recognition, and a reputation for collaborations with artists such as Yuja Wang, Berlin Philharmonic Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley, and over 30 principal artists from the Metropolitan Opera.

An accomplished violist, Daniel has performed in over 40 countries as principal violist of numerous orchestras including the New World Symphony, Verbier Festival Orchestra, and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, collaborating closely in this capacity with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Michael Tilson-Thomas.

Notable collaborations with contemporary composers include Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Adams, Chick Corea, HK Gruber, Micheal Tilson-Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, multiple performances with Mason Bates from clubs to cathedrals, and Thomas Adès, who he assisted for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's "Aspects of Adès" festival in 2011. Daniel’s own compositions have been performed at venues including the Aspen Music Festival, Tribeca New Music Festival, Verbier Festival, New World Symphony, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Formative employment as an assistant conductor to Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kurt Masur with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, James Levine with the Metropolitan Opera, and Michael Tilson-Thomas with the New World Symphony. He was awarded the Aspen Music Festival's Conducting Prize in 2010, and is an alumnus of the Curtis Institute of Music, (student of Otto-Werner Mueller, Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, & Alan Gilbert), the New World Symphony (student of Michael Tilson-Thomas), and the Indiana University School of Music (student of Alan de Veritch).

Listen and see more at my YouTube channel, here: youtube.com/@danielpatrickstewart

For more on select collaborators, venues, recordings, and work as an educator:

Conductor:
Metropolitan Opera, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt Opern, Boston Ballet, Atlanta Symphony, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra
 
Music Director:
12 years with the Santa Cruz Symphony, 5 years with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
 
Violist:
Performances in over 40 countries on stages including Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, Het Concertgebouw, Royal Albert Hall, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, The Mariinsky Theater, Teatro Colón, Sydney Opera House, KKL Luzern, Tokyo City Opera Hall, Bolshoi Zal, NCPA Beijing, Esplanade, Gasteig, Tonhalle, Palacio de Bellas Artes, and Festivals including The Proms, Verbier, Aspen, Spoleto, Miyazaki, Schleswig-Holstein, White Nights, & Domaine Forget de Charlevoix
 
Composer:
Works for orchestra and various ensembles premiered in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Aspen, Verbier, Santa Cruz
 
Educator:
Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program, Aspen Music Festival, New World Symphony, NYU, Stanford, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Indiana University School of Music, UC Santa Cruz
 
 Collaborators:
 Conductors - Rostropovich, Masur, Temirkanov, Dohnanyi, Levine, Blomsedt, Eschenbach, Dutoit, Tilson-Thomas, Gergiev, Rattle, Dudamel, & Salonen
 Composers - Stockhausen, Corea, Gruber, Tilson-Thomas, Adams, Salonen, Adès, Bates, Shaw, & Clyne
 Pianists - Pressler, Corea, Fleisher, Pollini, Argerich, Schiff, Kissen, Lang, Nakamatsu, & Wang
 Violinists - Kramer, Laredo, Sitkovetsky, Fried, Bell, Chang, Vengerov, Repin, Hahn, Ehnes, Chen, & Bendix-Balgley
 Cellists - Rostropovich, Starker, Harrell, Maisky, Yo-Yo Ma,
 Singers - Scotto, Silja, Quasthoff, Giordani, Goerke, Brewer, Terfel, Fleming, Pape, Owens, Sierra, Fang, Costanzo, & Green
 
Alumnus:
Curtis Institute of Music (conducting w/Otto Werner Mueller), Aspen Music Festival and School (conducting prize winner), New World Symphony (conducting w/MTT, principal viola), Indiana University School of Music (viola w/Alan de Veritch)

Recordings:
EMI, as violist
SFS Media, as conductor (Soundbox), violist (San Francisco Symphony), and executive producer (SFSYO & Mason Bates)
New World Symphony, as conductor
Juilliard Media, as conductor
Curtis Opera Theater, as conductor
OpenAl Forum, as pianist