Artistic Direction, Delta David Gier
- Delta David Gier, Music Director
Delta David Gier has been called a dynamic voice on the American music scene, recognized widely for his penetrating interpretations of the standard repertoire and his passionate commitment to new music. In the summer of 2000 Gier made his New York Philharmonic debut in what were described as “splendid performances . . . He found new ways to look at old repertoire in Stravinsky’s ballet suite from The Firebird (1945).” Beginning in 1994 he served an assistant conductor for the New York Philharmonic, and has served in that capacity for the Metropolitan Opera as well. For the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons Mr. Gier conducted the complete series of the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts, the first conductor to do so in over 50 years. Mr. Gier came to national attention in 1997 while conducting a tour of Carmen for San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theater. He has performed with many of the world’s finest soloists, including Midori, Lang Lang and Sarah Chang.
Since the 2004-05 season Mr. Gier has held the post of Music Director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure the orchestra has enjoyed tremendous growth, expanding its offerings and increasing its repertoire, including an annual Mahler celebration and highly successful operatic performances each season. The SDSO has received the coveted ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming for five seasons in a row, largely due to its series of concerts featuring works of Pulitzer Prize-winning composers. This program was heralded by the Wall Street Journal as, “an unprecedented programming innovation.” Pulitzer prize-winning composers Paul Moravec and Steven Stucky have had residencies with the SDSO.
In 2011 Maestro. Gier will debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra. Recent guest engagements have included the St. Louis Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony and the American Composers Orchestra. In Europe, he has recently conducted the Bergen Philharmonic and Kristians and Symphony Orchestra in Norway. In the summer of 2009 Mr. Gier lead a tour of Haydn’s Creation with the Oratorium Festival in Romania. This past summer he returned to Oratorium for an all Bach Festival and then travelled to Hungary for the Crescendo Music festival. In the fall of 2009 Mr. Gier conducted the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra and returned to the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica.
The release of his recording of Symphony No. 2 (42) by American composer Carson Kievman with the Polish National Radio Symphony on the New Albion label received acclaim from many quarters. “The kind of performance composers live for” was the Denver Post’s response, while Spoleto Today wrote, “It provides one of the most powerful musical experiences I have had in recent times.” The SDSO premiered a new work of Mr. Kievman’s in November 2008.
As a Fulbright Scholar (1988–90) Gier led critically acclaimed performances with many orchestras of Eastern Europe. He was invited to the former Czechoslovakia to conduct Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony in celebration of the 100th anniversary of its premiere. Gier took this opportunity to introduce Eastern European audiences to many American masterworks, such as Barber’s Violin Concerto with the Presidential Symphony of Ankara, and Copland’s Appalachian Spring with the Bucharest Philharmonic. “He possesses an innate sense of expression which stems naturally from an absolute artistic sincerity . . .” was how the late Mircea Cristescu, Bucharest Philharmonic’s laureate conductor, characterized Gier’s direction.
Gier earned a Master of Music degree in conducting from The University of Michigan under Gustav Meier. “He communicates a true and convincing interpretation to the audience” Meier observed, ”. . . and, above all, he brings the composer to the center of the stage.”
As a student at Tanglewood and Aspen he studied also with Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur, Erich Leinsdorf, and Seiji Ozawa, and was later invited by Riccardo Muti to spend a year as an apprentice at the Philadelphia Orchestra. At the invitation of the American Symphony Orchestra League he participated in their National Conductor Preview, a highly selective showcase for young conductors.
Mr. Gier has also been in demand as a teacher and conductor in many highly regarded music schools, serving as visiting professor at the Yale School of Music, the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, the San Francisco Conservatory and SUNY Stony Brook.
He has also served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in music and the ASCAP’s Rudolf Nissim Composition Prize.
