Daniel Beckwith, piano

Daniel Beckwith

Daniel Beckwith has been hailed as one of the most exciting conductors of his generation. With a repertoire spanning four centuries, he has conducted operas in Houston (Gretry’s rarely performed Zémire et Azor), Toronto (Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Cincinnati (Lucia di Lammermoor), St. Louis (Haydn’s Armida), and with New York City Opera (Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Rameau's Platée with Mark Morris Dance Group), Glimmerglass Opera (Rossini’s Le Comte Ory), and Chicago Lyric (Cosí¬ fan tutte). Mr. Beckwith assisted James Levine for six seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, making his conducting debut there in Don Giovanni. Since then, he has led further Mozart operas at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Australian Opera, Washington Opera, and with the operas of Portland, Vancouver, Baltimore, Edmonton, and Arizona.

His affinity for baroque, early classical, and bel canto vocal repertoire has made him a leading authority in the operas of these periods. Especially sought-after for his work in Handel opera, he has led productions in Seattle (Serse), New York (Alcina), Edmonton and Fort Worth (Giulio Cesare), Geneva (Rinaldo), the Spoleto Festival (Oreste), and the Glyndebourne Festival (Theodora), as well as concert performances with Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, the Juilliard Orchestra, and with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque.

Daniel Beckwith has toured as conductor in symphonic recitals with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore and soprano Renée Fleming, and as collaborative pianist in recitals with Larmore, Fleming, Benita Valente, Carol Vaness, Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Denyce Graves, Susanne Mentzer, Jerry Hadley, Ben Heppner, Richard Leech, Nathan Gunn, and Samuel Ramey.

He was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Lake George Opera Festival (1999-2001), and he has led student and young artist productions at Wolf Trap, Chautauqua, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Green Mountain Opera Festival, Michigan State University, and The Juilliard School.