Daniel Reith Appointed Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra

The Cleveland Orchestra announced today that Daniel Reith is the next Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO). Appointed by Franz Welser-Möst, Mr. Reith joins the Orchestra's conducting staff as Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in September at the start of the 2022-23 season at Severance Music Center.

As Assistant Conductor, Mr. Reith will serve as cover conductor for Severance Music Center and Blossom Music Festival subscription concerts and provide assistance to Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. He will also be actively involved with the Orchestra's many education programs and community performances, including his work leading the Youth Orchestra. He will hold the Elizabeth Ring and William Gwinn Mather Assistant Conductor Endowed Chair. Mr. Reith succeeds current Associate Conductor Vinay Parameswaran, who completes his fifth and final year at the end of the 2021-22 season.

As Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Mr. Reith will oversee the ensemble's artistic planning, select personnel for the ensemble, and lead rehearsals and performances of the Youth Orchestra. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, which begins its 37th season in 2022-23, is a full symphony orchestra comprised of middle- and high-school-aged musicians from northern and central Ohio who are coached by musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra. Founded in 1986, the Youth Orchestra provides talented young musicians with a pre-professional orchestra training experience of the highest artistic standard. The Youth Orchestra performs three concerts at Severance Music Center each season, as well as orchestra concerts in the community, and a performance during the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Music.

"We are pleased to welcome Daniel Reith to the conducting staff as the next Assistant Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra," said Ilya Gidalevich, Vice President of Artistic Planning of The Cleveland Orchestra. "Daniel was selected by Franz Welser-Möst following a rigorous audition process. His experience, talent, musical understanding, enthusiasm, and collaborative spirit make him an ideal addition to The Cleveland Orchestra family."

"I have always admired The Cleveland Orchestra - their distinctive sound culture, with both flexibility and precision," said conductor Daniel Reith. "I'm greatly looking forward to working with the Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst; being involved with the Orchestra's multiple activities, conducting the family and education concerts, and learning from the best. I feel that there is a humble, faithful, devoted, and determined way of music-making in The Cleveland Orchestra. It is a dream come true to be surrounded by this spirit and sound every day."

As of May 2022, details of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra's 2022-23 concert season programming and performance dates at Severance Music Center on November 20, February 14, and May 5 is included in the calendar listing section below. Information about programming in February and May will be announced later in 2022.

From Daniel Reith: About working with The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra:
"I find working with young musicians extremely rewarding and fulfilling, especially their energy, curiosity, development, and growth. The early years of music-making are important for the future development of these young musicians, and an inspiring environment is one of the most essential parts of that. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra provides and creates such an environment for everyone, and I am so thrilled with the concept of this orchestra program where the young musicians get coached by the great and experienced musicians from The Cleveland Orchestra. At the same time, they get experience and development as a collective of young musicians, striving for the same aim of enjoying making music together on a high level."

From Daniel Reith: Ideas behind 2022-23 COYO programming
"With the 2022-23 season programs, I tried to bring as many perspectives of orchestral music to the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra musicians as possible. There will be pieces the orchestra members wished for, and we will have two wonderful musicians from the orchestra appearing as soloists. We will play music from the core orchestra repertoire as well as some less familiar but yet fantastic pieces. In the first concert, we will tell the famous story of Romeo and Juliet in Prokofiev's moving and very colorful composition. In connection to this, we will open the concert with Lili Boulanger's D'un soir triste (Of a Sad Evening), a rarely performed piece which is the last composition Boulanger was able to finish, knowing she was about to die. Contrasting these two works, we will hear the winner of the last Concerto competition, Moshi Tang, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin concerto."

Ticket Information

$15 tickets for the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestras 2022-23 concert series at Severance Music Center will go on sale in September 2022. For more information, please visit clevelandorchestra.com.