The Cleveland Orchestra Promotes Daniel Reith To Associate Conductor

 The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the promotion of Assistant Conductor Daniel Reith to the position of associate conductor with immediate effect. Reith, who also serves as the music director of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO), will assume this role through the end of the 2024–25 season following a one-year contract extension. 

Reith was appointed by Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and joined the Orchestra’s conducting staff at the beginning of the 2022–23 season at Severance Music Center. Since then, he has conducted The Cleveland Orchestra in dozens of performances, including Education Concerts in Cleveland and Miami, the Family Concert series, the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Concert, and the Orchestra’s very first Sensory-Friendly Concerts. 

“Building on the success of the last two seasons, Franz Welser-Möst has offered Daniel a contract extension to remain with The Cleveland Orchestra as associate conductor for one more season,” said Ilya Gidalevich, the Orchestra’s vice president of artistic planning. “Daniel has become an invaluable asset to our conducting staff, and we’re looking forward to his continued work with the musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra as well as his leadership of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.”

As music director of COYO, Reith oversees artistic planning and coaching sessions, selects musicians, and leads rehearsals and performances of the ensemble, which consists of about 100 middle and high school-aged musicians.  

“I’m honored to extend my time in Cleveland with the tremendously brilliant musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of acclaimed Music Director Franz Welser-Möst,” Reith said. “It’s also been such a pleasure and an enriching experience working with The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. I’ve enjoyed introducing these students to new classical works, helping them refine their skills and understanding of playing in a large ensemble, and deepening their connection to this wonderful music we perform.” 

COYO wrapped up its three-concert 2023–24 season with a performance on May 3 featuring Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Lalo’s Cello Concerto, and Valerie Coleman’s Umoja, and has recently returned from a music exchange and side-by-side performance with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. 

About Daniel Reith 

German conductor Daniel Reith is associate conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and music director of The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO). The 2024–25 season marks his third year with both ensembles. 

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Reith is showing great promise on the American orchestral scene. He made his Cleveland Orchestra subscription debut in February 2023 after stepping in for Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä at short notice. He also stepped in for Music Director Franz Welser-Möst to lead the Orchestra as part of the first annual Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival concert in May 2023. 

In addition to his coaching and conducting duties with COYO, Reith leads the Orchestra’s Education Concerts in Cleveland and Miami, as well as family and community concerts throughout the season. 

Reith is also an established talent in Scandinavia and has performed with the Oslo and Bergen philharmonic orchestras, the Stavanger, Kristiansand, and Trondheim symphony orchestras, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and the Norwegian Armed Forces. Having served as assistant conductor at the Norwegian Opera for a production of Orpheus in the Underworld, Reith returned to Oslo this season for a symphonic concert with the Norwegian Opera Orchestra, conducting Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra. 

Well versed in a wide range of repertoire, Reith has a special interest in the German repertoire, including the Classical core repertoire and more particularly works from the late Romantic period. He is strongly dedicated to reviving unknown music from this time and sharing it with today’s audiences. Reith is a winner of the prestigious Opptakt competition, Talent Norway’s program for fostering young conductors, as well as one of their former conducting program participants. He holds degrees in conducting, piano, and music theory from the Norwegian Academy of Music, Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, and Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. 

For more information about Daniel Reith, visit harrisonparrott.com/artists/daniel-reith. 

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