David Milnes (born October 21, 1956) is an American conductor and instrumentalist. He is a professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Department of Music and also serves as music director of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and the Eco Ensemble.

Biography

Milnes was born in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York to a musical family and attended Half Hollow Hills West High School in

Dix Hills Dix Hills is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set ...

. From early childhood, Milnes played a variety of instruments, including piano, clarinet, saxophone, cello, flute, violin, and organ. He received his BA in Music (concentrating in conducting and clarinet performance) from

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

in 1978, and went on to receive a Masters and Doctorate in conducting from the

Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a joi ...

under the tutelage of

Otto-Werner Mueller Otto-Werner Mueller (23 June 1926 – 25 February 2016) was a German-born conductor. As a long-time professor of conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, Mueller taught many important conductors, such as Rudolf Barsha ...

. Milnes also studied with esteemed conductors as

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

, and

Herbert Blomstedt Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor of classical music. At the age of 97 he continues to conduct concerts in Europe and the United States. Biography Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, t ...

Career

Milnes began his professional career after receiving his Masters at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

by winning a conducting position with the

Exxon Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...

Conducting Program. His conducting debut with the

San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is a youth orchestra organized by the San Francisco Symphony. The SFSYO performs an annual concert series and has made several recordings. The orchestra rehearses in Louise M. Davies Symphony H ...

in November 1983 involved conducting a side-by-side performance of the

Overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which ...

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...

with the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

. He became the music director of the Youth Orchestra in 1984. Milnes went on to become a frequent conductor in Eastern Europe and Russia. As principal guest conductor of the

Latvian National Symphony Orchestra The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO; ) is a Latvian orchestra based in Riga. Its primary performance venue is the Great Guild Hall in Riga. In addition to regular symphonic concerts, the orchestra also broadcasts and records. H ...

, Milnes conducted a wide breadth of repertoire, including the works of

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

and

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

. Following several conducting engagements, Milnes went on to join the faculty at

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

and

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

, at which he conducted the school's symphony orchestras and lectured on the symphonic repertoire. In 1994, David Milnes was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for his recording of ''Zingari'' by

John Anthony Lennon John Anthony Lennon (born 1950 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American composer of contemporary classical music based in Georgia. Biography Early life and education John Anthony Lennon was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and raised in ...

. Milnes also conducted extensively at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

(most notably a production of

Idomeneo (Italian for ''Idomeneus, King of Crete, or, Ilia and Idamante''; usually referred to simply as ''Idomeneo'', Köchel catalogue, K. 366) is an Italian-language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Vares ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

). In 1996, Milnes joined the faculty at UC Berkeley with an intent to increase performance of the twentieth century repertoire, including the works of

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...

, and

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

. The Symphony under Milnes' direction also heavily emphasizes the performance of new music, frequently composed by Berkeley graduate students in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

. From 2002 to 2009, Milnes was also the music director of the

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) is a performing arts organization and unionized chamber orchestra that commissions, performs, and records innovative new music from across cultures and stylistic traditions. SFCMP incorporated in ...

Partial Conducting Discography

*2000: James Newton, "As the Sound of Many Waters" (CD) New World Records. *2002: Andrew Imbrie, ''Spring Fever: Chicago Bells, Songs of Then and Now'' (CD) Albany Records. *2004: Kui Dong, ''Pangu’s Song'' (CD) New World Records. *2005: Jorge Liderman, ''The Song of Songs'' (CD) Bridge Records. *2006: Pablo Ortiz, ''Oscuro'' (CD) Albany Records. *2008: Edmund Campion, ''Outside Music'' (CD) Albany Records.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milnes, David Living people 1956 births American male conductors (music) People from Long Island Stony Brook University alumni Yale School of Music alumni 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians