Australia said, “the next Herbert von Karajan”.
Sweden said, “one of the greatest young conducting promises”.
Italy said, “the conductor who everyone is talking about!”
Canada said, “the best concert in thirty years”.
Poland said, he “infects the orchestra and the listener”.
France said, “a river of emotion, which immersed the public”.
Denmark said, “an experience that reaped an ecstatic ovation”.
America said, “Ormandy is back!”
Young Australian conductor, Daniel Smith, is fast becoming one of the world’s most exhilarating musicians, filling concert halls around the globe. Recent and future highlights include collaborations with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – The National Orchestra of Sweden, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Sydney Symphony, Opéra Monte Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, the National Orchestra of Romania, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, Opera i Filharmonia Podlaska, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Toscana, Orquestra de Cadaqués, Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Orchestra of Sofia and the Eminence Symphony Orchestra, including cycles of the complete Beethoven and Brahms symphonies and festival performances in Australia, Austria, England, France, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland and the USA. Equally successful in both the symphonic and operatic genres, he has recently worked on productions of Il barbiere di Siviglia, Cavalleria rusticana, Così fan tutte, Fanciulla del West, Der fliegende Holländer, Gianni Schicchi, La Rondine, Der Rosenkavalier, Suor Angelica, Tosca, La traviata and Wozzeck, working with esteemed directors Franco Zeffirelli and Giancarlo del Monaco as well as recording the soundtrack for The Tower of Druaga and various works of film composers, John Williams and Joe Hisaishi.
Winner of the Orchestra’s Choice Prize for Best Conductor in the 2011 Lutosławski International Conducting Competition, Grand Finalist in the 2011 Bucharest International Conducting Competition, most voted candidate on the world-wide web in the 2009 Malko International Conducting Competition and winner of the 2009 Brian Stacey Conducting Prize (in conjunction with the Helpmann Awards), Daniel was voted the “Person To Watch in 2010” by Fairfax Media International. He was prize-winner in the Master Performers competition, finalist in the Sony Music Awards (MusicOz) and over the years, has won more than 100 prizes. Among them have been the esteemed Sydney Symphony Stuart Challender Fund Scholarship, Accademia Musicale Chigiana Scholarship, Australia Council for the Arts Music Scholarship, Ian Potter Cultural Trust Award, Sir David Martin Memorial Award, Sydney Directory of Music Senior Scholarship, Berky Music Academy Chamber Music Scholarship, Olive Silvester Scholarship, The Fred Blanks Award and The Alan Bellhouse Memorial Scholarship for Conducting. Daniel has been a member of several international juries and is regularly invited to give masterclasses around the world.
He was Assistant Conductor and protégé to Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti, working with some of the world’s most eminent orchestras and has studied under Maestri Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Jorma Panula, Robert Spano, Hugh Wolff, Imre Pallo and Harry Spence Lyth. He holds a Master of Music degree, two Fellowships in Music and five Diplomas of Merit from the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, Vysoká škola múzických umení v Bratislave, Accademia Musicale Chigiana Siena, Trinity College London, Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen.
Daniel has been involved in music since first learning the flute at the age of 6. His performing career began at 11 when he won the Beethoven or Busk Classical Music Festival and he went on to study at the Berky Music Academy for 15 years under Julia Fekete-Berky, and later, with William Bennett and Sir James Galway. He held the position of Principal Flute with the SBS Radio & Television Orchestra and was accepted into Cirque du Soleil’s Talent Bank. He has recorded with ABC Classic FM, 2MBS-FM, AMFS, Gonzo and Scarboro Music Productions and his conducting debut, at age 16, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, was broadcast around Australia on Television Network 9.
