Music Director David Commanday received the standing, shouting ovation that has become his hallmark here.
(Peoria Times Observer)
http://www.davidcommanday.com/
At the helm of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra through eight seasons, Music Director David Commanday has become known for passionate and committed performances, innovative programming, and dedication to musical excellence. He has widened the local horizon by introducing a succession of remarkable soloists from the highest echelons of the concert world, including artists Yo-Yo Ma, Hilary Hahn, Andre Watts, Bobby McFerrin, Emanuel Ax, Evelyn Glennie, Sharon Isbin, and Chee Yun. He has brought the orchestra to "a high point in its 100-year history." (Peoria Times-Observer, 2/9/00), prompting consistently high praise:
"Under Commanday’s leadership, the orchestra has become a versatile instrument, able to do the classics as well as the standards, able to soar the heights and have a little fun, too." (Peoria Journal Star, 2002) "Commanday... has soul. He takes risks. And he has what it takes to make his musicians soar." (Peoria Journal Star, 2005)
Not content with standard concert fare alone, Maestro Commanday has sought out emerging talents and out-of-the-ordinary solo instruments, stretching Peoria’s boundaries of repertoire and concert presentation style. He has introduced rising stars such as Mathieu Dufour, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and Ji Yong, and presented harp, guitar, brass quintet, string quartet, percussion, and harmonica soloists. Repertoire has ranged from Wagner to Elvis, Stravinsky to Bach, Gershwin to Mahler. Contemporary composers have been regularly featured among the familiar Romantic and Classic greats, including John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner, Olly Wilson, James Yannatos, Cindy McTee, David Balakrishnan, John Williams, Danny Elfman, H.K. Gruber, and Arvo Paert. Concertgoers have encountered new visual elements, such as projected stage directions and translations, commentary by maestro and soloist from the stage, or question-and-answer with the composer at intermission.
Maestro Commanday has explored outreach in many forms. Collaborations with sister performing arts institutions have been welcomed and embraced by the community, resulting in highly acclaimed performances with the Peoria Area Civic Chorale, the Bradley Chorale and Community Chorus, the Heritage Ensemble, the Central Illinois Youth Symphony, the Peoria Ballet, and choruses from neighboring universities ISU, WIU, and Milliken. Young Sun Foundation Suzuki School musicians have been invited to perform prior to a PSO concert. Chamber music performances under the sponsorship of Lakeview Museum have become exciting events. WTVP has co-partnered with the PSO in taping and broadcasting Student and Family Concerts, and PSO performances have featured local media, civic and arts leaders such as Dr. Andrew Morgan, Lee Wenger, Bob Larson, Cookie Bannon, Eddy Urish, Bill Swain, and Sharon Samuels Reed.
Increasingly in demand as a guest conductor, the maestro has been invited to conduct orchestras around the world, most recently with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, National Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, and New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestras. His schedule next season includes appearances with the South Carolina Philharmonic and the Joffrey Ballet.
David Commanday is known for collaborations with artists such as Kathleen Battle, Rudolf Nureyev, Yo-Yo Ma, Monica Mancini, and Ellis Marsalis, and composers Joseph Schwantner, Olly Wilson, Bernard Rands, Karel Husa, and Ivan Tcherepnin. He appears as cellist as well, both in chamber music and on the concert stage; performing with such musicians as Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Chang, and Laura Frautschi, and most recently with vocalist Bobby McFerrin and pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi.
Although he started piano lessons at the age of 6, it was the cello which was to lead the young man to a career in music. He studied with a series of renowned teachers: cellists Margaret Rowell and George Neikrug, Professors Luise Vosgerchian and Leon Kirchner, and Austrian conductor Otmar Suitner among them. After graduating cum laude in Psychology at Harvard University, he went on to the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, where he earned the Austrian Staatsdiplom with Highest Honors in orchestral conducting. Early posts included Music Director of the Boston Ballet, Assistant Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, and Music Director of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (GBYSO). Commanday brought GBYSO to the forefront, receiving three ASCAP awards for programming, and unprecedented critical acclaim for concerts and CD recordings. In 1995 he commissioned the Double Concerto by Ivan Tcherepnin, his GBYSO premiere performance with soloists Lynn Chang and Yo-Yo Ma earning the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for the work. In 1997 he took a post with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, first as Assistant and then as Associate Conductor. He became Music Director of the Peoria Symphony in 2000.
Commanday has conducted and taught at Harvard University, Boston University, MIT, the Longy School of Music, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Bradley University. Founder of Orchestrating Success, he is an insightful speaker on leadership and an eloquent spokesman for symphonic music and the arts.
