Meet Dirk Meyer

German conductor Dirk Meyer was appointed Associate Conductor of the Sarasota Orchestra in 2011, after five successful seasons as Assistant Conductor, during which he earned an outstanding reputation with musicians, audiences and critics, alike. He also served as Music Director of the Sarasota Youth Orchestras, whose first season under his baton culminated in a 2008 Carnegie Hall performance in New York City.

In addition to his duties with the Sarasota Orchestra, Dirk Meyer’s current season includes a debut with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, as well as return engagements with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, leading thirteen "Young People’s Concerts" as well as Pops programs. He also leads a pair of "Young People’s Concerts" with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and participates in a special program with Massachusetts’ Springfield Symphony Orchestra, conducting Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, with Music Director Kevin Rhodes as soloist.

Possessing a passionate interest in the music of our own time, Dirk Meyer founded the Art Nouveau Chamber Orchestra. Originally established in 2003 to promote the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, the orchestra has commissioned and premiered several new compositions. More recently, he established a new music series with the Sarasota Orchestra, leading world premieres of scores by Miguel del Aguila, Eve Beglarian and Silas Durocher, as well as the American premieres of works by Arvo Pärt, Elliott Sharp and Joby Talbot. Dr. Meyer has compiled 20th Century Chamber Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra Music: A Catalog, published by Scarecrow Press in 2011. This volume is the first entry in Scarecrow’s new series “Music Finders,” edited by David Daniels.

Dirk Meyer’s previous American appointments were as Assistant Conductor of the Missouri and Traverse symphony orchestras and Music Director of Michigan’s Mason Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted the orchestras of Jackson, Michigan State University, Naples and Traverse City, while abroad he has led performances in the Czech Republic with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and in South Africa with the Odeion Sinfonia. He has also led productions of Bizet’s Carmen and Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Bulgaria’s Plovdiv Opera. In April 2011, Dr. Meyer taught masterclasses, presented lectures and worked with the university orchestra at the University of Nevada at Reno.

Dirk Meyer earned his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master’s degrees in orchestral conducting from Michigan State University, where he served as Assistant Conductor of the MSU Opera Theatre, leading its productions of Puccini’s La Bohème and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. He also holds Bachelor’s degrees in both music and philosophy from Germany’s Folkwang Conservatory. Dr. Meyer undertook advanced study with Neeme Järvi, Jorma Panula and Kurt Redel. Working with the American conductor Kevin Rhodes, he assisted with numerous performances at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, as well as at the Vienna State Opera and Spain’s Teatro Real in Madrid.

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