Daniel Cho, Interim Artistic Director & Conductor

Daniel Cho is a Korean-American conductor and violinist, who proudly serves as the Assistant Conductor of the Alabama Symphony and the Music Director of the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra. He has previously held positions as Assistant Conductor of the Eugene Symphony in Oregon and the Yakima Symphony in Washington State. In addition to his positions, Daniel has traveled and served as cover conductor for orchestras around the United States, including the Dallas Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, and Santa Rosa Symphony in California. Daniel began as a conductor at the age of sixteen when he was invited to be Assistant Conductor of the Napa Valley Youth Symphony, where he was also concertmaster. Since then, Daniel’s journey as a conductor and a musician has been guided by values stemming from his joyful curiosity for his craft, and his determined optimism for classical music’s future. Passionate about discovering new and bold works, Daniel attended the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2023 as one of six Fellows, premiering music by classical music’s next generation of composers, and receiving instruction from acclaimed conductor Cristian Măcelaru. Additionally in 2021, he attended the Atlantic Music Festival as Conducting Fellow, working extensively with the Festival Orchestra and premiering fifteen new works over the course of four weeks with the festival’s Contemporary Ensemble.

Daniel is firm in his conviction that classical music’s future relies heavily on its ability to widen access to both audiences and practitioners. He is an instructor at the University of Alabama’s Online Lifelong Learning Institute in a course he designed meant to impart tools and knowledge to non-musicians who are seeking introduction into the world of orchestral music. In February of 2024, Daniel moderated a panel about classical music’s future at Alabama Symphony’s Momentum Symposium, an event for future music professionals from Historically Black colleges and universities in the state of Alabama. The event included Alabama Symphony’s Music Director Carlos Izcaray, composer Brian Raphael Nabors, musicians of Imani Winds, and award-winning arranger and composer Dr. Henry Panion III.

A lover of collaboration, Daniel has sought out and received opportunities to work with other art forms and genres of music. He served as Conducting Fellow of Eugene Ballet from 2021-2023, and was invited to return to the ballet pit as a guest conductor for the 2023 run of Eugene Ballet’s Nutcracker production; he also joined the Company on tour to Anchorage, Alaska. From 2019-2022, he held the position of Assistant Conductor of Eugene Opera, assisting on productions of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Magic Flute. Daniel is also featured as a violinist and consultant on the upcoming album of the Nashville-based and Grammy-nominated American roots group, The War and Treaty.

Daniel holds his second Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, where he received the Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance from New England Conservatory in Boston, MA. When not making music, Daniel enjoys reading short stories and fantasy novels, rewatching the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies, and taking long walks with his red golden retriever, Lucy.