Conductor & Composer Daniel Krenz is the Assistant Conductor of the Nashville Opera, founding Music Director of the Blueprint Ensemble, the Music Director for the Belmont University Opera Theatre, and a contributing composer for the Nashville Composer’s Collective.
In 2021 Daniel was a participant in the Conductor’s Workshop at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music where he participated in masterclasses with Cristian Cristian Macelaru, Marin Alsop, Larry Rachleff, and Gemma New. He was also accepted to the Conducting Academy at the 2021 Domaine Forget de Charlevoix International Music Festival where he studied with Bramwell Tovey and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Additionally, he participated in the 2021 Järvi Conducting Academy at the Parnu Music Festival led by Krisjan and Paavo Järvi.
For the ’19-’20 season Daniel was named the Music Director of the Bay Colony Brass and served as the Assistant Conductor to the Boston Civic Symphony. He was also invited to conduct an all-Mozart program at the New England Conservatorywhere he led Victor Cayres and Heeyeon Chi in Mozart’s Piano Concerto’s No. 7 “Lodron” and No. 10 K. 365. In Boston, Daniel co-created Mahlermania! a festival dedicated to the life and work of Gustav Mahler. The festival culminated in a partial re-creation of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1913 Skandalkonzert where he led mezzo-soprano Rebecca Printz in Zemlinsky’s Maeterlinck Songs, Berg’s Altenberg Lieder, and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. In 2019 he made is operatic debut at the 23rd annual Opera Fringe Festival leading a run of performances of John Musto’s Later the Same Evening. Previously he served as the Assistant and Offstage Conductor for a joint production between the Glimmerglass Festival and Boston University in Janàcek’s The Cunning Little Vixen.
Daniel has served as the Assistant Conductor to both the Boston University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra. On the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, Krenz led the capstone concert of the 2018 Leonard Bernstein Festival for the Creative Arts in a concert including Bernstein’s Candide Overture and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Previously he spent two summers at the Bard Conductor’s Institute where he studied with Leon Botstein, Mark Gibson, and the late Harold Farberman.
Daniel is an active composer of solo, chamber, and vocal works. Recently his piece Three Songs on Poems by Rose Ausländer was accepted by the Nashville Composer’s Collective and was premiered on their March 2021 concert. He has worked and studied with composers such as Samuel Andreyev, Dr. Paul Osterfield, and Dr. Mike Linton. He is currently working on a set of choral pieces.
Daniel is a passionate advocate and educator for music. As a musicologist and writer, he has had the fortune of studying with some of the greatest musicological academics including Eric Chafe, Joshua Rifkin, and Joseph Morgan. Currently he writes for Music City Review, Nashville’s dedicated arts criticism magazine. At Brandeis University, his thesis on Act III of Berg’s Lulu was awarded the Sandy Shea Fisher Award in Artistic Achievement. He has previously taught classes on Theory and Aural Skills at Boston University. He is a current member of the Board of Directors for Vocal Arts Nashville.
Daniel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Trumpet Performance from Middle Tennessee State University, a Master of Arts in Musicology from Brandeis University, and a Master of Music from Boston University in Orchestral Conducting where he studied with Bramwell Tovey and Joshua Gersen.
updated September 13th, 2023