Daniel Black is a conductor and composer with a strong connection to the rich Russian conducting tradition of the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Conservatory. He has had notable recent success in international competitions, both as a conductor and composer.

His compositions have been performed in Russia and across the United States in California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Georgia, Tennessee and Wisconsin and have won several additional awards, including a competition for performance with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Two of his works have bee published. He has received commissions fro violinist Jo Nardolillo, hornist Lin Foulk, and the Wisconsin Alliance of Composers, among others.

Mr. Black is currently working toward a Doctorate in orchestral conducting on a full scholarship at the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, under the tutelage of Victor Yampolsky. He also studies composition privately with internationally,-renown composer Richard Danielpour.

A fluent speaker of Russian, he earned an Artists Diploma in symphonic/operatic conducting from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he worked with Leonid Korchmar. Prior to this he complete his Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Eastman, studying with Neil Varon. His Bachelor’s degree in composition is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his primary teachers were Stephen Dembski, Joel Naumann (composition) and David Becker (conducting). Mr. Black has studied conducting as a full participant of master-classes with Marin Alsop, Daniel Lewis, Gunther Schuller, Adrian Gnam, and others.