DW
MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR
As a music director and conductor, Daniel marries his skills as a band leader in the pop industry and his experience as a concert musician and orchestrator. He has collaborated on both new musicals as well as revivals with award-winning theatre directors such as Kent Nicholson and Richard Israel, and acclaimed choreographers including Marc Kimelman, Jim Cooney, and Tony Gonzalez.
Daniel MDing and performing with chamber neosoul artist, Sarah Lessire
New musicals with contemporary pop scores, such as BOTTLE SHOCK (Burwell & Sasser) and THE MOLLYHOUSE (Hanson & Maus), benefit from Daniel's experience outside the musical theatre genre. Rather than a pit of individual instrumentalists led by a pianist, Daniel's music direction achieves the sound of a band backing up a lead vocalist.
Daniel also brings an artful and classic approach to musicals of a more traditional sound, drawing from his background as a concert saxophonist, pianist, and orchestrator. As music supervisor and music director with the Transcendence Theatre Company, he has developed new shows in concert formats, and reimagined and assistant-directed older musicals such as A CHORUS LINE.
His skill in musical storytelling makes him a unique asset in the developmental process, adapting a composer's vision to the demands of the stage, and realizing the score with a deep investment not just in the music but in the dramatic vision as a whole.
Daniel getting ready to conduct the pit of a TTC Broadway Under The Stars Show
Daniel MDing and performing with indie pop artist, Morgxn
MUSICIAN
A graduate of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Daniel works professionally as a saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer. He has played with jazz luminaries such as Frank Wess, John Daversa, Bob Mintzer, and Joshua Redman, and has appeared in the Academy Award-winning film "Whiplash," on the television show “Glee,” and on the third season of NBC's primetime show "The Sing Off." As a supporting vocalist, he has sung for Demi Lovato on the Late Late Show with James Corden, sung and played keys for the Stan Taylor band on the Steve Harvey Show, and regularly sings with Grammy Award-winning arranger and singer Ben Bram.
Daniel works regularly as a studio musician on saxophone, flute, vocals, and keyboards and has recorded on film scores, hip-hop tracks, and world music albums as well as jazz recordings. One such jazz recording entitled “Fourteen Channels” on the Tapestry Records label cracked the top 50 on the US Billboard jazz charts and featured Daniel’s improvisational work, as well as his composition “An Ounce of Hope.”
