David Neely

Appointed Fall 2019

Described by the Wall Street Journal as a ‘sensitive conductor” and by Opera News as "a ninja warrior with a baton,“ David Neely maintains an active career as a conductor of opera and symphonic music in both professional and educational settings. 

Neely is Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at the University of Maryland School of Music. Prior to arriving at Maryland, he was Visiting Associate Professor of Conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Director of Orchestras at the University of Kansas, and Music Director of the Butler Opera Center at the University of Texas (Austin). From 1990-2001, he was active full-time as a conductor of opera and concerts in Germany. 

As Music Director and Principal Conductor of Des Moines Metro Opera, a position he has held since 2012, Neely has played a key role in elevating the company to a position of international standing among summer music festivals. He has led critically-acclaimed performances of a broad range of new and traditional repertoire that includes the recent world premieres of Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s American Apollo and Kristin Kuster and Mark Campbell’s A Thousand Acres, regional Emmy award-winning productions of Manon and Billy Budd for Iowa Public Television, and more than 30 other works including Salome, Elektra, Wozzeck, The Love for Three Oranges, Bluebeard’s Castle, Pikovaya Dama, Yevkeny Onegin, Rusalka, Jenůfa, Falstaff, Elektra, Peter Grimes, Dead Man Walking, Flight, Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Candide, La Fanciulla Del West, and Turandot. He has led productions with Atlanta Opera and Sarasota Opera as well as numerous European opera houses including Bonn and Dortmund. His performances have been praised in Opera News, Opera Today, Gramophone UK, The Guardian, Opernwelt, the Chicago Tribune, and the Wall Street Journal.

In the Symphonic world, Neely has led concerts with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmonic, Bochumer Philharmoniker, Eutin Festival Orchestra, Bregenz Symphony Orchestra, the D.C. area’s Apollo Orchestra, and appears frequently as guest conductor at the Jacobs School of Music. In 2023, he led a concert with the National Orchestra Institute +Festival that was featured on NPR’s Performance Today. 

Concerto soloists with whom he has collaborated include  Benjamin Beilman, David Chan, Roberto Diaz, Nicholas Daniel, Eric Kutz, Rainer Honeck, Bella Hristova, Delfeayo Marsalis, Ricardo Morales, Hai-Ye Ni, Ben Lulich, and Joshua Roman. He has appeared as a collaborative pianist with numerous vocalists, including a recent recital with Joyce Castle and Schubert’s Winterreise with David Adam Moore. He is a guest teacher of conducting for Washington National Opera’s Cafritz Young Artist program, and was selected as conductor for WNO’s 2021 American Opera Initiative. He recently appeared with the American Lyric Theater in New York. 

Neely serves on the Artistic and Awards Committee of the Solti Foundation U.S.