I started a lifelong love affair with Grand Opera at the age of 11. Growing up near the Metropolitan Opera, and having a father that conducted symphonic orchestras and season tickets to the Met, I had special access to the backstage of the Met. I started voice lessons at 15 and attended the Aspen Music Festival twice, where I was the youngest person admitted to the opera program up to that point. After moving to New York City, I studied voice while performing in various New York productions eventually joining the Gloriana Gilbert and Sullivan troupe at the age of 25. I toured the country understudying and performing the lead role of Nanki Poo in the Mikado. I held the role of lead tenor in the renowned church choir of the Church of the Heavenly Rest and performed with the Berkshire Choral Festivals
That same year I founded Concert Opera of Manhattan (1985) a professional opera company that performed with full orchestra so that young and upcoming singers could get a chance to perform outside of the university setting. My work with C.O.O.M culminated in a performance of Rossini’s rediscovered masterpiece Il Viaggio A Reims at New York City’s famed Town Hall. This was the New York premiere of the work and it opened to rave reviews from the New York Times, The New York Post, The Daily News, and the New Yorker magazine. We were honored when the Newport Music Festival took the production to their venue for their opening night that year with our full cast and orchestra.
I later settled in San Francisco where I became a voice teacher, vocal coach, and music director for local youth theater productions. My voice studio trained and prepared young performers for musical theater and drama college programs and auditions. My two children both entered prestigious programs in Pittsburgh and Ohio. In 2017 I created The Refuge, a professional theater company that focused on hiring students from musical theater programs across the United States. We flew cast members from around the country to perform in San Francisco. Our production of Next to Normal (2017) opened to raves and highlights can be seen below on YouTube. I directed and vocal coached the show as well as a production of Cabaret in 2018.
In 2022 my wife and I settled in Los Angeles where she works as a production designer for Dreamworks Animation.
I’m excited to start my vocal studio in Los Angeles and to create a theater company here for young emerging artists.
about dan
Musical Theater schools? Local school productions? College audition prep?
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I can help with all of these.
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I provide a special learning experience for any age.
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Musical Theater schools? Local school productions? College audition prep? / I can help with all of these. / I provide a special learning experience for any age. /
“Dan’s mentorship as a young artist lead me to the career I have today. I was first introduced to Dan as a vocal director for various youth productions I worked on and he took me under his wing. He was incredibly supportive of my development as a multifaceted artist, and ultimately his guidance was a large part of what allowed me to begin directing my own productions as a 15 year old. For the next few years, Dan supported my pursuit of both directing and performing, acting as a cheerleader from the outside and a mentor within the work. He develops foundational trust with his students that allows him to give honest, constructive criticism that pushes their abilities without hurting their confidence or sense of value. This instilling of confidence and support of constant evolution and learning is rare in a teacher, and became core to my feeling of potential and drive as a young artist. To this day I know he is in my corner and willing to help me at the drop of a hat, and I am ever grateful for the guidance and support he has offered me throughout my development as a creative.”