|
|
Internationally recognized as a conductor of extraordinary versatility and discernment, David Briskin has led performances of symphonic and choral music, opera, ballet and Symphonic Pops to equal acclaim.
Mr. Briskin has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of The National Ballet of Canada since 2006. In July 2008, he was appointed Director of Orchestral Studies and Conductor of the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This season he will make guest appearances with New York City Ballet in Copenhagen and with San Francisco Ballet in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. He also makes his first appearance with the Hannaford Street Silver Band in Toronto.
For seven years Mr. Briskin served as conductor with American Ballet Theater where he led performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York’s City Center and in major opera houses throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and Asia. In January 2006, Mr. Briskin was engaged by New York City Ballet for the company’s winter, spring and summer seasons at Lincoln Center and Saratoga Springs, New York. In addition, Mr. Briskin has performed with such companies as Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens, Alberta Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet and BalletMet among others. He also has conducted for the companies of Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Jose Limón and Erick Hawkins and has worked with such choreographers as Christopher Wheeldon, Jorma Elo, James Kudelka, Peter Martins, Stanton Welch, Ben Stevenson, Rudi van Dantzig, Glen Tetley, Benjamin Harkarvy, Lar Lubovitch, Christian Holder and Kevin O’Day. For three seasons, Mr. Briskin served as Music Director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and served as conductor for The Juilliard School’s Dance Division from 1993 to 2005.
In addition to his work in dance, Mr. Briskin has enjoyed great success on the concert stage. He has conducted the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Akron, Cincinnati Pops and Singapore Symphony Orchestras; the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Juilliard Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica where he conducted the South American premiere of John Corigliano’s monumental First Symphony. Mr. Briskin has conducted for a variety of Pops productions over the years including the Symphonic Pops Consortium’s, A Yuletide Celebration, comedian Martin Short and The Irish Tenors.
For six years Mr. Briskin served as music director of the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra. The hallmark of his tenure with Masterwork was his critically acclaimed application of the language of the Baroque to modern instruments and annual performances of Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall.
Equally at home in the opera house, Mr. Briskin’s opera schedule has taken him throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, including performances of La Bohème in Italy; Calgary Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro), Manitoba Opera (Carmen), Opera Carolina (Candide, Falstaf, and Don Giovanni), Opera Columbus (Le Nozze di Figaro), New England Conservatory (Albert Herring), Sarasota Opera (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Lake George Opera (Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio). He has also collaborated with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, creating, casting and conducting operas for their highly acclaimed Arts in Education series and has been on the faculty of the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv since 1999.
Over the years Mr. Briskin has been extremely active in arts education. For three seasons he was Artistic Coordinator and Host of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Education Concerts. He has given lectures for the Caramoor Summer Music Festival, the National Society of Arts and Letters and the Conductor’s Guild and has participated on panels for the American Symphony Orchestra League and Chamber Music America. He has served on the faculties of Queens College, CUNY, the 92nd Street Y and the Mannes College of Music in New York. Mr. Briskin had a ten-year association with Lincoln Center Institute where he developed arts education programming and lead workshops for public and private school administrators, teachers, teaching artists and elementary, middle and high school students. He was also instrumental in creating programming and content for the Institute’s distance learning initiative - one of the first such programs in the United States.
David Briskin attended the Indiana University School of Music where he studied voice, piano and choral conducting. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Master of Arts degree from Queens College, City University of New York.
08/08
|