Gregory D. McDaniel chats about his career in an OperaWire profile
With just over a few months left in his tenure as the New Jersey Symphony’s Colton Conducting Fellow, Gregory D. McDaniel is taking all the lessons he learned from his previous career in teaching into his conducting as he prepares for his upcoming conducting performances in Mozart’s The Magic Flute in March and May. While doing so, he was profiled by Lisa Winkler of OperaWire as he chatted about what led him to decide to leave teaching to go to conducting full-time, and to share about what it is like being a conductor.
You have to be prepared in everything, and even then, something will arise that you did not anticipate. When I say everything, I mean, everything. It is people management, public speaking, time management, knowing names, listening yet not listening, hearing inside and outside of the orchestra, knowing how to pivot if something arises, the list goes on. However, what makes it challenging, also makes it fun. It’s like being an athlete. You are often in high stress situations and you are stuck in thinking and moving ahead while also being in the moment. I have to say that a lot of my experience through teaching music greatly prepared me for professional conducting.
Gregory D. McDaniel to Lisa Winkler of OperaWire