Guest ArtistsGeorge Daugherty, conductor

Conductor George Daugherty is one of the classical music world's most diverse artists. In addition to his 35-year international conducting career, Daugherty is also an Emmy Award-winning / five-time Emmy nominated director, writer, and producer for television, film, and concert stage.

Since 1993, he has conducted over 20 performances at The Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (returning to the LA Phil and Bowl this year), and an equal number with National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap. He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in May, 2015, in four sold-out performances, and his recent conducting schedule includes multiple performances with St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Houston Symphony, as well as appearances with dozens of other orchestras in the U.S., Canada, and abroad. He has been a frequent guest conductor at the Sydney Opera House, as well as with Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Recently, he also made his debuts with the Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, West Australia Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and multiple engagements with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at both the National Concert Hall, and the new Grand Canal Theatre, both in Dublin, Ireland. He has been a frequent guest conductor de Bellas Artes Opera House in Mexico City, conducting the Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Artes.

He has also been a frequent conductor of London’s Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, with whom he first made his debut in Royal Festival Hall, and most recently conducted a 15-city U.S. and Canadian concert tour with the orchestra and guest artists Dame Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

Mr. Daugherty has also conducted the symphony orchestras of Seattle, Baltimore, Montreal, Milwaukee, Nashville, Buffalo, Vancouver, Toronto, Atlanta, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Syracuse, Winnipeg, Columbus, Edmonton, North Carolina, Charlotte, Delaware, Phoenix, and Grant Park, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, and many others. His international credits include the Moscow, West Australia, Melbourne, and Adelaide symphony orchestras; the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra; Ireland’s RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Auckland Philharmonia; Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela; New Japan Philharmonic; and the major Italian opera houses of Rome, Florence, Torino, and Reggio Emilia.

As a ballet conductor, Daugherty has conducted for the greatest ballet stars in the world over the past three and a half decades, and has been on the conducting staffs of American Ballet Theatre, the Bavarian State Opera Ballet / Munich State Opera, La Scala Ballet, and Teatro Regio di Torino Ballet. He is Music Director of Ballet San Jose; has been music director of The Louisville Ballet, Ballet Chicago, and Chicago City Ballet; and he has guest conducted for scores of international companies.

He received a Primetime Emmy as executive producer of ABC’s animation-and-live action production of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, which he also directed, wrote, and conducted, and for which he was also Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Music Direction. He was executive producer and writer of the Emmy-winning PBS/Sesame Workshop series Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, based on Amy Tan’s book, and received an Emmy nomination for his ABC music education series Rhythm & Jam, all in partnership with David Ka Lik Wong.

In 1990, Daugherty created, directed, and conducted Bugs Bunny On Broadway, which has since played to critical acclaim and millions of fans all over the world. The Bugs Bunny symphonic concert tradition continued when Daugherty and Wong launched a new version, Bugs Bunny At The Symphony, in 2010, and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II in 2013.

Daugherty has lived in San Francisco for the past 15 years.