Guest Conductor Bio

Ian Passmore
guest conductor

With adventurous musicality and a captivating stage presence, Filipino-American conductor Ian Passmore leads a rich career as an orchestral leader and pedagogue. Hailed as “a rising young conductor” by Fanfare Magazine, his unapologetically Romantic renderings of the standard repertoire harken back to a bygone generation of conductors.

Following two seasons as the Omaha Symphony’s Assistant Conductor, the orchestra named Ian their Associate Conductor in 2019 — a position never before created in its 100year history. Ian has appeared with the orchestras of Kansas City, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Lincoln, the North Carolina Symphony, and the Hanoi Philharmonic in Vietnam. In the 2022-23 season, he debuted with the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Oak Ridge Symphony in Tennessee. Artists with whom Ian has recently collaborated include the Canadian Brass, violinist Susanna Perry Gilmore, jazz singer Jackie Allen, pianist Clare Longendyke, and composer Liz Gre. He has also prepared ensembles for Maestro Franz Welser-Möst and violinist Joshua Bell, respectively.

Having begun his own conducting studies at a very early age, Ian’s career also prioritizes conducting pedagogy and music education. His educational contributions include frequent appearances as a guest conductor and adjudicator for student ensembles, as well as numerous speaking engagements. Recent conference presentations include the International Conductors Guild, the South Dakota Bandmasters Association, and the Nebraska Music Educators Association. Before his appointment in Omaha, Ian served as Associate Instructor of Orchestral Conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he taught conducting, led the IU Conductors’ and All-Campus Orchestras, and guest conducted the IU Chamber, Concert, Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestras. Ian’s private conducting students have been accepted to conservatories and summer music programs such as Indiana University, the Conservatoire de musique de Lyon, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Aspen Music Festival & School.

Ian holds a Doctor of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Delaware, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Additional conducting studies were completed at UNC Chapel Hill. In 2022, Ian was nominated for an Outstanding Alumni award at the University of Delaware. His principal conducting mentors were David Effron, Arthur Fagen, James Allen Anderson, Tonu Kalam, and the late Robert Gutter. Ian is a member of the League of American Orchestras, the International Conductors Guild Board of Directors, and the honors music society Pi Kappa Lambda.

Ian is based in North Carolina with his wife Dianna Fiore and their dogs Beethoven, Charlie, Belle, and Heidi. When he’s not on the podium, Ian enjoys cooking, traveling, road biking, and CrossFit. He is the creator of the podcast and YouTube series, “Symphonic Shorts,” which seek to tear down the walls of formality that often surround classical music and make it more accessible to everyone.

Ian is represented by Parker Artists in New York, and he is an endorsing artist for Work of Art Custom Batons.

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