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CONDUCTING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC Captivating and imaginative conductor Daniel Meyer was appointed permanent Artistic Director and Conductor of the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra in April of 2019. As Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic and Lakeside Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Westmoreland Symphony, and Director of Orchestral Activities at Duquesne University, Mr. Meyer has reinvigorated orchestras with his innovative programs, engaging presence and keen musical intellect. We sat down with him to talk about the the new collaboration in store. Tell us about your background working with both dance and orchestra together? My first experiences with ballet and live orchestra were with the Pittsburgh Ballet and Attack Theatre, a modern dance ensemble based in Pittsburgh. With the Pittsburgh Ballet, we performed Balanchine's Serenade, which re-orders the movements of the Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings into an emotional ensemble piece. With Attack Theatre, we created a premiere version of Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat, a fascinating wartime Faust tale for chamber ensemble and dancers. I learned right away that the tempos and inflections that best suit the dancers will ultimately reveal the best results, even if I would make different choices in the concert hall. It's truly a collaboration, and I also do my best to stay connected to the physicality of what the dancers do - it deeply influences how I pace the musicmaking. The program is titled “Building Bridges Together.� How did the organizations come to that name and what were you hoping to share? With the pandemic still raging in our country, we have been anxious to create experiences that keep us connected to our audience. We want to find ways to build a bridge to our Photos: Susan Bestul Performance photos prior to COVID-19 (2019)
audience at home, and that led to an idea that we could build a bridge to one of our treasured artistic partners in
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