Equally at home in opera and musical theatre, and involved with the development of over two dozen new works, Brian DeMaris currently serves as Principal Conductor of Anchorage Opera and Artistic Director of Music Theatre and Opera at Arizona State University. He has led productions with Anchorage Opera, Opera Columbus, El Paso Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, American Lyric Theatre and American Opera Projects. He has served as Associate Conductor of New York City Opera, Assistant Conductor of Florida Grand Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, Resident Conductor of Ash Lawn Opera Festival, and Répétiteur at Opera Theater of Saint Louis. He has led concerts with the St. Cloud Symphony, Music St. Croix, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphoria and the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and as pianist has appeared at the United Nations, the Aspen Music Festival, Boston’s Jordan Hall, New York’s Studio 54, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, and in recitals, competitions, and master classes throughout the United States and abroad. He is the 2nd place winner of the 2013 and 2015 American Prize in Opera and Musical Theater Conducting. He was previously Director of Opera and Musical Theatre at Ithaca College and founding Music Director of the Mill City Summer Opera in Minneapolis.  (Read more...)