Brian DeMaris

Conductor, Pianist, Composer

Brian DeMaris

Conductor, Pianist, Composer

WELCOME

Equally at home in opera, musical theatre, symphony, ballet and pops, and involved with the development of over two dozen new works, Brian DeMaris has worked with Anchorage Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Columbus, El Paso Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Charlottesville Opera, American Lyric Theatre and American Opera Projects. He has served as Principal Conductor of Anchorage Opera, Music Director of Mill City Summer Opera, and was assistant conductor of the New York City Opera, Florida Grand Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, and on the music staff at Opera Theater of Saint Louis. He has led concerts with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse Orchestra, St. Cloud Symphony, Music St. Croix, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared at the United Nations, the Aspen Music Festival, Boston’s Jordan Hall, New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, and in recitals, competitions, and master classes throughout the United States and abroad. He is a three-time winner of the American Prize in Opera and Musical Theater Conducting. He was previously Director of Opera and Musical Theatre at Ithaca College, and currently serves as Artistic Director of Music Theatre and Opera at Arizona State University. (Read more...)

RECENT AND UPCOMING ENGAGEMENTS

La Traviata

Music Man and Elixir of Love

April 2024

Music Man and Elixir of Love

Summer 2024

Guest Conductor

Music Man and Elixir of Love

Guest Conductor

September 13 and 14, 2024

Guest Conductor

The Secret Gardener (Mozart) - Beyond Downtown Series

Guest Conductor

September 26, 2024

The Nutcracker - with Virginia Regional Ballet

The Secret Gardener (Mozart) - Beyond Downtown Series

November 28-30, 2024

The Secret Gardener (Mozart) - Beyond Downtown Series

March, 2024

The Pirates of Penzance and Carmen

June and July, 2025

REVIEWS

“grace… beauty”

"energy and precision..."

"warmly expressive..."

“…Brian DeMaris' baton extracted the best and most beautiful parts of Puccini's music. I've always compared Puccini to a rich pastry, full of beauty and yet light and simple in execution. Maestro DeMaris handles the orchestra with great grace, allowing those moments where Puccini is the most luscious to hesitate, almost for a moment, so that the audience is suspended in this great beauty. - Today y mañana

"warmly expressive..."

"energy and precision..."

"warmly expressive..."

“… conductor Brian DeMaris drew some warmly expressive playing at relaxed tempos, which gave welcome scope for the subtle nuancing of Mozart’s scoring to register.” – Star-Tribune

"energy and precision..."

“Under conductor Brian DeMaris, who marks his fifth production with Anchorage Opera, the ensemble brings energy and precision to the score.” – Anchorage Daily News

"richness and depth..."

"impressed throughout..."

"energy and precision..."

“Under the direction of Brian DeMaris, the band roars with richness and depth, capturing the ebb and flow of the ship’s journey and, in the final poignant moments of the show, becoming an exaltation of those lost at sea and the survivors who shared their memories.” – Broadway World

"impressed throughout..."

“The orchestra impressed throughout under Brian DeMaris’ direction…” – Pioneer Press

"excellently paced..."

"impressed throughout..."

“The band… played punchily under the excellently paced direction of Brian DeMaris. They turned the screw effectively on Sondheim’s sizzling music…” – Star Tribune

"never heard the orchestra sound better"

“DeMaris polished the singing and the orchestral accompaniment until it sparkled. I’ve never heard the orchestra sound better, as under DeMaris’ baton.” – Broom Arts Mirror