David Alan Miller

David Alan Miller (born 1961) is a Grammy Award-winning American symphony orchestra conductor, and since 1992, the conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Miller has also served as assistant and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and music director of the New York Youth Symphony.

Early career and education

Miller was raised in the Los Angeles area. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He then earned a master's degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School. Miller was Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony from 1982 to 1988. He was also a two-term conducting fellow and, later, associate director at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.

In 1987, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Music Director André Previn; he was later promoted to Associate Conductor in 1990 and held that position for two years. During his tenure with the orchestra, he conducted subscription concerts, an acclaimed family concert series, "Green Umbrella" New Music Group concerts and community concerts, as well as regular programs at the Hollywood Bowl. In the fall of 1987, Miller replaced Previn on only 36-hours notice during a week of regular Philharmonic subscription concerts when the Music Director fell ill, earning glowing reviews.

Albany Symphony Orchestra

Miller has been musical director and conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra (ASO) since 1992. Under his leadership, the ASO has frequently premiered American modern classical music. During his tenure, the orchestra has become one of the busiest recording orchestras in the US, with more than 25 discs, mainly of new or recent American music, released. He instituted a major annual American Music Festival in 1998, with multiple events featuring new works over four days each May. He established a family concert series shortly after his arrival in 1992, and created a "Capital Heritage" commissioning series, for which the orchestra commissions and performs works inspired by New York Capital Region's history. The works are performed "on location," in or at the locations that inspired them. "Capital Heritage" presentations have included performances inspired by TIffany windows throughout the region, a day in the State Capital and a day at the Saratoga battlefield.

Dogs of Desire

Formed by Miller in 1994, the Dogs of Desire is an eighteen-member contemporary music ensemble composed of members of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has commissioned over 100 new works from emerging American composers and gained a national reputation among young composers as a proving ground for emerging talent. Composers who have been commissioned by the Dogs of Desire include: Derek Bermel, Arthur Bloom, Dorothy Chang, Jacob Cooper, Michael Daugherty, Kenneth Eberhard, David Lang, Todd Levin, David Mallamud, Huang Ruo, Michael Torke and George Tsontakis.

Guest conducting

Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Miller has worked with most of America's major orchestras, including the orchestras of Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as well as the New World Symphony, the Boston Pops and the New York City Ballet. He has also returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic on occasion to conduct them during their summer season at the Hollywood Bowl.

Additionally, Miller has appeared frequently throughout Europe, Australia and the Far East as a guest conductor. Miller made his international debut with the RAI Orchestra in Turin, Italy, in the 1999-2000 season. He has also conducted major European orchestras in Berlin, Barcelona, Prague, Dresden, Hanover, Halle and Mainz. He has appeared with the Adelaide Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, National Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra; led the Australian Youth Orchestra on its European tour; and conducted the Asian Youth Orchestra on a major tour of the Far East that included concerts in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. In Canada, he has conducted the National Arts Center Orchestra and the Edmonton Symphony.

Awards

Miller was nominated in 2020 along with Tessa Lark for a recording of Michael Torke's Sky, Concerto for Violin in the Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo category.

Miller received a Grammy Award in January, 2014 for his Naxos recording of John Corigliano's "Conjurer," with the Albany Symphony and Dame Evelyn Glennie.

In 2013, Miller won the John R. Edwards award for the nation’s strongest commitment to new American music.

In 2003, Miller received Columbia University's Ditson Conductor's Award. This award is "the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to American music, (and) was established in 1945 by the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia. Past recipients include Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, JoAnn Falletta, Michael Tilson Thomas and James DePreist."

Miller won the 2001 ASCAP Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming and, in 1999, ASCAP’s first-ever Leonard Bernstein Award for Outstanding Educational Programming. In recognition of Miller's commitment to contemporary music and innovative programming, he and the Albany Symphony Orchestra were twice invited to appear at "Spring For Music," an annual festival of America's most creative orchestras at New York City's Carnegie Hall. The ASO was the only ensemble to perform more than once on this festival.

Recordings

Miller has had many of his recordings with the Albany Symphony published as CD's. Many of Miller's recordings with the Albany Symphony are sold online. His extensive discography includes recordings of the works of Todd Levin with the London Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, as well as music by Michael Daugherty, Kamran Ince, and Michael Torke for London/Decca, and of John Corigliano and Luis Tinoco for Naxos. His recordings with the Albany Symphony include discs devoted to the music of John Harbison, Roy Harris, Morton Gould, Don Gillis, Peter Mennin, and Vincent Persichetti on the Albany Records label.