Noted for performances that combine innate musicality with interpretive insight, David Loebel is Music Director and Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, a post he has held since 1999. Prior to his appointment in Memphis, he enjoyed a decade-long association with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, serving as Associate and then Associate Principal Conductor, as well as Artistic Director of its summer festival, Classics in the Loop.
In recent seasons, Maestro Loebel’s schedule included debuts with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (Don Pasquale), Opera Memphis (The Magic Flute) and Symphony San Jose Silicon Valley, family and educational concerts at Carnegie Hall with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and return engagements with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston. Highlights of his 2005-2006 season included conducting a family concert at Carnegie Hall with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and return engagements at the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
As a guest conductor, Maestro Loebel has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also conducted the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Milwaukee, Syracuse, and Long Beach, the North Carolina Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, and the Calgary Philharmonic, among many others. Internationally, he made his debut in Japan with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and toured Australia to great acclaim, leading the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland, Western Australian, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. He has also conducted the Cleveland Orchestra in Carnegie Hall’s Pierre Boulez Workshop. Summer festivals at which he has appeared include the Grant Park Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, and Woodstock Mozart Festival.
An equally articulate communicator off the podium, David Loebel is a popular speaker and hosts The Memphis Symphony Radio Hour on public radio station WKNO-FM. His writings on music have been widely published, including program notes for Telarc recordings. With the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus he recorded the critically acclaimed CD Independence Eve at Grant Park.
Maestro Loebel is a recipient of the prestigious Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award. His ongoing commitment to American composers has been recognized by five ASCAP Awards for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music. Active in the training of young musicians, Loebel was Conductor-in-Residence of the New World Symphony and Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He has also conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at conservatories including The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Indiana University. As a mentor to conductors, he has served on the faculties of the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Conducting Workshop, the Kennedy Center’s National Conducting Institute, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Prior to joining the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, David Loebel was Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. A native of Cleveland, he is a graduate of Northwestern University, which in 2000 honored him with an Alumni Merit Award.
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