Noted for performances that combine innate musicality with interpretive insight, David Loebel joined the faculty of New England Conservatory in 2010 as Associate Director of Orchestras, following an 11-year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Since 2012, Loebel has also worked with the NEC Preparatory School's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and is now in his eighth season as YPO’s Music Director.
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. He has also been Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
As a guest conductor, David 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, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and Syracuse, the North Carolina Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic, among many others.
Internationally, Loebel has conducted the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa, and toured Australia to great acclaim, leading the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland, Western Australian, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. He has led family and educational concerts at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Operatic engagements include productions at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Opera Memphis, and he has appeared at summer festivals including the Grant Park Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and Woodstock Mozart Festival.
Honored five times by ASCAP for his adventuresome programming, David Loebel is a recipient of the prestigious Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award. An equally articulate communicator off the podium, he is a popular speaker and hosted "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.
Active throughout his career in the training of young musicians, Loebel has been 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, Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Indiana University. As a mentor to conductors, he has served on the faculties of the League of American Orchestras’ Conducting Workshop, the Kennedy Center’s National Conducting Institute, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
A native of Cleveland, David Loebel is a graduate of Northwestern University and a recipient of its Alumni Merit Award.
B.S., M.M., Northwestern University. Former faculty of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, League of American Orchestras Conducting Workshop, and Kennedy Center National Conducting Institute.
photo by Kate L. Photography