David Amado
Music Director, Tatiana and Gerret Copeland Chair, Endowed in Perpetuity
David Amado has been music director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra since 2003, and in July 2016, he began a second music directorship at the Atlantic Classical Orchestra in Florida.
As a guest conductor, Amado has led numerous prominent orchestras. In addition to the St. Louis Symphony, where he was an associate conductor, he has led the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, and the Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, National, New World, and Toronto symphonies. Recent engagements have included the Mobile and New Bedford symphony orchestra, California’s Symphony Silicon Valley, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
Amado has been praised by the media, audiences, and fellow musicians for his deep musical insight and visceral energy. These qualities have allowed him to reinvigorate the Delaware Symphony. It has become a premier regional orchestra during his tenure. In 2010, the DSO released a critically acclaimed CD on the Telarc label, partnering with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet in concertos by Joaquin Rodrigo and Sérgio Assad. The recording debuted at number 11 on the Billboard charts and earned a Latin Grammy nomination. Its second commercial CD, The Book of Signs, featured double guitar concertos by Leo Brouwer and Paulo Bellinati with the Brasil Guitar Duo. It was released in April 2018 on the Naxos label and received a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Best Classical Album.
Amado began his musical training in piano, studying in The Juilliard School’s pre-college and college divisions before going on to Indiana University, where he received a master’s degree in instrumental conducting. Returning to New York, he pursued further conducting studies at Juilliard with Otto-Werner Mueller. His first professional conducting post, an apprenticeship with the Oregon Symphony, was followed by a six-year tenure with the St. Louis Symphony. During his time there, Amado served as music director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra as well as associate conductor from 2001 to 2004.10
