LSO with Chelsea Guo, Soprano, and Piano

Under the direction of Music Director & Conductor Daniel Meyer, the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra (LSO) will perform with special guest soloist, Chelsea Guo, soprano and piano, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5 in Hoover Auditorium. The program will feature works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Grieg.

CHELSEA GUO, SOPRANO AND PIANO

First Prize Winner of the 2022 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Chelsea Guo is one of the rare talents equally formidable as both a vocalist and a pianist. Her dual artistry is featured in her 2021 debut recording on the Orchid Classics label, “Chelsea Guo: Chopin in My Voice.”

Guo has appeared as soloist with the Moritzburg Festival, New Jersey Symphony at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra and Oregon Mozart Players. She won top prize in the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition. Recital appearances have included the Krannert Center, Cremona Musica and Fazioli Piano festivals in Cremona, Italy, and WQXR’s (Newark, New Jersey) Young Artist Showcase.

In 24-25 Chelsea will make recital debuts in NYC at Merkin Hall and Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center and orchestral appearances with the Florida Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony. She will offer a collaborative recital with the Ames Town & Gown Association alongside YCA singers Erin Wagner and Joseph Parrish. Chelsea will also partner with Parrish for collaborations on the Harriman-Jewell Series and Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series. Other recital appearances include the Florida Keys Concert Association, Ohio University, Baruch PAC, and Ithaca College.

Chelsea graduated from The Juilliard School’s Pre-College as a double major in piano and classical voice, studying with Hung-Kuan Chen, Tema Blackstone, and Lorraine Nubar. She holds a BM in piano from Juilliard where she was a student of Hung-Kuan Chen. She continues vocal studies with Jason Ferrante. She has been mentored by renowned soprano, Barbara Bonney, over the past five years.

DANIEL MEYER, MUSICAL DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR

Daniel Meyer was named Music Director & Conductor of the LSO in 2019.

As Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic and Artistic Director of the Westmoreland Symphony and Cleveland’s BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, Meyer has reinvigorated orchestras with his innovative programs, engaging presence and keen musical intellect.

In addition to collaborating with world-renowned soloists such as Marc-André Hamelin, Sharon Isbin, Gil Shaham, Jeremy Denk, Daniil Trifonov, Midori and Emanuel Ax, Meyer has commissioned new works by Michael Torke, Vivian Fung, Richard Danielpour and Zhou Tian.

Meyer recorded the music of Hanson, Diamond and Daugherty for the Bavarian Radio with the Bamberger Symphoniker, and his recent guest appearances include the Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Württembergische Philharmonie, Staatsorchester Darmstadt and the Nuremberg Symphony in Germany.

In his role as Director of Orchestral Activities at Duquesne University, Meyer embarked on a recording project of the concertos of American composer Lynn Purse.

In recent seasons he conducted the Rochester Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as guest engagements with the Indianapolis, Columbus, Phoenix, Eugene, Alabama, Toledo and Knoxville Symphonies.

His critically acclaimed European debut took place with the Staatstheater Stuttgart Orchestra and violinist Thomas Zehetmaier, and he returned to Germany soon after for concerts with the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen and to Austria with the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna and the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra.

Meyer’s summer festival appearances have included the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, the Aspen and Grand Teton Music Festivals, the Chautauqua Festival and the Brevard Music Center.

Upon the invitation of Mariss Jansons, Meyer was named Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, where he served until 2009.

A native of Cleveland, Meyer studied conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and is a graduate of Denison University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

He composed and conducted works for ensembles at both schools, including a Stabat Mater for soprano, chorus and orchestra.

At Boston University, Meyer received the Orchestral Conducting Honors Award and was awarded the prestigious Aspen Conducting Prize from David Zinman. He received an honorary doctorate from Edinboro University in 2016.