Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser
Conductor
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A passionate communicator with an international career, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser is an innovative and creative visionary who brings clarity, meaning, and connection to the concert hall. Known for fostering deep relationships between audiences and performers, he believes in the power of music to heal, unite, and build community across differences. His work combines artistic excellence with a deep commitment to education, accessibility, and social engagement. Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser is concurrently the Principal Youth Conductor and Community Ambassador of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Principal Education Conductor and Community Ambassador of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Artist in Residence and Community Ambassador of Symphony Nova Scotia, Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education of the San Francisco Symphony, and is Chef Principale Invité of Montréal’s Ensemble Obiora. Daniel serves as the Music Director of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (NYO Canada) for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, leading the orchestra in a six-city summer concert series featuring a world premiere commissioned Canadian work alongside masterpieces by Prokofiev, Mozart, and Strauss.
Daniel has guest conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Carnegie Hall Link-Up Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Modesto Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Sacramento Philharmonic, the Windsor Symphony, the Kingston Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra and is the Music Director of the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute. He served as Assistant Conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and was Cover Conductor with the Washington National Opera. A champion of contemporary and community-focused programming, Daniel made his debut with Carnegie Hall’s Link Up Orchestra in 2022, conducting the world premiere of “Ram Tori Maya” by Reena Esmail alongside works by Nathalie Joachim.
Beyond the podium, Daniel is the host of the nationally broadcast Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio program Centre Stage with Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. He was also the subject of the award-winning CBC documentary Disruptor Conductor, directed by Sharon Lewis. The film follows Daniel’s groundbreaking community work, including concerts created for neurodiverse, prison, African Diaspora, and LGBTQ2S+ communities, as well as the creation of Canada’s first orchestral drag show, “Thorgy and the Thorchestra,” featuring Thorgy Thor.
Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance and Education from the University of Calgary and a Master of Philosophy in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. He is a recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Jean-Marie Beaudet Prize for Orchestral Conducting and the RBC Royal Bank Emerging Artist Grant, and is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers.
05/2026 - PLEASE DESTROY ALL PREVIOUSLY DATED MATERIALS.
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February 2, 2023: Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser Is Breaking Down Barriers …And Feeling Thorgeous!
- IN MagazineFebruary 22, 2022: Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser Conducts San Francisco Symphony’s Micheal Morgan Tribute
- San Francisco Classical VoiceSeptember 11, 2019: Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser Stars in ‘Disruptor Conductor’ Documentary
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CLASSICAL MUSIC HAS A DIVERSITY PROBLEM. WHAT DOES THE SOLUTION LOOK LIKE?
“Historically, composers of color have had a much harder time getting their music performed and workshopped,” says Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, chair of the EBCP selection committee and the San Francisco Symphony’s resident conductor of engagement and education. “[The] project is an attempt to address some of that, and to provide points of access to young people from a community that has often previously been denied access.”
– Iris Kwok, KQEDSAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY HONORS MICHAEL MORGAN’S MEMORY WITH PROGRAM HE PLANNED
“The third member of Thursday’s conductorial tag team was Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, who recently joined the Symphony’s staff as resident conductor of engagement and education. Together with mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson and the men of the Symphony Chorus led by Anthony Trecek-King, he brought an interior glow to Brahms’ “Alto Rhapsody” and a high degree of expressive directness to three spirituals (“My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord,” “Give Me Jesus” and “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”) in luminous arrangements by composer Jack Perla.”
– Joshua Kosman, DatebookTHE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ORCHESTRA WELCOMES DANIEL BARTHOLOMEW-POYSER AS PRINCIPAL YOUTH CONDUCTOR AND CREATIVE PARTNER
“Daniel is a wonderfully engaging, passionate and dedicated ambassador for all that is vibrant about symphonic music. He brings his great talent and experience to bear in conceiving and leading projects that use the orchestra and its stages to connect with listeners from all walks of life.”
– Newswire, La Scena MusicaleWITH A LITTLE HELP FROM A FAMOUS DRAG QUEEN, DANIEL BARTHOLOMEW-POYSER IS RE-IMAGINING THE SYMPHONY
“Bartholomew-Poyser works with orchestras across North America, conducting and creating shows and concerts that connect with “specific target audiences and diverse groups” that are usually not populations traditionally associated with the orchestral world. One fabulous example? His teaming up with Symphony Nova Scotia and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Thorgy Thor to create Thorgy and the Thorchestra, the first orchestral drag show in Canada. And its the journey they undertook together that’s at the heart of the new documentary Disruptor Conductor, which is airing on CBC this Thursday as part of CBC Doc POV.”
– Peter Knegt, CBC