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Artistic Director

A key component of Daniel Alfred Wachs’ (DAW) success as a music director and educator has been his strategic artistic vision. Once described as “one of Southern California’s most creative minds,” Wachs approaches artistic planning as a Gesamtkunstwerk—a total work of art— guiding each project from concept through implementation to final execution. His seasons and productions have consistently earned distinction and critical acclaim.

To date, DAW has rebranded and revitalized four orchestras, but it is his deep commitment to youth music education that stands out most. During his decade long tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra (OCYSO) and as Associate Professor, Director of Orchestral Activities & Director of the Undergraduate Instrumental Conducting Program, DAW led numerous landmark projects (See Below) that elevated the profile and impact of both OCYSO and The Chapman Orchestra.

Projects

WWI: A Centenary Perspective - Panel, Symposium & Concerts

WWI: A Centenary Perspective brought together major Southern California area institutions to explore the musical and artistic response to wartime and was presented by the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra. Through two collaborative concert performances with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra including a major orchestral performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the LA PHIL’s Sounds About Town series and a chamber ensemble performance as part of Sundays Live broadcast on KUSC Radio at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), along with a panel discussion presented by the Los Angeles Public Library in the Mark Taper Auditorium, the week-long commemoration explored sound and speech in reflection of the Great War.

The panel & symposium featured acclaimed poet, Professor of Poetry and Public Culture at the University of Southern California (USC) and former chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), Dana Gioia, WWI historian and Professor at Chapman University Dr. Jennifer Keene, and President and Artistic Director of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County John Mangum. Through literary and musical perspectives, the discussion focused differing artistic responses to war in general and to WWI specifically.

In partnership with Schirmer Publishing, the project centered around the OCYSO co-commission and U.S. Premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Passchendaeles” with the choice of repertoire reflecting on themes such as why war, how to commemorate war and how to defy war.

Charles Ives “The Unanswered Question”
Mark-Anthony Turnage “Passchendaele” [U.S. Premiere, OCYSO co-comission]
Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 4 “The Inextinguishable”

Interplay Festival

Chapman University’s 2016 INTERPLAY Festival, themed “American Visions, American Voices,” was a multidisciplinary celebration of music, culture, history, and performance created in partnership with the Pacific Symphony. Building on the Festival’s evolution from the Global Arts Festival, INTERPLAY 2016 explored how iconic American composers Charles Ives and George Gershwin helped define a distinctly American artistic voice through influences ranging from folk traditions and jazz to literature and visual art. Through concerts, lectures, master classes, dance performances, and community events held at venues including the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University, the Festival encouraged audiences to engage with the cultural and historical forces that shaped American creativity. A key artistic leader of the festival was Daniel Alfred Wachs, music director and conductor of The Chapman Orchestra, whose work helped unite student performers, faculty artists, and professional musicians in the largest cross-campus interdisciplinary collaboration to date that reflected the festival’s commitment to artistic excellence, education, and cross-disciplinary exploration. The Festival culminated with The Chapman Orchestra’s inaugural performance as the orchestra-in-residence at the newly opened Musco Center for the Arts.

Chapman University’s Global Arts Festival is an interdisciplinary celebration of music, visual art, film, history, and cultural dialogue that brings students, faculty, visiting artists, and the broader community together to explore global themes through the arts. Established through the Chapman Global Arts Program and developed in partnership with organizations such as the Pacific Symphony, the festival has featured immersive programs examining subjects ranging from Russian cultural history and Dmitri Shostakovich to broader explorations of American artistic identity. A central artistic figure in many of these initiatives has been Daniel Alfred Wachs, whose leadership as conductor and educator has helped shape the festival’s collaborative spirit, connecting orchestral performance with scholarship, cross-disciplinary learning, and international cultural engagement. Through concerts, lectures, exhibitions, master classes, and community events, the festival exemplifies Chapman University’s commitment to using the arts as a lens for global understanding and creative exchange.

Mozarteumorchester Salzburg

Sought out for his expertise, DAW is invited to guest-conduct the inaugural 2Orchestras Project at the Grosses Festspielhaus, featuring the combined Mozarteumorchester and Salzburger Landesjugendorchester, leading a world premiere by Toshio Hosokawa.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Suite from “The Nutcracker”
Leonard Bernstein Symphony Dances from “West Side Story”
Toshio Hosokawa “Dances Imaginaries II” for Two Large Orchestras [World Premiere]
Johann Strauss “Rosen aus dem Suden”

Dreh Punkt Kultur

Der Dirigent Daniel Alfred Wachs aus den USA agierte als inspirierender Sachwalter, der alle Beteiligten präzise durch die Partitur führte. (The conductor Daniel Alfred Wachs from the United States was an inspiring advocate, bringing out every detail of the score with precision.)

An Evening of Holocaust Remembrance

Working with Dr. Marilyn Harran, Director of the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education Stern Chair in Holocaust Education, Chapman University, DAW selected the music and the performers for this annual night of reflection, storytelling, and remembrance. In 2012, The Chapman Orchestra’s performance of Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” moved Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Distinguished Presidential Fellow, Chapman University, to tears.

The West: Music Inspired by the American Frontier

In 2008, The West: Music Inspired by the American Frontier, examined "the idea of the West" in American music, sketched by Dvorák and clinched by Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and Roy Harris. In a later stage, the idea migrated to the West Coast in the music of such Californians as Lou Harrison, whose "Four Strict Songs" were a revelation—as was the Bowed Piano Ensemble of Stephen Scott. The Festival's commissioned composers were Scott and Curt Cacioppo. For the first time, festival partners included the Chapman Chamber Orchestra and Chapman University which hosted a multi-media, side-by-side event with members of the Pacific Symphony.

Education Concerts: Original Concepts & Scripts

Since his first professional engagement with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra—where he was invited to reimagine and revitalize the orchestra’s education concerts—DAW has emerged as a respected authority in the field. At the heart of the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra (OCYSO) work is a clear mission: to introduce music into the lives of young people through access, performance, and deep musical engagement.

Nowhere is this more powerfully realized than in the orchestra’s acclaimed “Concerts for Fifth Graders” — a landmark educational series presented in partnership with the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. Hosted in the stunning Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, these concerts have reached more than one million students since their inception.

Branded as “kids playing for kids,” the program is designed to demystify orchestral music for elementary audiences. Under Maestro DAW’s leadership, the concerts have evolved into a season-long, continuous musical journey, and a vibrant, interdisciplinary experience, blending live orchestral performance with original scripts, narration, and even dance, in partnership with the Anaheim Ballet. The program helps students connect emotionally and intellectually with classical music — and often marks their first encounter with a professional concert hall.

Along with award-winning director Daniel Ellis, DAW co-authored the concert scripts which were only a part of season-long explorations — later adopted by ensembles such as the Monterey and Palm Beach Symphonies — incorporating 20th- and 21st-century works, engaging themes, and pedagogical structure to spark curiosity and imagination.

Read about Palm Beach sojourn with Stravinsky and Leno

Come. Hear. Chapman.

DAW developed and originated a flexible promotional framework that served both recruitment and publicity objectives across Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory departments and performing ensembles. Adopted across the Conservatory of Music, the initiative established a unified visual identity for ensemble performances over two academic seasons and was the framework for recruitment initiatives including media. In conjunction with the framework, DAW conceived and directed a new photography and design campaign, developing the creative vision, visual strategy, and production specifications that defined the campaign's distinctive look and feel.

Annual Holiday Wassail

Chapman University’s Holiday Wassail has grown from a cherished campus celebration into one of Orange County’s most beloved holiday traditions, evolving in scale and artistic ambition under the leadership of Artistic Directors Stephen Coker and Daniel Alfred Wachs. Together, Coker, who directs the university’s choral programs, and Wachs, who leads orchestral activities, have shaped Wassail into a collaborative showcase featuring the University Choir, University Singers, Treble (formerly Women’s) Choir, The Chapman Orchestra, and, in various years, the Chapman Percussion Ensemble. As audience demand steadily increased, the event outgrew its original home in the Wallace All Faiths Chapel of the Fish Interfaith Center, where banquet guests gathered before proceeding to performances in Memorial Hall. The popularity of the concert eventually necessitated a move to the Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts, whose 1,044-seat concert hall provided the capacity and production capabilities needed for the expanding audience. The concert’s reputation has extended well beyond the university through a series of televised PBS and KCET holiday specials, which have brought performances by Chapman’s choirs and orchestra to audiences throughout Southern California and, in some years, to public television viewers nationwide, further establishing Wassail as a regional cultural tradition. Under the artistic leadership of Coker and Wachs, these broadcasts have showcased the collaborative artistry of more than 150 student musicians while highlighting Chapman’s emergence as a significant center for the performing arts. Throughout this progression—from the intimate setting of Fish Interfaith Center, through the historic grandeur of Memorial Hall, and ultimately to the state-of-the-art Musco Center—Wassail has remained a signature expression of Chapman’s musical excellence, uniting its premier choral and orchestral ensembles in a festive celebration of the holiday season.