Chapman University music professor opens 2013 with Walt Disney Concert Hall debut


Daniel Alfred Wachs, pictured here conducting Chapman's annual Sholund Concert, made a debut appearance in Disney Hall as a concert pianist.

Daniel Alfred Wachs, pictured here conducting Chapman’s annual Sholund Concert, made his debut appearance in Walt Disney Concert Hall as a concert pianist.


Maestro Daniel Alfred Wachs, Chapman University’s music director and conductor of orchestras and director of instrumental music studies, began the New Year with a splash, making his Walt Disney Concert Hall concert debut as a pianist. Wachs performed on Jan. 29 as part of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Series
, playing Robert Schumann’s
Marchenbilder
with the philharmonic’s principal violist, Carrie Dennis.

And it was just the beginning of a busy 2013. On Feb. 4 and 5, Wachs made his third guest-conducting appearance with the Monterey Symphony, presenting his original production of Stravinsky’s
Pulcinella
.

Wachs will also present the pre-concert lecture for the
BBC Concert Orchestra
, conducted by Keith Lockhart and presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, at 7 p.m. on Feb. 12 at the Renee and Henry Segestrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Earlier that day at the Segerstrom, Wachs, who is also conductor of the Orange County Youth Symphony, will conduct the symphony as it begins its acclaimed “Concerts for Fifth-Graders” series. Fifth-grade classes from all over the county come to the Segerstrom Concert Hall to hear these presentations of classical music along with fun and illuminating theatrical dance and narration.

Then he’ll conduct the Chapman University Chamber Orchestra in its fourth annual concert at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange on March 8, and a concert at University Synagogue on March 22.

In April, Wachs will make his conducting debut with Oakland’s East Bay Symphony. Then he’ll conduct the season-closing big event at Chapman, the
Sholund Scholarship Concert
, this year featuring Mozart’s Requiem, on May 11.

Dawn Bonker

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