About the Director - Daniel Myssyk

Conductor Daniel Myssyk is the founder and Music Director of the Ensemble instrumental Appassionata, a professional chamber orchestra that has attracted growing public attention and interest since its debut in July 2000.  The ensemble continually affirms the important artistic and social role it has assumed within the Montreal community.  Its innovative work with students, through the Artistes à l’école program, is proof of the group’s desire to share rich cultural experiences with a wide audience.  From 2002 to 2004, Daniel Myssyk was appointed Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de l’Isle, an advanced community orchestra.  In 2004, he also conducted the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Choir.  During the summer of 2005, he was invited to conduct at Kinhaven Music School (VT).  More recently, he premiered “The Birth of Something”, a chamber opera by Anthony Brandt for Da Camera of Houston.  In 2007, he performed at Round Top International Festival (TX) and was appointed Associate Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.  He is currently Director of Orchestral Activities at Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond).

Daniel Myssyk has earned critical acclaim from the general public, as well as from audiences of Radio-Canada’s cultural network, which have broadcasted several of his concerts since 2001.  He studied and then taught music theory at the Université de Montréal.  A First Prize Winner in bass at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, Mr. Myssyk has also written a musical for children featuring this instrument.

Daniel Myssyk, a John E. Guida Fellow, has received financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Orford Art Centre allowing him to study notably with David Zinman and Tomas Koutnik.  In 2006, Daniel Myssyk completed his Masters under the tutelage of Larry Rachleff at Rice University where he served as Assistant Conductor of the Shepherd Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and Music Director of the Campanile Orchestra.  Upcoming engagements include concerts in Ottawa with the Thirteen Strings and with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières.