David Effron
Professor of Music (Orchestral Conducting); Chair, Orchestral Conducting
Contact Information:
deffron
[at]
indiana [dot] edu
(deffron@indiana.edu)
Music Addition, MA290
Department
Education
- M.M. in Piano, Indiana University, 1962
- B.M. in Piano, University of Michigan, 1960
Biography
A highly sought after guest conductor with a repertoire of all the standard symphonic works as well as 105 operas, Effron's 50 year career has included appearances with major symphony orchestras and opera companies in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico and the Far East. The summer of 2007 marked his eleventh and final season as artistic director and principal conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, during which time the Board of this organization established a Artistic Director/Conductor Chair in his honor. Effron was also honored with the title of Conductor Laureate. Over the course of his career, Effron has served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Central City Opera, the Merola program of the San Francisco opera, the Youngstown (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra and the Heidelberg (Germany) Castle Festival. His discography includes a Grammy award winning recording of Copland's Lincoln Portrait, Benita Valente in recital which won the German Critics Prize (Pantheon label) and the RCA recording of Corgliano's Pied Piper Fantasy (with James Galway) which won a top prize from Ovation Magazine.
After earning Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano at the University of Michigan and Indiana University respectively, Effron received a Fulbright grant for study in Germany and began his professional career as an assistant to General Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Cologne Opera. Returning to the United States, he joined the conducting staff of the New York City opera, a position he held for 18 years. In his early career as a pianist, he accompanied such artists as George London, Placido Domingo, and Sherrill Milnes in recital and collaborated with soprano Benita Valente as her accompanist for more than a decade.
As a prominent educator, Effron taught at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1970 to 1977. As the head of the orchestral program at the Eastman School of Music from 1977 to 1998, he trained hundreds of instrumentalists who are now in professional orchestras worldwide. His conducting students presently hold music director positions in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and South America. Since 1998, he has been active as professor of music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he holds the position of chief conductor of the orchestral program and chairman of the conducting department.