Daniel Baldwin
Daniel Baldwin recently retired after 28 years as Director of Orchestral Activities at Luther College (Decorah, IA). Baldwin earned the Bachelor of Music from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina and Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from University of Texas at Austin and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his tenure at Luther, Dr. Baldwin serves as Director of Orchestras at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA.
He received his formal training in string pedagogy as a teacher in the University of Texas String Project, perhaps the most comprehensive program of its kind in North America. Phyllis Young, director of the String Project for 35 years, was Baldwin’s cello teacher during his studies at the University of Texas. He studied conducting with Henry Charles Smith, Cornelius Eberhardt, Sung Kwak, Walter Ducloux, and Fiora Contino.
Daniel Baldwin has served as music director of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra and the Transylvania Youth Orchestra of the Brevard (North Carolina) Music Center, the largest summer music festival in the South. A 1991 conducting fellow of the Conductor’s Institute of the University of South Carolina and formerly a cellist with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Dr. Baldwin maintains an active schedule as a clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor. Since 2007 he has served as musical and artistic director for the Lake Chelan Bach Fest in North Central Washington state.
Frequently Daniel Baldwin traveled to Europe with the Luther College Symphony Orchestra, enjoying month-long January residencies in Vienna, Austria, and performing in such venues as the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and the Vienna Konzerthaus. The ensemble returned to Vienna in 2019 and performed at the Musikverein. The Luther College Symphony Orchestra also tours annually in the USA. During his tenure, Baldwin and the Luther College Symphony Orchestra completed sixteen American tours, performing in at least 20 states.