David Commanday

Director of Orchestral Activities and Instructor of Applied Cello at Eastern Illinois University, Professor Commanday is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Heartland Festival Orchestra, and an active guest conductor.He brings great depth of experience almost uniquely equal in both the professional and academic spheres to his post at EIU. His career combines international accomplishment as professional conductor, national prominence as a leader in the youth orchestra field, and distinction in the Academy of higher education. Among many awards received, the Illinois Council of Orchestras recognized Commanday as Illinois Professional Conductor of the Year.

Professor Commanday has a distinguished record of accomplishment in his work with young musicians.  As Music Director of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, he received two ASCAP Awards for innovative programming of American music and for works he commissioned and premiered.  The most noteworthy of these was the world premiere of the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, composed by Ivan Tcherepnin and premiered with soloists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Chang.  Commanday, Ma, and Chang had all been students of Dr. Tcherepnin at Harvard, and the piece was commissioned by Commanday and written for Ma, Chang, and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. The work and its premiere performance by BYSO under Commanday’s direction, received the prestigious Grawemeyer Award as the best new work of the year.

Recognized for his leadership with young musicians, Commanday has conducted multiple All-State orchestras around the U.S., and was invited to Singapore four consecutive years to consult, adjudicate, and conduct for the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.

Maestro Commanday came to Central Illinois to lead the Peoria Symphony Orchestra as Music Director through a decade of success and growth. He has brought illustrious soloists to that community; among them Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Josh Bell, Jason Vieaux, Evelyn Glennie, Andre Watts, and Time for Three. His earlier posts included Associate Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Boston Ballet, Music Director of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and Assistant Conductor of the San Diego Symphony. He served as Interim Music Director of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra for the 2023-24 season.

As founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the HFO, he has led the innovative orchestra through fifteen seasons of success, featuring wide-ranging programming, stellar guest artists, and multi-media presentations featuring dance, vocal arts, photochoreography, film, and video games.

Professor Commanday is a cum laude graduate of Harvard College, and was awarded highest honors in his State Diploma of Orchestral Conducting at the University of Vienna. He has taught and conducted at Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Montclair University, Eureka College, and Bradley University, and was tenured Associate Professor on the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University.

As a cellist, Commanday often plays in chamber music performances with visiting artists - including among others Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, Matt Haimovitz, Adam Neiman, Rachel Barton Pine, Jason Vieaux, and Michael Stephen Brown. At Eastern Illinois University he is the cellist of the Eastern Piano Trio with colleagues Shihchao Zhang and Ji Myung Kim.