Press Room

Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser is an internationally acclaimed conductor, educator, and cultural leader recognized for transforming the concert experience through artistic excellence, audience engagement, and deep community connection. A passionate communicator, he is known for creating performances that are as meaningful as they are musically compelling, building lasting relationships between orchestras and the communities they serve.

He currently serves as Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education with the San Francisco Symphony, principal education conductor and community ambassador of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, principal youth conductor and community ambassador of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, artistic partner and community ambassador of Symphony Nova Scotia, and chef principale invitée of Montréal’s Ensemble Obiora. Previously, he held conducting positions with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and served as cover conductor with the Washington National Opera. 

Bartholomew-Poyser has been appointed music director of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, leading national tours featuring major orchestral repertoire alongside newly commissioned works. From 2022–2025, he served as music director of the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute in Washington, DC. Since 2022, he has conducted Carnegie Hall’s Link Up Orchestra and helped shape educational programs that reach more than 300,000 students worldwide.   

A sought-after guest conductor, Bartholomew-Poyser has appeared with many of North America’s leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony, Houston Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Victoria Symhpony, Regina Symphony, Windsor Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Laval, Kingston Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, and Modesto Symphony Orchestra. Internationally, he has guest conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra in the United Kingdom, leading concerts during the orchestra’s season as well as performances at the BBC Proms. He has guest conducted the Royal College of Music Philharmonic, and in summer 2026 he made his debut at the Grange Festival in the United Kingdom. 

Beyond the podium, Bartholomew-Poyser is host of the nationally broadcast CBC Radio program Centre Stage with Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser and was the subject of the award-winning CBC documentary Disruptor Conductor. The film highlights his groundbreaking work creating concerts for neurodiverse, incarcerated, African Diaspora, and LGBTQ2S+ communities, including Canada’s first orchestral drag show, Thorgy and the Thorchestra, featuring Thorgy Thor. 

Bartholomew-Poyser holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance and Education from the University of Calgary and a Master of Philosophy in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. He is a recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Jean-Marie Beaudet Prize for Orchestral Conducting and the RBC Royal Bank Emerging Artist Grant, and is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers.