Sameer Patel

Maestro Patel will be presenting a conducting clinic to GUHSD Music Teachers.

Internationally recognized for his deep musicianship and passionate communication, Sameer Patel is one of America’s most exciting young conductors.

Sameer is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the San Diego Youth Symphony, a transformational organization that reaches more than 3,000 students in its community through its thirteen ensembles, El Sistema-inspired classroom programs, and early childhood music classes. He also serves as Associate Conductor of the Sun Valley Music Festival and recently concluded an acclaimed tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, where he reinvigorated the orchestra’s programming and connection with its community.

In the 2021-2022 season, Sameer makes debuts with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and the Florida Orchestra, as well as return engagements with the Knoxville Symphony and La Jolla Symphony. Recent performances include Puccini’s Tosca with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, as well as concerts with the orchestras of Toronto, St. Louis, Detroit, New Jersey, Phoenix, Sacramento, Toledo, New Hampshire, Bozeman, Savannah, Fresno, Knoxville, Alabama, Naples, Reading, and Jacksonville. He has also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Abroad, Sameer has conducted performances with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, and the Leipziger Sinfonieorchester. With an unending enthusiasm for the music of our time, Sameer has championed music by living composers such as Adam Schoenberg, Anna Clyne, Mason Bates, Ellen Reid, Hannah Lash, Tan Dun, and many others. As the proud product of public school music education, Sameer dedicates time in his schedule each season to working with school and community ensembles, youth orchestras, youth music camps, and All-State orchestras around the country.

Sameer’s impressive work has led to recognition from the Solti Foundation U.S., which granted him three consecutive Career Assistance Awards and an Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency with North Carolina Opera. In 2016 he was recognized by Daniele Gatti as a top conductor at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, which led to his acclaimed debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo. In 2013, Kurt Masur, the late Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, recognized Sameer’s talents with a prize from the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation, which allowed him to study with and assist Maestro Masur in his appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. That same year, Sameer was one of only six conductors selected by the League of American Orchestras for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, which led to subsequent, multiple engagements with that orchestra. In the early stages of his career he held conducting positions with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Sameer studied at the University of Michigan and furthered his training across Europe with some of the greatest conductors of our time, including Gianandrea Noseda, Daniele Gatti, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, and the late conductors Kurt Masur and Bernard Haitink. Additionally, Sameer has assisted and learned from leading conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Edo de Waart, Robert Spano, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Stéphane Denève, Jaap van Zweden, Thomas Wilkins, Larry Rachleff, and Mei-Ann Chen, among many others.

Proudly born and raised in Michigan, Sameer makes his home in San Diego with his wife, Shannon, their four-year-old son, Devan, and their one-year-old daughter, Veda. In his spare time, Sameer pursues his passions for reading, languages, jazz, traveling, history, and tennis.