Music Director Laureate
In June 2023, after leading the Delaware Symphony Orchestra for 20 seasons, David Amado was named the first Music Director Laureate in the DSO’s 118-year history.
Amado began his musical training in piano, studying in The Juilliard School’s pre-college and college divisions before going on to Indiana University, where he received a master’s degree in instrumental conducting. Returning to New York, he pursued further conducting studies at Juilliard with Otto-Werner Mueller. His first professional conducting post, an apprenticeship with the Oregon Symphony, was followed by a six-year tenure with the St. Louis Symphony. During his time there, Amado served as music director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra as well as associate conductor from 2001 to 2004.
As a guest conductor, Amado has led numerous prominent orchestras. In addition to the St. Louis Symphony, where he was an associate conductor, he has led the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, and the Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, National, New World, and Toronto symphonies. Recent engagements have included the Mobile and New Bedford symphony orchestra, California’s Symphony Silicon Valley, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Amado has been praised by the media, audiences, and fellow musicians for his deep musical insight and visceral energy.
In July 2016, he began a music directorship at the Atlantic Classical Orchestra in Florida.
