David Grandis

Background

David Grandis, Director of Orchestras at William and Mary, also serves as Music Director of the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, and as Music Director of the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra. Mr. Grandis’ guest conducting opportunities have included the Bordeaux National Symphony Orchestra, Toulouse’s Capitol National Orchestra, Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, Sofia New Symphony Orchestra, Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra, and Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra. Past positions as Assistant Conductor have also included: the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra in Maryland, the Capital City Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the Baltimore Opera Company and the National Philharmonic, where he served as Cover Conductor. In 2021, he was awarded a conducting prize at the International Conductors Workshop and Competition in Atlanta.

 

A specialist of the French repertoire, David Grandis has established long relationships with prominent composers and their descendants: he recently completed research on the symphonic works of Max d’Ollone, contributed to restore a lost score from Jean Françaix, and is currently developing several projects involving concerts and recordings of this repertoire for Naxos.

 

David Grandis has an equal interest in both symphonic and lyric literature. His doctoral thesis, A la recherche du chant perdu ©, analyzes the French style of opera singing and celebrates the era of the RTLN and its lyric company. It has been published in French and English. He has regularly served as Assistant Conductor at the Lyon National Opera in France and was invited by Albert Lance to conduct productions of Gounod’s Faust and Puccini’s Il Tabarro. Further lyric conducting engagements include several performances of Puccini’s La Bohème with the Long Island Opera Company.

 

A native of France, David Grandis completed his formal musical training in several conservatories and earned a B.M. in Musicology in France, a M.M. in conducting under Donald Schleicher at the University of Illinois in Champaign, a Graduate Performance Diploma under Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute, and a D.M.A. in conducting under James Smith at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has participated in several master classes with Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, Rossen Milanov, Misha Kats, John Farrer, Daniel Lewis, Donald Thulean, Philip Greenberg and Adrian Gnam.