David Hayes

David Hayes is a conductor with a vast range of repertory, spanning the symphonic, oratorio/choral and operatic genres.

Mr. Hayes is currently the Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Music Director of the Mannes Orchestra, Director of Orchestral and Conducting Studies and Professor of Professional Practice at New School University’s Mannes School of Music in New York City, Music Director of The New York Choral Society and a Staff Conductor for The Curtis Institute of Music.

Mr. Hayes served on the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 2001-2011, making his Philadelphia Orchestra subscription debut in 2003 at the request of Wolfgang Sawallisch. He was Music Director of The Philadelphia Singers (a professional vocal ensemble) from 1992 until May 2015 and served as the Interim Director of Orchestral Studies at Temple University during the 2014-15 season. In addition, Mr. Hayes has also served as a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic as well as for Sir Andre Previn on the Curtis Symphony Orchestra’s 1999 European Tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

The 2024-2025 Season will see Mr. Hayes leading his inaugural season as Music Director with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, performances with the Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, a concert with the Canton Symphony Orchestra in Ohio and concerts with the New York Choral Society at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and NYU’s Skirball Center. In Summer of 2025, Mr. Hayes returns to Portugal for concerts with Serenades Choral and returns to the faculty of Chorus America’s Choral-Orchestral Conducting Academy at California State University, Fullerton.

The 2023-2024 Season saw Mr. Hayes leading performances with the Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The New York Choral Society at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, the Martha Graham Dance Company at New York’s City Center, and a series of concerts for Serenades Choral in Portugal.

Mr. Hayes and the Mannes Orchestra have made World Premiere recordings of Adolphus Hailstork’s Survive (Symphony No. 4), Jennifer Higdon’s The Light That We Can Hear with Valerie Coleman, Julius Eastman’s 2nd Symphony, and Alvin Singleton’s Across Differences. Mr. Hayes and the Mannes Orchestra will make the World Premiere recording of Adolphus Hailstork’s Ndemara in February 2025.

Mr. Hayes’s guest conducting engagements have included concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières, the Lancaster (PA) Symphony Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic, The Relâche Ensemble, the Rutgers Orchestra, The Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Indiana University Philharmonia Orchestra, Opera Memphis, the Curtis Opera Theatre, the European Center for Opera and Voice (ECOV) in Ghent, Belgium; the Opera Company of Philadelphia; the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh; The Los Angeles Master Chorale and a Kennedy Center debut with the Washington Chorus and Orchestra (which includes members of the National Symphony Orchestra).

Mr. Hayes holds degrees from the University of Hartford (BM in Musicology, cum laude) and The Curtis Institute of Music (Diploma in Orchestral Conducting) where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller. He also studied conducting with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine.