By Kevin Greer
Lakeside Communications Manager
Daniel Meyer fondly remembers his first visit to Lakeside. He performed in Hoover Auditorium as a member of The Singing Angels, a premier youth chorus based out of Cleveland.
“I have memories of how beautiful the grounds were,” Meyer said. “When you’re a kid and you step into Hoover Auditorium, that makes a big impact. I’ll never forget that impression.”
Meyer now gets to perform on that stage more often as Music Director & Conductor of the popular Lakeside Symphony Orchestra (LSO), a role he took over in 2019. He doesn’t have a show that stands out because he says all are special to him, but some of his favorite moments aren’t during the concerts.
“I’m turning over to look at the first violinist and throw a queue,” Meyer said. “Then I see a family and their kids popping their heads inside a side door just to watch the rehearsal. That makes me so happy. That’s a quintessential Lakeside moment, where you might be out on a bike ride, or you’re heading to an art class or a lecture, and you just take a moment to stop and listen and say, ‘Hey, what is that really beautiful music coming from Hoover?’”
Meyer was raised in the Cleveland area and currently lives in Pittsburgh. In addition to Lakeside, he has a position with the BlueWater Chamber Orchestra in Cleveland. He is also the Music Director of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Philharmonic and the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He conducted the Rochester Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as guest engagements with the Indianapolis, Columbus, Phoenix, Toledo and Knoxville Symphonies.
Working with other symphonies provides Meyer with the opportunity to perform alongside many talented guest musicians and vocalists. He develops good working relationships and then asks them to come to Lakeside.
“I’m very keen to bring some of the artists I worked with to Lakeside,” Meyer said. “If you look at my activity, you’ll definitely see some common themes or some common artists, and those tend to be ones that I’m really excited about.”
Meyer is in Lakeside before the LSO residency begins so he can plan the concerts. He says rehearsal time depends on the show. If it’s a pop concert, it may only require one three-hour rehearsal on the day of the concert. They typically do three two-and-a-half-hour rehearsals for a symphonic concert.
“There’s so much planning and only so many rehearsals,” Meyer said. “The concerts come one after the other, so while I’m rehearsing one concert, I’m studying for the next one and the one after that. That’s also our time to meet with the musicians and plan for the coming year.”
LSO will perform five concerts between July 26-Aug. 8 in Hoover Auditorium. The first show is a concert with The Music of Billy Joel, including vocalist Jean Meilleur and pianist John Regan from Jeans ’n Classics at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 26. Jeans ’n Classics, based out of London, Ontario, is a group of rock musicians who perform symphonic rock shows with orchestras.
“You get the full body sound of an orchestra in coordination and collaboration with rock instruments,” Meyer said. “It’s not designed to be a complete remake of Billy Joel, but they do a great job of capturing the essence of the songs and talking about the history behind the songs.”
LSO will perform a Family Concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 30. Prior to the show, there will be an Instrument Discovery in the Hoover Auditorium Lobby at 5:30 p.m. Try out a variety of instruments with guidance from friendly musicians. Among the works is Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” which showcases the individual members of each orchestral family and how the LSO interacts as a full group. It has a narrator that guides everybody through the piece, so that you understand what you’re about to hear.
The special guest soloist is Ran Dank, piano. He’s going to be playing the Robert Schumann concerto, and he’s agreed to help unpack that piece.
“Ran Dank is a sensational pianist,” Meyer said. “He’ll talk and guide us through his performance as well between the movements. It’s unusual for a concert soloist to talk in between the movements of his own piece, but he’s willing to do that for us.”
Janice Carissa is another talented pianist who will join the LSO on Friday, Aug. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The program will feature Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2. and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Carissa had a strong interest in performing this Beethoven piece with Meyer in Lakeside.
“Janice is a rising star in the classical music scene,” Meyer said. “I was very happy to oblige doing Beethoven’s work with her. Borodin’s piece is a big, beautiful, romantic and colorful symphony that isn’t played all that often. It’s certainly deserving of an opportunity because it really shows off the subtle instruments of the orchestra.”
Meyer looks forward to Chelsea Guo’s first Lakeside appearance on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 7:30 p.m. They haven’t collaborated on stage before and Guo is a rare talent. She’s going to be singing a work from Sergei Rachmaninoff, which is a soprano without words. In other words, she’ll sing on “oohs” and “aahs.” After the intermission, she’ll play Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, which Meyer says is one of the biggest and most loved piano concertos in the repertoire.
“Guo has been on my radar,” Meyer said. “I never worked with an artist who does something on one half, switches, and then comes back on the second half and does completely different. Normally, it takes a lifetime of hours of practice every day to master one thing. It’s extraordinary that she’s going to be doing both.”
The final LSO concert of the 2025 season is Friday, Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. with Tessa Lark, violin. She is as adept as a bluegrass player as she is a concert violinist. Lark invited composer Michael Torke to write a concerto for her that incorporated elements of bluegrass styling into a concert work for violin and orchestra. As Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic, Meyer was part of the co-commissioning orchestras for this concerto.
“I was one of the first to get to get to perform it with her,” Meyer said. “It’s just such a fun, brilliant, energetic and evocative work that is very much bluegrass influence but also has one foot in the classical world as well.”
While Meyer is eager to get on stage for concerts and rehearsals, he enjoys finding time to take in what Lakeside has to offer. It also gives him an opportunity to hit the pause button and slow down. He’s honored to be a part of something that so many Lakesiders plan their vacations around.
“The comfort in exploring at your own pace is what makes Lakeside so special,” Meyer said. “You’re not under the duress of squeezing things in between a hectic and busy schedule. You can ignore things going around you and just take a walk, get on a boat or sit on the pier and watch the world go by. You can also fill up every second of your day with activity. You can choose your own adventure. I’d love our concerts to be a little microcosm of what I think makes Lakeside such a special place.”
