David Commanday has become known for dynamic performances, innovative programming, and an appealing connection with audience and community. He is the founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the innovative Heartland Festival Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras around the world, including the National Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, American Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Belgian Radio Orchestra, Vienna Pro Arte Orchestra, and the Seattle, Atlanta, and Richmond Symphonies. Music Director of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for ten seasons, he is credited for bringing the PSO to "a high-point in its 103-year history".

Commanday’s musical training started with piano lessons at the age of six, and he took up the cello at nine. In youth he excelled in both academics and music, and graduated cum laude at Harvard University in psychology, music and languages. Playing cello at Tanglewood under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, and Aaron Copland led him toward conducting. At the Vienna Hochschule für Musik Commanday earned the Austrian Staatsdiplom with highest honors in orchestral conducting. His early posts included; Music Director, Boston Ballet, Assistant Conductor, San Diego Symphony, and Music Director of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO).

Commanday brought BYSO to the forefront, earning three ASCAP awards for programming and unprecedented critical acclaim for concerts and CD recordings. Commanday commissioned and led the BYSO world premiere of the Double Concerto by Ivan Tcherepnin, with soloists Lynn Chang and Yo-Yo Ma. The performance earned the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for the work.

He served as Associate Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, conducting Masterworks, Pops, Student and Family Concerts throughout the Garden State. Commanday helped to inaugurate the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, conducting the first orchestral rehearsal there and appearing in its Gala Opening with Kathleen Battle and American Ballet Theater.

Now Artistic Director of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Commanday continues a life-long commitment to training young musicians. He has held faculty positions and conducted at Harvard University, Boston University, MIT, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Montclair State University. He is active as teaching and conducting clinician, conducting All-State and regional student orchestras around the country.

David Commanday continues to play and perform as cellist, appearing with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. His recent guest-conducting schedule included the South Carolina Philharmonic, Flagstaff Symphony, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Joffrey Ballet, and Ballet West.

Soyeon Lee has been hailed by the New York Times as a pianist with “a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style,” and she has been lauded by The Washington Post for her “stunning command of the keyboard.” Lee has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, the London Symphony, and the Louisiana Philharmonic as well as the symphony orchestras of Columbus, Napa Valley, San Diego, Scottsdale, and Shreveport.

In addition to her many performances in the United States as a recitalist, she participated in a thirteen-city tour of Spain. Lee was featured on the January 2006 cover of Symphony magazine’s annual “Emerging Artists” issue and in the 2008 edition of Musical America’s “More Thrills of Discovery.”