David Neal
David Neal received the Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and is a graduate of Cornell University. Before joining the Performing Arts faculty at SUNY Cortland in 2001, he held faculty positions at Morgan State University and the Peabody Preparatory School. He has also taught voice at Loyola College, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and Cornell University, and was conductor of the Johns Hopkins University Choral Society from 1994 until 2001. At Peabody, he conducted such shows as Strike up the Band, Babes in Arms, Cinderella, and The Boyfriend. Recent conducting engagements include Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C.
As a singer, Neal has appeared in leading roles with the Baltimore Opera, Annapolis Opera, the Lyric Opera Cleveland, Sorg Opera, Whitewater Opera, the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, the New England Lyric Operetta, Interact Theatre, and the Banff Festival, in roles ranging from the standard operatic repertoire and Gilbert and Sullivan, to 20th Century American opera and musical theatre, including a recent world premiere of John Krumich's folk opera, Yonder Mountain. He has appeared as soloist at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, and also with many regional music organizations. Upcoming performances include a lecture/recital on the American composer Ned Rorem's 1969 song cycle War Scenes (composed to texts by Walt Whitman) at the National Conference of Music of the Civil War Era in Shepherdstown, West Virginia in April. Return engagements include performances with the Sorg and Whitewater Operas, and a vocal recital in Los Angeles.
E-mail: neald@cortland.edu