Conductor and composer Daniel Krenz is dedicated to advancing opera as a living art form through innovative programming, compelling performances, and the advocacy of contemporary music. He currently serves as Assistant Conductor of Nashville Opera, founding Music Director of the Blueprint Ensemble, Music Director of Belmont University Opera Theatre, and a contributing composer for the Nashville Composers Collective. Equally at home with established repertoire and new works, Krenz champions living composers while celebrating the enduring traditions of opera and classical music.
As a conductor, he has recently appeared with ensembles including the Nashville Bel Canto Foundation, the Shoals Symphony Orchestra, Opera Huntsville. Upcoming conducting engagements include the new opera Faith at the Kindling Arts Festival and leading Saint-Saëns Oratorio de Noël for Opera Huntsville. He previously served as Music Director of the Bay Colony Brass and served as the Assistant Conductor to the Boston Civic Symphony.
As the Music Director of the Blueprint Ensemble, he has cultivated an organization dedicated to making classical music accessible through imaginative programming and unconventional performance spaces. The group has presented concerts throughout Middle Tennessee in venues ranging from Michelin-starred restaurants and independent bookstores to community arts festivals. Alongside celebrating the chamber music canon, the ensemble places a special emphasis on commissioning, performing, and promoting the work of contemporary composers living in the region.
While in Boston, Daniel co-created Mahlermania! a festival dedicated to the life and work of Gustav Mahler. The festival culminated in a partial re-creation of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1913 Skandalkonzert where he led mezzo-soprano Rebecca Printz in Zemlinsky’s Maeterlinck Songs, Berg’s Altenberg Lieder, and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. In 2019 he made his operatic debut at the 23rd annual Opera Fringe Festival leading a run of performances of John Musto’s Later the Same Evening. Previously he served as the Assistant and Offstage Conductor for the joint Glimmerglass Festival and Boston University production of Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen.
On the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, he led the capstone concert of the Leonard Bernstein Festival for the Creative Arts in a concert including Bernstein’s Candide Overture and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. He was invited by the New England Conservatory to conduct an all-Mozart program featuring pianists Victor Cayres and Heeyeon Chi in Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 7 “Lodron” and No. 10 K. 365.
As a composer, he writes solo, chamber, vocal, and operatic works with a particular interest in contemporary storytelling through music. He is currently composing an opera based on Arthur Kopit’s Success, to be premiered in 2027. His works have been featured by the Nashville Composer’s Collective, including the song cycle Three Songs on Poems by Rose Ausländer and Euphonium studies.
A passionate advocate for music, Daniel's work extends beyond the concert stage. He is entering his sixth year as the Music Director of Belmont Opera Theatre. During his tenure the program has expanded the program’s repertoire and cultivated collaborations with distinguished guest artists including Dean Williamson and Kathryn Lewek. As a musicologist and writer his work on Act III of Alban Berg's Lulu, received Brandeis University's Sandy Shea Fisher Award in Artistic Achievement. He currently serves as a writer for Music City Review, Nashville's dedicated publication for classical music and arts criticism, where he champions performances, artists, and the evolving cultural landscape of Middle Tennessee. He has also taught music theory and aural skills at Boston University and previously served on the Board of Directors of Vocal Arts Nashville.
He has participated in leading conducting workshops including the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix International Music Festival, Pärnu Music Festival, and the Bard Conductor’s Institute where he worked with Bramwell Tovey, Cristian Macelaru, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Paavo Järvi, and Harold Farberman. He holds degrees from Middle Tennessee State University, Brandeis University, and Boston University.
His work reflects a belief that the future of opera lies in honoring its rich traditions while continually creating new works that speak to contemporary audiences.
updated July 2026