Daisy Newman, the fourth Director for the Young Musicians Program, began her tenure on March 17, 2003.  Before assuming this position, Ms. Newman was Director of Education for Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) for eight years.  In that capacity, she designed and implemented a range of programs serving both inner city and suburban youth that included a school partnership program involving eight school districts; the DSO Summer Institute, an orchestral training program; Sinfonia, a training orchestra; the Jazz Youth Initiative, linking young musicians with legendary jazz masters; a partnership the Detroit School for the Performing Arts; and the Civic Jazz Orchestra, DSO’s first big band for middle and high school students.  In addition, she has administered DSO’s Civic Orchestra for youth, educational concerts for school children, a national fellowship program for young orchestra musicians, a residency that provided orchestral career training for graduate students and the Unisys African American Composers Program for visiting composers.  Prior to her Detroit tenure, Ms. Newman worked for the New York Philharmonic as assistant to the Director of Education and assistant to the Chief Financial Officer.

A highly regarded musician, Ms. Newman enjoyed an international career as a soprano soloist in opera, oratorio, and recitals, and worked closely with such noted musical figures as Leonard Bernstein, Robert Shaw, Erich Kunzel, James Conlon, Seiji Ozawa, Rudolph Serkin, Mitislav Rostropovich and Boris Goldovsky.  Ms. Newman’s production of Porgy and Bess was nominated for a Tony Award following a three-month run at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.   She sang the role of Bess in five different productions during her career.  However, her most performed role was Cio-Cio San in Madame Butterfly.  She also toured England, Germany and Russia with Leonard Bernstein as soprano soloist for his 70^th Birthday Tour, which was filmed by BBC.  Seiji Ozawa, conductor of the Boston Symphony awarded Ms. Newman “Most Outstanding Vocal Soloist” at Tanglewood Music Festival.  She also received keys to several American and European cities, including Bournemouth, England, given to her by the Lord Mayor honoring her outstanding vocal performances. Early in her professional career, she taught music in the public schools in Cleveland, Ohio.  Ms. Newman earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Cleveland State University, and received additional training at Oberlin Music Conservatory, Oglebay Opera Institute, Tanglewood Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival.

Ms. Newman brings a wealth of musical and administrative experience to her position at Berkeley.  When asked to state her primary goal for YMP, she responded, “I hope to transform each student’s enormous potential into stunning achievement.”