Internationally recognized for his deep musicianship and passionate communication, Sameer Patel is one of America's most exciting conductors. Equally at home conducting world premieres and traditional classical works, Patel’s infectious enthusiasm for music is felt by musicians, audiences, and students alike.
In the 2022-23 Season, Sameer Patel makes debuts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony, as well as return appearances with the Florida Orchestra and La Jolla Symphony and Chorus.
Patel is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the San Diego Youth Symphony, a transformational organization that reaches more than 3,000 students in its community through its thirteen ensembles, El Sistema-inspired classroom programs, and early childhood music classes. He also served for six seasons as Associate Conductor of the Sun Valley Music Festival and recently concluded an acclaimed tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, where he reinvigorated the orchestra's programming and connection with its community.
Recent performances include Puccini’s Tosca with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, as well as concerts with the orchestras of Toronto, St. Louis, Detroit, New Jersey, Sarasota, Phoenix, Grand Rapids, Sacramento, Toledo, New Hampshire, Bozeman, Savannah, Fresno, Knoxville, Alabama, Naples, Reading, and Jacksonville. He has also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Abroad, Patel has conducted performances with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, and the Leipziger Sinfonieorchester.
With an unending enthusiasm for the music of our time, Patel has championed music by living composers such as Adam Schoenberg, Anna Clyne, Gabriela Lena Frank, Mason Bates, Ellen Reid, Hannah Lash, Tan Dun, and many others.
Patel’s impressive work has led to recognition from the Solti Foundation U.S., which granted him three consecutive Career Assistance Awards and an Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency with North Carolina Opera. In 2016, he was recognized by Daniele Gatti as a top conductor at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, which led to his acclaimed debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo. In 2013, Kurt Masur, the late Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, recognized Patel’s talents with a prize from the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation, which allowed him to study with and assist Maestro Masur in his appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. That same year, Patel was one of only six conductors selected by the League of American Orchestras for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, which led to subsequent, multiple engagements with that orchestra. In the early stages of his career he held conducting positions with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Patel studied at the University of Michigan and furthered his training across Europe with some of the greatest conductors of our time, including Gianandrea Noseda, Daniele Gatti, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, and the late conductors Kurt Masur and Bernard Haitink. Additionally, Patel has assisted and learned from leading conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Edo de Waart, Robert Spano, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Stéphane Denève, Jaap van Zweden, Thomas Wilkins, Larry Rachleff, and Mei-Ann Chen, among many others.
Proudly born and raised in Michigan, Patel makes his home in San Diego with his wife, Shannon, their five-year-old son, Devan, and their two-year-old daughter, Veda. In his spare time, Patel pursues his passions for literature, languages, jazz, traveling, history, and tennis.