Known for her elegant, crystal-clear technique and broad expressive range, Dana Sadava is a conductor of opera and symphonic works and a new music specialist. This season she enters her third year on the Faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and begins a new appointment as Artistic Director of Mill Valley Philharmonic. Recently, she led a series of education and outreach concerts with the San Diego Symphony and conducted several concerts with the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra (Aspirante). Maestro Sadava has been the Artistic Director of both Pasadena Opera and Community Women's Orchestra for five years. Recent guest conducting work includes Opera San Jose, Island City Opera, the University of California San Diego, LotusFlower new music project, Banff Opera as Theatre, Wexford Festival Opera, and the Napa Music Festival. For Pensacola Opera and Indianapolis Opera she was the Music Director for education tours as well as mainstage rehearsal pianist.
A proud alumna of Caltech, Dana earned a double degree in engineering and literature, winning an Amasa Bishop prize for study at Cambridge University, a research fellowship at JPL, and the Dean's Award for Leadership. Her piano teachers included Dorothy Hwang (The Colburn School), Gabriel Chodos (Aspen Music Festival) and Sanford Margolis (Oberlin Conservatory). Her passion for conducting eventually led her to the University of Michigan, where she studied with renowned pedagogue Kenneth Kiesler. While earning a Masters degree on a merit scholarship, she was featured in a masterclass with Michael Tilson Thomas and got to conduct their first Green Opera. She lives in San Rafael, CA.
A proud alumna of Caltech, Dana earned a double degree in engineering and literature, winning an Amasa Bishop prize for study at Cambridge University, a research fellowship at JPL, and the Dean's Award for Leadership. Her piano teachers included Dorothy Hwang (The Colburn School), Gabriel Chodos (Aspen Music Festival) and Sanford Margolis (Oberlin Conservatory). Her passion for conducting eventually led her to the University of Michigan, where she studied with renowned pedagogue Kenneth Kiesler. While earning a Masters degree on a merit scholarship, she was featured in a masterclass with Michael Tilson Thomas and got to conduct their first Green Opera. She lives in San Rafael, CA.