“Danielle Jagelski is a prime example of socially responsive artistry in the 21st century.” - I Care If You Listen (2023)

Featured Interview:

5 Questions with Danielle Jagelski

Danielle Jagelski is a conductor, composer, and creative producer. At home in both theatrical and orchestral realms, she is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Renegade Opera, Lead Producer for First Nations Performing Arts, Associate Conductor of PROTESTRA, and Conducting Faculty at Manhattan School of Music Precollege.

Her performances have been described:

“At once timeless and of its time, it expands your heart and mind with every note, telling a story of grief and love that is as honest as it is hopeful.” (Oregon ArtsWatch, 2021)

Upcoming engagements include Scalia/Ginsberg at Opera Ithaca, Tlingit Opera at Perseverance Theatre, and Guest Conductor at Manhattan School of Music Symphony.

Recent conducting engagements include Adam’s Run at Renegade Opera, Missing by Brian Current at Anchorage Opera, Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly at Temple University Opera Theater, National Music & Global Culture Society gala concert at Lincoln Center, Garden of Alice by Elizabeth Raum with City Lyric Opera (NYC), served as assistant conductor for Le nozze di Figaro at the Estates Theater (Prague, CZ), and conducted and arranged Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Portland, OR)

Past engagements include working with ensembles such as the Opera Theater Saint Louis, Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Rhymes with Opera, Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, Norwalk Youth Symphony, and Opera Ithaca.

As an enrolled member and citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and Redcliff Band of Ojibwe, Danielle often collaborates with other Native artists in multidisciplinary creative projects in order to sustain and further the visibility of Indigenous peoples in the fine arts realm. She is a lead producer for First Nations Performing Arts, and is a fierce advocate for equity in musical spaces, and has presented her research in mixed-race studies and classical music throughout the US and Canada.

As a composer, she is an avid writer of song, opera, choral, music for theatre, and narrative stories of all kinds. Her most recent premieres have been by New Native Theatre, MUSE Cincinnati Women’s Choir, Hear Us Hear Them Ensemble, and American Patriots Project. She is currently working on a new work commissioned by Voice of Ascension | Voices of the New to be premiered in April 2024.

Danielle began her musical studies in classical composition at Hamline University with Jannika Vandervelde, conducting studies at Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jos Vermunt, with further studies at Manhattan School of Music. Her mentors also include Timothy Long, George Manahan, and Reiko Fueting.

Danielle is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Girls Who Conduct, and has been the recipient of grants from The Plimpton Foundation (2022), Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2020), and Native Arts and Cultures (2020), as well as earning a distinction award from the National Opera Association (2023).