Sameer Patel

Internationally recognized for his versatile musicianship and passionate communication, Sameer Patel is one of America's most exciting young conductors. A recipient of 2016 and 2017 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards, Mr. Patel is the Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony.

This summer, in addition to several performances with the San Diego Symphony on their Bayside Summer Nights concert series, Mr. Patel leads a state tour with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and also joins the Sun Valley Summer Symphony (whose distinguished musicians come from many of America's finest orchestras) as Associate Conductor.

In the 2017-18 season, Mr. Patel makes his highly anticipated subscription debut conducting two programs with the San Diego Symphony. He also leads operatic masterworks with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and he conducts modern masterpieces of the 20th and 21st centuries with the La Jolla Symphony. Mr. Patel’s work as a conductor has taken him across North America, South America and Europe. Further recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, Pacific Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Fresno Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Reading Symphony Orchestra, Leipziger Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta.

In the summer of 2016 Mr. Patel was selected out of a field of more than 120 conductors to study at the renowned Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, with Daniele Gatti, Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Immediately following his participation in the masterclass, Mr. Patel was selected by Maestro Gatti for further concerts in Europe, and he immediately returned to Italy to lead two acclaimed programs with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo. He was also a Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholar, an honor given to him by former New York Philharmonic Music Director Kurt Masur. As part of this award, Mr. Patel traveled to Europe to study with and assist Maestro Masur with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2013 Mr. 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, an event that showcases emerging conductors to industry professionals and which led to subsequent, multiple engagements with that orchestra.

Prior to joining the San Diego Symphony in the summer of 2015, Sameer Patel served as Associate Conductor of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He has also held prestigious conducting fellowships with the Boston Philharmonic and the Chicago Sinfonietta, and credits his time with these organizations for developing his passionate approach to engaging with musicians and audiences. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mr. Patel furthered his training with some of the greatest conductors of our time, including Gianandrea Noseda, Daniele Gatti, the late Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, David Zinman and Neeme and Paavo Järvi.