Dr. Zachary Daniels is a Hispanic-American conductor and composer driven by an artistic mission to bring passionate, informed performances to audiences and connect with concert goers on an educational, artistic, and cultural-relevancy level. Thorough in-depth score study, understanding the source material, and drafting a creative interpretation of the score lay the foundations of Daniels' highly charismatic, podium presence. Dr. Daniels has brought excitement to the concert halls, instilled a deep love of the underlying music in his ensembles, and inspired audiences to think about music differently.

As part of his multi-faceted career, Dr. Daniels has appeared at College Music Society conferences as a performer, composer, and adjudicator, participated in Music Theory Roundtables, presented pieces at the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and several state Music Educators' Conferences. Recent conducting appointments include Interim Conductor for the Oklahoma Community Orchestra, Music Director for Winds of the Prairie Concert Band, Music Director at Trinity UMC Purcell, and founding the Heartland Orchestra as Music Director. Previous conducting and director positions include Assistant Conductor for the Irv Wagner Big Band, Director of the University of Oklahoma New Music Improv! Ensemble, Assistant Director for the OU New Music Ensemble, appearances with the Drury University Chamber Orchestra and Wind Symphony, a wide variety of chamber music ensembles, and going back as far as directing the Glendale High School orchestras throughout his high school years for a variety of works including several of his own world premieres and working with guest artists.

Zachary is passionate about bringing new music to audiences, and bringing old music under a new spotlight to audiences with the hope of giving them something new to take away from the piece. He has given world premieres by composers including Dr. Edward Knight, Nikki Krumwiede, Celka Ojakangas, Kyle Dillingham, Dr. Kyle Vanderburg, and a great number of student composers some of which he has commissioned in the past. Dr. Daniels has also worked with artists such as Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher, Kyle Dillingham, Lucas Ross, Dr. Irvin Wagner, and Dr. David Hayes in concert in addition to several Young Artists as soloists in a wide-ranging set of repertoire ranging from Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, to Grazyna Bacewitz's Piano Concerto, and Ed Knight's The Flickering Fiddle. Dr. Daniels studied conducting with Andy Johnston in Springfield Missouri, and Dr. Christopher Koch at Drury University. He earned a BA in Music Composition and Double Bass performance from Drury University in 2014 before attending graduate school at the University of Oklahoma where he earned his MM and DMA ('16/'19) in Composition while also assisting in direction of the New Century Ensemble, directing the New Century improv Ensemble, and directing various chamber groups while also managing the composition studio under the supervision of Dr. Marvin Lamb and Dr. Konstantinos Karathanasis.