Meet Brian DeMaris

Equally at home in opera, musical theatre, symphony, pops, and ballet, Brian DeMaris has worked with Anchorage Opera, Arizona Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Opera Columbus, El Paso Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, American Lyric Theatre, and American Opera Projects. He has served as Principal Conductor of Anchorage Opera, Music Director of Mill City Summer Opera, Associate Conductor of New York City Opera, Assistant Conductor of Florida Grand Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, and on the music staff of Opera Theater of Saint Louis. He has led concerts with the St. Cloud Symphony, Music St. Croix, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, Syracuse Symphoria and the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and has appeared at the United Nations, the Aspen Music Festival, New York's Le Poisson Rouge, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, and in recitals, competitions, and master classes throughout the United States and abroad. He is a three-time awardee of the American Prize in Opera and Musical Theater Conducting. He has served as Director of Opera and Musical Theatre at Ithaca College, Professor and Artistic Director of Music Theatre and Opera at Arizona State University, and was appointed President and General Director of Arizona Opera in 2025.

DeMaris has also taught at Aspen Music Festival, New England Conservatory School of Continuing Education, Lawrence University, George Mason University’s International Opera Alliance, the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, and “Meet the Artist” at Lincoln Center. He has served on numerous panels for Opera America and the National Opera Association and has presented master classes for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, New York State Music Teachers Association, New York State School Music Association, and the Arizona Music Educators Association. He has presented master classes at numerous universities and programs across the U.S., and his students have performed on Broadway, film and television, and at opera companies and festivals throughout the world. He also serves as the Arizona Governor of the National Opera Association and Director of the Arizona District Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

A frequent performer and advocate of contemporary music, he conducted the Middle Eastern premiere of Mark Adamo’sLittle Womenwith the Israel Chamber Orchestra at the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, as well as the world premiere of Stefan Weisman’sDarklingwith American Opera Projects at the Classical Stage Company with additional performances in Gniezno, Poland, at Frei Universität in Berlin, Germany, the New York City Opera VOX Festival and the United Nations. He also leads the world premiere recording ofDarkling, released on Albany Records in 2011. DeMaris was also involved with the professional American premiere of Richard Rodney Bennett’sMines of Sulphurat Glimmerglass Opera, as well as the world premieres of Peter Ash’sThe Golden Ticketand John Corigliano’s revised version ofThe Ghosts of Versaillesat Opera Theater of Saint Louis, for which he provided assistance with the preparation of the published piano-vocal score through G. Schirmer. He has worked with Beth Morrison Projects and American Lyric Theater in New York, through which he has done several workshops of new works, includingThe Golden Ticketat Jazz at Lincoln Center,Adam and Eveat Symphony Space, andWhy Is Eartha Kitt Trying To Kill Meat Le Poisson Rouge. He has produced developmental workshops of more than a dozen new works at Arizona State University with professional collaborators including American Lyric Theatre, Beth Morrison Projects, and The Phoenix Theatre Company. Mr. DeMaris is also a composer himself: his musical “The Portrait of Dorian Gray” received a developmental workshop at Ephrata Playhouse in the Park in 2003, and his art songs have been performed in recitals throughout the United States. His 2022 album "Gratitude" (available on iTunes and Spotify) features his complete songs for voice and piano.