Neil Casey

Neil Casey is the Assistant Director of Orchestras at the University of South Carolina, as well as the Music Director of the South Carolina Philharmonic Youth Orchestras. At USC, he teaches conducting, violin, chamber music, and conducts Opera at USC and the USC Campus Orchestra, an ensemble that he created. Previously, Mr. Casey was the Assistant Conductor of the Augusta, GA Sym- phony, conductor of the Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra in Savannah, GA, and a faculty member at the Conductors’ Institute in Columbia and the Opera Master Classes in Charleston, SC as part of Piccolo Spoleto. An active guest conductor, Maestro Casey has appeared with the former Savannah Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Savannah Sinfonietta, South Carolina Philharmonic, Karelian Philharmonic Orchestra (Petrazovodsk, Russia), Charleston Symphony, and several national and international tours with the Hollywood Concert Orchestra. For the past few years, Neil has been the conductor for the Columbia Festival Orchestra’s Nutcracker Bal- lets, as well.

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Passionate for opera, Neil has appeared with the Augusta Opera and conducted Claflin University’s Celebration of Black Pioneers in the field of opera featuring renowned soprano, Leona Mitchell. In his post as conductor of Opera at USC, Maestro Casey has led performances of over 30 different produc- tions. In January of 2002, he was appointed to the position of Assistant Conductor of the American Music Theatre for a television production of Robert Ward’s Roman Fever.

Committed to education, this year marks Neil’s sixth season as Music Director/Conductor of the South Carolina Philharmonic Youth Orchestras. Neil earned both his B.M. in Music Education and Violin Performance, and his M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the University of South Carolina where he was the recipient of the 1997 Van Doren Award.