Not included in the regular season.
Wayne Abravanel was chosen above 5 other guest conductors 2010- 2011 Concert Season as the Music Director and Maestro of the Coachella Valley Symphony.
He is a native New Yorker, trained at the Manhattan School of Music and Hofstra University, where he studied composition with Elie Siegmeister. Maestro Abravanel spent the next 25 years in the New York theatre community conducting or playing in eleven Broadway and five off Broadway musicals including “The Who’s Tommy”, “Sunset Boulevard” with Betty Buckley, the Lincoln Center production of “Hello Again” starring Donna Murphy, “Dream” with Margaret Whiting and “The Lion King”, among others. He also toured the U.S. in “Chicago”, “Cabaret” and “Jekyll and Hyde” starring Linda Eder. He has worked with Hal Linden, Leslie Uggams, Tony Sandler, Michelle Lee, Elaine Page, Jane Olivor, Mike Burstyn, Tovah Feldshuh, Marvin Hamlisch, Donna Theodore and Roslyn Kind and has conducted the Alabama Symphony, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show, and the European tours of “West Side Story" and "42nd Street.”
Mr. Abravanel started his desert career in 2003 conducting for Kaye Ballard and has been musical director for Musical Chairs and the Villa Theatre as well as pianist, arranger and sketch artist for The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies. In 2004, he orchestrated a new work that was premiered by the Indian Wells Symphony. At the Joslyn Theatre, he was the Musical Director for “Swinging On A Star”, “The Heat Is On”, “Stardust” and “Back To Bacharach” and has been the musical director for 6 shows at Sun City for the Performing Arts Club.
Four years ago, Mr. Abravanel began a new chapter by becoming a music teacher at Coachella Valley High School and earning a master’s degree in education at Chapman University.
He and his wife, Dayna, live in Indio and are currently collaborating on an original musical and several children’s books.
Coachella Valley Symphony is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
