Michael Morgan was born in Washington, D.C., where he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, studying with Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa. He first worked with Leonard Bernstein during that same summer.

His operatic debut was in 1982 at the Vienna State Opera, conducting Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio. In 1986, Sir Georg Solti chose him to become the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for seven years under both Solti and Daniel Barenboim. In 1986, he was invited by Leonard Bernstein to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic. As guest conductor, Morgan has appeared with most of America’s major orchestras, as well as the New York City Opera, St. Louis Opera Theater and Washington National Opera.

In addition to his duties with Oakland Symphony since 1991, Maestro Morgan serves as Artistic Director of Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music Director at Bear Valley Music Festival, and Music Director of Gateways Music Festival. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and is on the boards of Oaktown Jazz Workshops, and the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation.

In 2020, he began an association with the San Francisco Symphony as the first curator of their Currents online series and in February 2022 will perform his Covid-delayed subscription concerts.

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AMN Curator and self-proclaimed music wannabe David Landis is a San Francisco institution and the founder of SF’s marketing communications agency, Landis Communications Inc. (LCI). Mr. Landis studied piano at Northwestern University and has sung with both the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, including performances at Carnegie Hall. His first job included teaching piano to neighborhood children (at the ripe old age of 12). He was PR Director for the San Francisco Symphony for 7 years and helped open Davies Symphony Hall and helped launch the acclaimed “New and Unusual Music Series” with composer John Adams. Mr. Landis lives in San Francisco with his husband, Sean Dowdall.