Known for adventurous musicality and a captivating stage presence, Filipino-American conductor IAN PASSMORE enjoys a rich career as an orchestral leader and pedagogue. Hailed as “a rising young conductor” by Fanfare magazine, his unapologetically Romantic performances of the standard repertoire harken back to a bygone generation of conductors.

Following his October, 2025 return guest engagement with the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, Ian was immediately appointed Artistic Director of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association and Music Director-Designate of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra. He assumes the Music Directorship in July, 2026.

During the current season, Ian returns to conduct a pair of programs with Tennessee’s Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, and holds for a second year the position of Interim Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Camerata. He also conducts a holiday performance of “Cirque de Noël” with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, leads a program with Montana’s Great Falls Symphony and conducts performances of the wildly popular “Stardew Valley Symphony of Seasons” show in eight major U.S. cities.

Following two seasons as the Omaha Symphony’s Assistant Conductor, in 2019 the orchestra named Mr. Passmore its Associate Conductor – a position never before created in its 100-year history. Ian has also led programs with the Buffalo and Louisiana philharmonics, the symphony orchestras of Anderson, Charlotte, Delaware, Greensboro, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Lincoln, North Carolina, Oak Ridge, Salisbury and Winston-Salem, the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and Vietnam’s Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra. During the 2024-25 season, he held an appointment as Interim Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony’s Youth Orchestra and Youth Camerata, a position that has been renewed for the 2025-26 season. He also led the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s 2025 holiday performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, with Charlotte Ballet.

Ian holds three academic degrees: a Doctor of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Delaware; a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Additional conducting studies were completed at UNC Chapel Hill. His principal conducting mentors were James Allen Anderson, David Effron, Arthur Fagen, Tonu Kalam and the late Robert Gutter. He is a member of the honors music society Pi Kappa Lambda.

Having embarked on his own conducting studies at a very early age, Ian’s career also prioritizes conducting pedagogy and music education. His educational contributions include frequent appearances as a guest conductor and adjudicator for student ensembles, as well as numerous speaking engagements. Recent conference presentations include the International Conductors Guild, South Dakota Bandmasters Association and Nebraska Music Educators Association. Prior to his Omaha appointment, he served as Associate Instructor of Orchestral Conducting at Indiana University, where he taught conducting, led the IU Conductors’ and All-Campus Orchestras, and guest conducted the IU Chamber, Concert, Symphony and Philharmonic orchestras. Ian’s private conducting students have been accepted to several distinguished conservatories and summer programs, among them Indiana University, Conservatoire de musique de Lyon, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Aspen Music Festival & School.

Ian and his wife, Dianna Fiore, reside in North Carolina, in a home ruled over by a quartet of dogs - Beethoven, Charlie, Belle and Heidi. When not on the podium, Ian can be found enjoying local restaurants and craft beers, cooking, traveling, road biking and CrossFit. He is the creator of the social media series “Symphonic Shorts,” which seeks to remove the walls of formality that often surround classical music, making it more accessible to everyone.

Ian Passmore is represented by Parker Artists of New York and is a performing artist for Work of Art Custom Batons. Learn more at dogdadmaestro.com.

The Atterberg Sixth [Symphony] had good champions. In more recent times Ari Rasilainen recorded a complete Atterberg cycle for CPO. Ian Passmore is a rising young conductor, and his Indiana University Symphony Orchestra is fully professional and beautifully engaged. It counts for a lot when a happy combination of microphones meets players this determined to create beauty. The bass is room-caressing, high strings satiny, and the performance aglow. That’s what stopped me dead in my tracks to write this review straight from YouTube. Passmore doesn’t press forward with unneeded aggression. This music simply unfolds. Have a listen.

FANFARE

Maestro Passmore titled his program, ‘Family Meeting: A Musical Time Machine.’ His selections did just that – march through time. The march through time, with works by Gabrieli, Max Reger and Elgar, was a clever way to demonstrated the progressions of musical forms with time, at the same time showing off Passmore’s capability to handle these transitions with ease. It also showed off the versatility and talent of the symphony players, who appeared to be having a good time doing it. It was surprising to see a Haydn symphony as a grand finale to a program laden with fireworks. Well it turned out that his Symphony No. 88 in G Major literally came to life with Maestro Passmore at the helm. A truly exciting rendition that earned a well-deserved standing ovation.

THE OAK RIDGER (Tennessee)

Ian Passmore proves himself to be a powerful Brahms conductor, with a fine intuitive sense of push-me-pull-you and a palpable enjoyment of the music’s dramatic ebb and flow, allowing climaxes plenty of space to expand and fall away. This impression is confirmed by a warm accompaniment to the Bruch Scottish Fantasy. And flexible rhythm is of course the name of the game in Bernstein’s On The Town, where Passmore exhibits the sort of intuitive ability to sashay which makes us American.

 STEVEN KRUGER

5/7/2026 (6pm)	CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (NC) Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center “Roadshow” Mozart: Symphony #23 (mvt. I: Allegro spiritoso) Simon: Journey Wonder/Ninmer: Isn’t She Lovely Hancock/Ninmer: Watermelon Man Chaka Kahn/Ninmer: I’m Every Woman Grainger: Irish Tune from County Derry Puente/Fry: Oye Como Va Redding/Ninmer: Respect Gaye, Stephenson & Hunter/Ninmer: Dancing in the Street
5/8/2026 (4:30pm)	CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (NC) ourBRIDGE for KIDS “Roadshow” Mozart: Symphony #23 (mvt. I: Allegro spiritoso) Simon: Journey Wonder/Ninmer: Isn’t She Lovely Hancock/Ninmer: Watermelon Man Chaka Kahn/Ninmer: I’m Every Woman Grainger: Irish Tune from County Derry Puente/Fry: Oye Como Va Redding/Ninmer: Respect Gaye, Stephenson & Hunter/Ninmer: Dancing in the Street
5/9/2026 (6pm)	CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (NC) Latin American Coalition “Roadshow” Mozart: Symphony #12 (mvt. I: Allegro) Piazzolla/Kaufman: Libertango Carlos/Nimmer: Amigo Nazareth/Gruselle: 2 Brazilian Tangos Guerra/Ninmere: Como Abeja al Panal Gutiérrez/Neumeyer: Alma Llanera Velázquez/Fry: Bésame Mucho Shakira/Ninmer: Whenever, Wherever Martin/Neumeyer: Livin’ La Vida Loca with Melissa Lozada, vocalist
5/16/2026 (3pm)	CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY YOUTH CAMERATA & YOUTH ORCHESTRA (NC) Knight Theater Zimmer/Wasson: Music from Gladiator Tchaikovsky/Brubaker: 1812 Overture Puccini: Manon Lescaut (ACT III Intermezzo) Tchaikovsky: Romeo & Juliet
9/12/2026 (7pm)	OAK RIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (TN) Historic Grove Theater Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Prelude) Stravinsky: Pulcinella (suite) Simon: Fate Now Conquers Beethoven: Symphony #7
10/24/2026 (6:30pm)	OAK RIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (TN) Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center Orff: Carmina burana (O Fortuna)    with Oak Ridge Chorus Williams/Brubaker: Harry Potter Symphonic Suite Dooley: The Conductor’s Spellbook Gounod: Funeral March of a Marionette
2/20/2027 (7:30pm)	FAYETTEVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (NC) venue, tbd Dvorák: The Water Goblin Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5
3/6/2027 (7pm)	OAK RIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (TN) First United Methodist Church Schubert: Mass in G with Oak Ridge Chorus First United Methodist Church Chorus Roane State Choir
4/24/2027 (7pm)	OAK RIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (TN) Oak Ridge Convention Center Dove: Figures in a Garden Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro (overture) Mozart: Piano Concerto #23 soloist: Spencer Myer
5/29/26 (7pm)	OAK RIDGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (TN) Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center Beethoven: Violin Concerto soloist: Will Schaub Rachmaninoff: Symphony #2