Daniel Parsley enjoys an active career in the Midwest as an educator, conductor, scholar, church musician and professional chorister. Daniel currently serves as the Director of Choral Activities and program head for the music program in the Department of Creative Media at Thomas More University. At Thomas More, Daniel directs three choruses that include over 125 singers and teaches music history and music theory. He also serves as faculty for the Kentucky Institute of International Studies (KIIS) Salzburg study abroad program where he teaches conducting, music history, opera scenes, and choral ensembles. Daniel will next serve on the faculty with the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad (CCSA) London summer study abroad program in 2022.

Most recently, Daniel was the assistant conductor and choral conducting fellow for the Cincinnati May Festival, where he prepared choruses for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Daniel has continued to serve as associate conductor for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra (CCO) since 2019. In addition, Parsley is the associate director for the Cincinnati Youth Choir, Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Preparatory & Community Engagement and conducts Voci Sonore, a changing voice ensemble. Upcoming engagements in 2021-2022 include residencies and conducting appointments with the Boston Children’s Chorus, Gonzaga University, the National Chorus of Korea (Seoul, South Korea), Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts, St. Paul’s Cathedral (London, UK), and the Universität Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria.) A Cincinnati native, Parsley completed a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Choral Conducting with a cognate in orchestral conducting at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM.) Daniel also holds a M.M. in Choral Conducting from Bowling Green State University and a B.M. Voice Performance and B.A. International Studies with concentrations in economics and history from Xavier University. In 2019, Daniel was selected as one of four finalists for the 2019 American Choral Directors’ Association National Graduate Conducting Competition held in Kansas City.

Parsley has enjoyed a wide breadth of diverse professional experiences, ranging from positions including the Worship Arts Coordinator at Faith United Methodist in North Canton, Ohio to pursuing a year long ethnomusicological field research program in West African musical traditions as a research fellow in Ghana, West Africa through the Edward Brueggeman Center for Dialogue. Parsley’s current research interest focuses on the integration of Body Mapping, a method of instruction typically reserved for the private studio, into the choral rehearsal. Recent scholarly publications include a curriculum guide for collegiate educators to apply Body Mapping techniques in ensemble rehearsals. Daniel is currently a Body Mapping Educator Affiliate with Andover Educators.

Parsley has studied conducting under Robert Porco, Earl Rivers, Brett Scott, AikKhai Pung, Mark Munson, and Tom Merrill. He has appeared in recent conducting masterclasses with Dale Warland, Kent Tritle, Duain Wolf, John Alexander, David Hayes, Eric Whitacre, Rodney Eichenberger and Cesar Leal. Daniel’s passion for choral arts extends beyond conducting: he has performed with many choruses himself as a professional singer, including the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cincinnati May Festival Chorus, Toledo Opera, Tuscia Opera Festival (Viterbo, Italy) and Berkshire Choral Festival. As a conductor of symphonic choral literature, Parsley has most recently assisted and prepared choruses for John Morris Russell, Juanjo Mena, Eun Sun Kim, Robert Porco, Eckart Preu, Gerhardt Zimmermann, James Meena and Giordano Bellincampi.

Daniel was most recently the Music in Worship Chair for the Ohio Choral Director’s Association. He serves as Director of Music at St. Timothy Episcopal Church in Cincinnati and also served as associate conductor for Cincinnati’s Music Sacra from 2017-19. Daniel is an active member of ACDA, ChorusAmerica, AGO and NAfME.