​David Oertel is Music Director and Conductor of the Austin Philharmonic and Starlight Symphony Orchestra.  He has worked with orchestras, musical theatre and opera companies, community bands and orchestras.

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Oertel has placed in the top ranks of The American Prize in Orchestral Programming for the past several years. 



​Oertel is co-author with David Daniels and David Rahbee for the sixth edition of the reference book Daniels' Orchestral Music (2022). They are also actively adding content to the associated website:
Daniels-Orchestral.com

David also partnered with Jonathan Green and co-authored an edition of Green's previously published collection on choral-orchestral works. The new edition is called, "Choral-Orchestral Repertoire: A Conductor's Guide, Omnibus Edition" (2019).

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Oertel has also appeared as a guest conductor with many orchestras and  taught music in the public schools  and at universities.  As a side note, he is also an avid photographer and enjoys a ride on his motorcycle!

 

Oertel received his undergraduate degree in music

education from the University of North Texas, a master's degree from the University of Houston and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Oertel has served as conductor and music director for over 30 musical theatre and opera productions including Don Giovanni, Street Scene, Sweeney Todd, Chicago, West Side Story, Grease, Jesus Christ Superstar, Bat Boy, and Seussical the Musical.

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Oertel has studied with many conducting luminaries including Robert Linder, David Daniels, Max Rudolf, Kirk Trevor, Samuel Jones, Hans Graf, Niklaus Wyss, Adrian Gnam, Franz Krager, Serge Zehnacher, and David Holley.