Darrell Rowader is an associate conductor of the Prescott Pops Symphony and founder and director of the Prescott Pops Symphony Chorus. His conducting experience includes serving as music director of the Phoenix choral society Cantemus for nine years, guest conductor of the Arizona State University Choral Union’s performances of “Opera Nights”, and conductor of the 9-11 commemorative performance of James Demars’ “American Requiem” with the Memorial Chorus and Symphony at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts in 2004.
Darrell is certainly no stranger to the concert stage here in Prescott as well as the world. The musical world first encountered him as an apprentice operatic tenor with the Santa Fe Opera, after which he proceeded to score successes in more than 25 operatic roles in 7 languages. Signature roles included Don Jose, Faust, Orpheus, Luigi, Pinkerton, and Don Carlo, among others. Mr. Rowader then transitioned to baritone roles including Judge Turpin in “Sweeney Todd,” Peter in “Hansel and Gretel,” and soloist in “Ein Deutsches Requiem.” He performed as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” and as Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables” in the Prescott Center for the Arts’ recent runs. His musical career has carried him to stages in England, Austria, Italy, Russia, Ireland, Wales, and France. Other operatic career highlights include debuting at the great Carnegie Hall, New York, in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem”; and being featured in WFMT-Chicago’s Beethoven Satellite Network in syndicated broadcasts of Teleman’s “Der Tag Gerichts,” Purcell’s “King Arthur,” and Monteverdi’s “Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610).”