Daniela Candillari

Daniela Candillari, born in 1979 in Novi Sad, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), is an American orchestra conductor specializing in contemporary opera. She has been principal conductor at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis since 2022.

Early life and education Candillari was born in 1979 in Novi Sad, Serbia, then part of the non-aligned Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Her mother is table tennis player Tatjana Ječmenica.

Candillari's grandmother, a successful opera singer and voice coach, taught her to play arias, and she became interested in learning piano.

Candillari started working as a pianist at Indiana University. She undertook the Jazz program there as that was her interest. Then she auditioned for the opera department and began work there as a vocal coach. Candillari subsequently received a master's degree in jazz studies under a Fulbright Scholarship from Indiana University.

In 2022, Candillari conducted her first major ensemble at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for a contemporary opera by Terence Blanchard called Fire Shut Up in My Bones.

The September 2023 Philadelphia premiere of 10 Days in a Madhouse by Rene Orth saw praise for Candillari's conducting.

In 2025, Candillari conducted her first performance at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featuring Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. the New Orleans Opera, the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and the Washington National Opera.

Personal life

Candillari lives in New York with husband Nick Schwartz, who plays trombone for the New York City Ballet.