George Daugherty, a renowned director, producer, and conductor, was born in Pendleton, Indiana. He attended Butler University, Jordan College of Music, Indiana University, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. At 19, he founded the Pendleton Festival Symphony, a professional summer orchestra that flourished in Indiana during the late 1970s and early 1980s, featuring international guest artists such as Roberta Peters, Rosalind Elias, Eugene Fodor, and major choral groups.
Daugherty's 40-year conducting career has included appearances with the world's leading orchestras, ballet companies, opera houses, and concert artists. He is also an Emmy Award-winning and five-time Emmy-nominated creator, with major credits as a director, writer, and producer for television, film, and live theater. His most notable works include "Bugs Bunny On Broadway" and "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony," which have been performed to almost two million audience members worldwide.
As a director, writer, and producer, Daugherty has created several major productions for the ABC Television Network, including a primetime animation-and-live action production of Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," for which he won a Prime Time Emmy Award. He has also collaborated with author Amy Tan on a television adaptation of her children's book "The Chinese Siamese Cat," which won an Emmy Award.
Daugherty has conducted for scores of major American and international symphony orchestras, ballet companies, and opera houses, including the New York Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and many others. He is currently music director of London's new orchestra Sinfonia Britannia, which made its debut at the Wales Millennium Centre in March 2005.
Daugherty has received five Emmy nominations to date, including for his ABC television network of specials "Rhythm & Jam," which taught the basics of music to a teenage audience. His work has been praised by critics and audiences alike, and he continues to be a leading figure in the music world.
