Kansas City Symphony Appoints New Assistant Conductors and Musicians

The symphony has welcomed two incoming assistant conductors for the 2024/25 season and five new orchestra musicians

The Kansas City Symphony (KCS) has appointed Daniel Wiley and Luke Poeppel as its new David T. Beals III Assistant Conductors for the 2024/2025 concert season. 

In his new role, Wiley will conduct the orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts, Support School Music concerts, and the September 28 special presentation with Dionne Warwick. Additionally, he will lead a holiday concert with The Texas Tenors, Family Series productions, and two concert evenings with Ben Folds. Earlier this year, he also joined KCS on its first European tour. 

Having made guest appearances with orchestras and ballets across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, Wiley previously served as Assistant Conductor for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra & Pops. 

Poeppel is an American-German conductor based in Rochester, New York. His new role will see him lead Handel’s Messiah, children’s concerts, school programs, and a special concert featuring Cody Fry. Poeppel is currently undertaking master’s studies at the Eastman School of Music and was selected for Ensemble Modern’s 2023-2024 International Composer & Conductor Seminars young professionals’ program.

Additionally, both Wiley and Poeppel will share cover conducting duties for KCS’s classical series.

“I couldn’t be happier to welcome Daniel and Luke to the Kansas City Symphony,” said KCS’s Music Director, Matthias Pintscher in the press release. “Their inspiring musicianship will be fully on display throughout the season as they lead programs of the great masters, contemporary artists, and concerts for young audiences filled with wonder and delight.”

Among the new musicians joining KCS include violinists Aaron You-Xin Li and Ayrton Pisco, cellist Sally Kim, piccolo/flutist Alejandro Lombo, and trumpeter Hyojoon Park. 

Aaron You-Xin Li was most recently a violin fellow in the New World Symphony where he performed as concertmaster and principal second violin under the direction of conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Stéphane Denève. A graduate of Indiana University and the Taipei National University of Arts, Li has played in numerous music festivals as a leading violinist, plus was selected for the Keston Music Academy Exchange Program to play with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Brazilian violinist Ayrton Pisco is a graduate of Yale University, the University of Southern California, and San Diego State University. He has been a fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and New World Symphony, plus has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and the New Haven Symphony. 

A doctoral graduate from the University of Miami, Sally Kim served as a teaching assistant there and was a Henry Mancini Fellow. She also holds degrees from the University of Auckland and the New England Conservatory of Music; her mentors have included Ross Harbaugh, James Tennant, Edith Salzmann, and Paul Katz. She previously performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and has toured Asia as a music ambassador. 

Alejandro Lombo was previously the principal flute of Symphony in C and has performed regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2019. He has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, among others. Lombo is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jeffrey Khaner.

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, trumpeter Hyojoon Park will join KCS for the upcoming season. Park is a regular substitute musician with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with the New World Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and Symphony of Northwest Arkansas; he is also a member of Michigan’s world-renowned Brass Band of Battle Creek. He holds a doctorate degree from UMKC Conservatory and degrees from Michigan State University and McGill University.