Biography

  • LRAM, AdvDip, Royal Academy of Music
  • SM, University of Michigan
  • BM, The Ohio State University

Daniel Neer enjoys a uniquely diverse career as a performer, writer, and educator in the performing arts. 

As a skilled singer/actor in genres ranging from art song and vocal chamber music to opera, operetta, musical theatre and multimedia collaborations, Neer's engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and on stage with Royal Opera House Covent Garden (ROH II), New York City Opera, Washington National Opera, American Repertory Theater, Gotham Chamber Opera, and with many regional theater companies, chamber music groups, and orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Equally comfortable with vocal styles ranging from baroque to contemporary, Neer's distinctive versatility has led to collaborations with distinguished organizations as Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Experiments in Opera, Metropolis Ensemble, S.E.M. Ensemble, American Opera Projects, Mark Morris Dance Group, Center for Contemporary Opera, Mantra Percussion and Music-Theatre Group, to name just a few. As an active recitalist specializing in European and American Art Song, Neer has been featured with The Phoenix Concerts, Lotte Lehman Foundation, Salon Series at The Apollo Theater, Miller Theatre Composer Portraits, Guggenheim Museum Works & Process, When Morty Met John at Carnegie Hall, New York Composers Circle, Morgan Library and Chicago Art Institute. Festival appearances include Aspen, BAM Next Wave, Prototype, Queens New Music, Brooklyn BEAT, Bar Harbor Music Festival, White Light (Lincoln Center), New Territories (Glasgow) and Ostrava Days (Czech Republic). Neer's Broadway credits include two original productions: Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème and the National Theatre production of Coram Boy, directed by Melly Still. His discography includes recordings for Dreamworks, Centaur, Naxos, Albany, Newport Classics and Operetta Archives labels.

As a lyricist and librettist, Neer's work continues to be featured in conjunction with prominent composers on the concert and lyric stage. His libretti include And Here We Are by Matthew Welch (Experiments in Opera), Mercury Falling by Chandler Carter (Long Leaf Opera Festival), and Independence Eve by Sidney Marquez Boquiren (American Opera Projects, UrbanArias, Opera Birmingham). He is the lyricist of many art songs and vocal chamber works in conjunction with composers Alex Burtzos, Ellen Mandel, Robin McClellan, Linda Kernohan, Jonathan David, Kim Sherman, Ronnie Reshef, Daniel Felsenfeld, Scott Gendel and Jennifer Bernard Merkowitz.

Neer is a much sought after voice teacher and vocal clinician, and has held faculty positions at The Peabody Preparatory at Johns Hopkins Institute, the Scholars Program of The National Children’s Chorus, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, the University of Michigan, Berkshire Choral Festival and Kenyon College. In addition to teaching at Temple University, Neer has a thriving private studio and teaches in the Prep Division at Mannes School of Music at The New School in New York City. 

Neer studied music and theater at The Ohio State University (B. Mus.); the University of Michigan (S.M. Voice Perf.), and The Royal Academy of Music in London, England (L.R.A.M., AdvDip).