Born to Croatian parents in Germany, Danko Druško has recently returned to California after a two-year appointment as visiting Assistant Professor and Director of Orchestra and Opera at the Northern Illinois University School of Music. He is a founder and Music Director of Hoosier Philharmonic and previously held the position of Associate Instructor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Opera & Ballet Theater.

Druško has conducted professional, university and youth orchestras throughout Europe and North America including the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Opera, Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Budapest Operetta, Metropolitan Orchestra Lisbon, Rochester Philharmonic, YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, LA Phil), Jacobs School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Guildhall School of Music, and Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, among others.

As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship recipient, Danko Druško came to the U.S. to study music with the goal of furthering international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. He won the first and only prize in conducting by the Culture Foundation of the county of Lake Constance in South Germany in 2013 and in the following year was awarded the prestigious Friedrichshafen City Art Award, a distinction given to promising artists every two years in their effort to promote cultural advancements in the region.

Danko holds a Doctor of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He received his Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music and completed Staatsexamen degrees from both the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen (B.M. & M.M.) and the University of Konstanz (B.A. & M.Ed. English Literature & Linguistics, minor in Philosophy & Ethics). He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three pets.

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