David Crane received a Bachelor’s Degree from New England Conservatory and a Master’s Degree in Conducting and Performance from Northwestern University. His education includes a year’s study at the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and a Fellowship as Director of the New Music Ensemble at the University of Houston. He has held positions conducting the National Institutes of Health Chamber Orchestra, the Northwestern University Summer Orchestra, and has been Music Director of the Southwest Symphony Orchestra since 1992. Mr. Crane was also founder/Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Arts Orchestra, whose mission was to perform benefit concerts for local and international causes. He is also founder and conductor of the Viennese Symphony of Chicago, who’s New Year’s Eve Gala, “A Night in Vienna” is a Chicago tradition. Guest conducting engagements include the Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland on three occasions, the Illinois Philharmonic, the Grand Junction Symphony, and the Spokane Symphony. He is also Director of Music Ministries at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Oak Park. As the son of a Foreign Service officer, Mr. Crane spent much of his youth abroad in Munich, Germany, and Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan.