Neil Casey, is the assistant conductor of the Augusta (Ga.) Symphony, as well as the conductor of the Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra in Savannah, Georgia. Currently, Mr. Casey is on the faculty at the University of South Carolina, a former faculty member at the Conductors Institute in Columbia and the Opera Master Classes in Charleston, South Carolina as part of Piccolo Spoleto. An active guest conductor, Maestro Casey has appeared with the former Savannah Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Knoxville Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Savannah Sinfonietta, South Carolina Philharmonic, Newberry Festival Orchestra, Karelian Philharmonic Orchestra (Petrazovodsk, Russia), Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic, and with the Charleston Symphony. During the 2004-2005 season, Casey was the Music Director/Conductor of the Statesboro-Georgia Southern Symphony, where he led the orchestra to rave reviews and much growth in the area of orchestra personnel.

Passionate for opera, Neil has appeared with the Augusta Opera and conducted the Opera at USC productions of Britten’s Albert Herring and The Rape of Lucretia, Puccini’s Il Tritico and La Bohéme, Menotti’s The Consul and Amahl and the Night Visitors, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Weill’s Threepenny Opera, Niccolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Argento’s Postcard from Morocco. In January of 2002, he was appointed to the position of Assistant Conductor of the American Music Theatre for a television production of Robert Ward’s opera Roman Fever.

Committed to education, this is Neil’s fifth season with the Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra (Savannah, Ga.), where a fifth orchestra was added for the 2006-2007 season. In 1998, he was the founding conductor of the Greater Augusta Youth Orchestras, which are still active, and until 2005 served as resident conductor of the Shenandoah Performing Arts Camp every summer in Winchester, Virginia. A frequent conductor of regionals and all-states, as well as universities, Mr. Casey has appeared in his native Virginia, South Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

Under the direction of Dr. Donald Portnoy, Neil earned both his B.A. in music education and violin performance, and his M.M. in orchestral conducting from the University of South Carolina, where he was the recipient of the 1997 Donor Award (awarded to the Most Outstanding Graduating Senior). An active violinist, Mr. Casey is the associate concertmaster of the Augusta Symphony and still performs with the Excelsior Trio, which placed third in the nation at the MTNA Collegiate Chamber Music Competition in 1997.