Darko Butorac is the Music Director of the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor of the 2009 Northwest Mahler Festival in Seattle. His inspired performances, imaginative programming and passion for working with musicians have earned him international acclaim.
Butorac is the 2004 Grand Prize Winner of the Fourth Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition where he was selected out of 24 competitors from 17 different countries for the Gold Medal and Grand Prix. He also was awarded the Audience Favorite Prize. As a result, this led to professional engagements across three continents during the 2006-2008 seasons.
Throughout his career, Butorac has worked with such orchestras as the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, the Trondheim Symphony in Norway, the Mendoza Symphony in Argentina, the Xiamen Philharmonic in China, the Kharkov Symphony Orchestra and Kharkov Philharmonic in the Ukraine, the Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra of Parma and the Canton Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Danish National Radio Symphony as part of the prestigious Nikolai Malko Conducting Competition. Future concerts include performances with the Charleston Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfonica Juvenil Carlos Chavez in Mexico, the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra and return engagments with the Fidenza Opera Festival in Italy and the Xiamen Philharmonic.
Previously, Butorac served as the Director of Orchestras at Northern Arizona University. During his tenure the orchestra program expanded significantly - the concert season grew to eight concerts plus and two fully staged operas. He also helped establish a visiting guest artist residency and presented numerous concerts that featured enhanced use of multi-media.
In March 2005, he was invited to participate in the American Symphony Orchestra League National Conducting Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The preview showcased eight young conductors from across the world "carefully chosen for their talent, accomplishments, and qualifications who are ready to assume important professional conducting responsibilities with American orchestras."
Butorac studied at the renowned American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival in 2003 and 2004, and was named the Assistant Conductor of the Aspen Opera Theater Center during his second summer, assisting noted opera conductors Arnold Oestman and Julius Rudel.
Darko Butorac received his Master of Music degree from Indiana University, where he conducted over thirty concerts with the school's five major ensembles. He has also worked extensively at the Brevard Music Center, Aspen Music Festival and the University of Toronto, his alma mater. His principal mentors are David Effron, Jorma Panula and David Zinman.