Damon Gupton

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Gupton was born in Detroit in 1973 and studied music education at the University of Michigan, where he directed a student ensemble, before training as an actor in the drama division of the Juilliard School. He studied conducting at the Aspen Music Festival with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin and at the National Conducting Institute in Washington with Leonard Slatkin. He was an American Conducting Fellow at the Houston Symphony in 2004 and assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony in 2006, won Mexico City's Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition, and has guest-conducted the Detroit Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony and the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. He conducted the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization's Sphinx Chamber Orchestra on a national tour that included Carnegie Hall. As an actor he appeared on Broadway in Clybourne Park and in the films Whiplash and La La Land, and in television series such as Criminal Minds and Black Lightning.

Highlights

1. Guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra
2. Led the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra's national tour, including Carnegie Hall
3. Won the Eduardo Mata Conducting Competition in Mexico City
4. Film roles in Whiplash (2014) and La La Land (2016)