Daniel Kleinknecht is Founder, Artistic Director and Conductor of Cedar Rapids Opera. As founder of CRO, he has led the company in over 70 performances of major operatic repertoire, and under his leadership the company has received eleven National Endowment for the Arts grants, received the Governor’s Award for Excellence, and has established a nationally recognized Young Artist Program that has hired over 800 graduate and undergraduate singers for the program. The company has commissioned several new works -- Too Many Sopranos, Frankenboy, Strokes of Genius: The Grant Wood Operas, and Peggy and Jackson.

Kleinknecht was an associate professor of music at Mount Mercy University where he led the Choir on more than 15 national and international tours; he still teaches several classes there each year. He holds degrees from Oberlin College, Indiana University, and the University of Iowa. He has been on several adjudication panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Kleinknecht’s articles can be found in the American Choral Review and the Choral Journal.

Kleinknecht has conducted the Long Bay Symphony, Evansville Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Illinois, Orchestra Iowa, Opera Ithaca, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Singers, the Fort Dodge Symphony, the Hunter Symphony and Hunter Opera Theatre,where he led the New York premiere of Too Many Sopranos at the Danny Kaye Playhouse, New York Chamber Orchestra, and the Iowa City Community Orchestra, and several national tours of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. The Peoria Journal wrote, “with Kleinknecht at the podium, the sound was wonderfully hall-filling and alive with exceptional power and grace.” The Myrtle Beach Press said “what was most impressive was Kleinknecht…he controlled every aspect of the music.” Live performances have been broadcast regularly on Iowa Public Radio. Productions of Salome and Madama Butterfly have been telecast on Iowa Public Television, and the Salome has been viewed by over 45,000 patrons on the CRO Youtube channel.