Daniel Cole interrupted his doctoral degree in conducting from Indiana University Jacobs School of music to pursue a Professional Studies in Opera degree at Temple University. He subsequently won the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions in the New Jersey district and placed first in the New York regional finals. Since then Mr. Cole has appeared in theaters in Lisbon, Cologne, Taiwan, Amsterdam, and New York. He has performed with numerous regional opera companies in the United States, including Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Dayton Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Boston, Utah Festival Opera, and Opera Carolina, and Sarasota Opera.
He has also established a respectable concert career, including performances of Penderecki's St. Luke Passion with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Haydn's Paukenmesse with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Bernard Rands's Canti dell’Eclissi with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Beethoven's Mass in C under the baton of Jane Glover at SUNY Purchase, Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Canton (Ohio) Symphony, and the Mozart Requiem in his debut at Carnegie Hall.
Recent recital performances include Die Winterreise with pianist William Ransom at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, and a recital with Martin Katz and Suzanne Metzner at the University of Delaware.
Mr. Cole is the director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, where he resides with his wife Holly, and sons, Nathanael and Benjamin.