Danko Druško is a Croatian conductor raised in Germany and based in California. He brings a clear, energetic, and positive presence to the podium, shaped by a strong sense of musical storytelling and a natural ability to communicate.

Druško frequently collaborates with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and The Ford, and has conducted orchestras across Europe and North America. His collaborations include working alongside conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Simone Young, Philippe Jordan, David Newman, Louis Langrée, and Thomas Wilkins, as well as partnerships with a wide spectrum of artists, ranging from Joshua Bell, Alison Balsom, Nicola Benedetti, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet to Beck, Ledisi, Café Tacvba, and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Equally at home in symphonic, operatic, and crossover repertoire, Druško’s work encompasses traditional masterworks, contemporary music, and innovative concert formats. His experience includes concert presentations of major film scores such as Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Star Wars: A New Hope, as well as interdisciplinary projects, notably a reimagining of Mozart’s The Magic Flute with visual artist Frances Stark and Motown producer H.B. Barnum. Commissioned for the Absolut Art Award, the production premiered at LACMA and subsequently toured leading international museums, including MoMA, the Smithsonian, and ICA London.

His early international recognition emerged through invitations to some of the world’s most competitive conducting competitions, each drawing hundreds of applicants. He advanced to the final stages of the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Kálmán Imre International Conducting Competition with the Budapest Operetta Theatre, the International Opera Conductors’ Competition Polycarpe with the Royal Opera of Wallonia in Liège, and the Jovens Maestros Conductors’ Competition with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa.

Praised as a “miracle worker” by Peninsula Reviews, Druško is a passionate advocate for community engagement through music and champions the performance of regional and traditional repertoire as a means of uniting audiences across cultural and social backgrounds.

A recipient of multiple awards in Germany, Druško has been honored with the Friedrichshafen City Art Award and the Conducting Prize of Lake Constance, and was named a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. He holds advanced conducting degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He also completed studies in Music Education, English Literature and Linguistics, and a minor in Ethics and Philosophy in Germany.

Druško maintains strong ties to Germany and Croatia and serves as Director of Orchestral Studies at Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music. He passed the highly competitive physical aptitude test to study sport science in Germany and remains an avid outdoorsman, drawing creative inspiration from nature. He lives in Orange County with his wife and their two sons.