Born in Belgium in 1955, he studied the trumpet and double bass at the Royal Conservatoire in Liège, graduating with honours in both instruments in 1977. He started his conducting studies in 1978 with Igor Markevitch and Max Deutsch. After graduating from the International Seminar in Weimar and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, he was invited by Seiji Ozawa to study at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood where he also worked with Kurt Masur and Joseph Silverstein. His most influential experience was with Sergiu Celibidache with whom he studied musical phenomenology and conducting from 1986 to 1989.
Daniel Gazon has a vast symphonic and operatic repertoire, and is widely recognised as one of the foremost specialists in twentieth-century repertoire. He has premiered works by Luis de Pablo, Magnus Lindberg, Roberto Gerhard, Claude Vivier, Jukka Tiensuu, Frank Nuyts, Luc van Hove, Boudewiju Buckinx, Frederik Neyrinck, Bronius Kutavičius, Osvaldas Balakauskas, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, Onutė Narbutaitė, Luca Francesconi, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Krzysztof Knittel, Juraj Beneš, Lidia Zielińska, Tomasz Jakub Opałka, Peter Zagar, Florian Gessler, Eric Nathan, and many others. He has been a guest at the ISCM, Melos–Ethos, Ars Musica, Düsseldorf Kontrapunkt, Gaida, and Warsaw Autumn international festivals.
He is equally sought-after as a teacher, and for many years has given masterclasses in conducting (based on the phenomenological approach developed by Sergiu Celibidache) and has also worked intensively with youth orchestras in Belgium, Slovakia, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, and Vietnam.