Derek David
Derek David, composer, educator, and conductor
Teaching Fellow, Harvard University
Lecturer in Music, MIT
Music Director, ‘A Besere Velt’
Derek is a composer, conductor, and music educator based in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the recipient of the EAMA Nadia Boulanger Institute Prize (2011), the Morton Gould ASCAP Award (2011), and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music Hoefer Prize (2018). For his work at Harvard, Mr. David is a five-time recipient of the Distinction in Teaching Award.
-
Derek David is a composer, conductor, and music educator based in Boston, Massachusetts. His dramatic and vibrant chamber music has been performed in both Europe and the United States and has received great recognition from audiences and critics alike. Derek’s String Quartet (2011), described as “a true musical jewel of the 21st Century,” has been met with international praise and repeated performances throughout the United States. Derek has been the recipient of the EAMA Nadia Boulanger Institute Prize (2011), the Morton Gould ASCAP Award (2011), first place in the 2015 American Prize in Composition–Chamber Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s New Art Song Competition. Mr. David was the recipient of the 2018 SFCM Hoefer Prize for his accumulative body of work from over the past 10 years.
He has been commissioned by the Juventas Ensemble, SAKURA Cello Quintet, The Sonica Quartet, The Sounding Board, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble, the Verona Quartet, Del Sol String Quartet, and the Institute for Jewish Research (YIVO). His music has received repeated national performances and was featured in the 2019 LA Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight new music festival.
Derek is currently the musical director and conductor of ‘A Besere Velt’ - אַ בעסערע װעלט, one of three choirs in the world dedicated to the performance and preservation of Yiddish repertoire. ‘A Besere Velt’ proudly promotes a message economic, racial, and social justice.
Derek studied composition at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and received Masters and Doctoral degrees from The New England Conservatory. As an enthusiastic educator, Derek has taught at theory and musicianship at the New England Conservatory, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and at The Walden School. He is currently a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and Lecturer in Music at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For his work at Harvard, Mr. David is a five-time recipient of the Distinction in Teaching Award. His areas of interest extends to Medieval theory and musicology, The Beatles, and Jewish Music.
-
“A true musical jewel of the 21st Century” (String Quartet No. 1)
— Sabino Pena, ClassiqueNews“dazzled by [his] capability and musicality...masterful demonstration of technique” (Viola Sonata)
— Composer John Adams“[a] daring work… that left us wanting to hear more.” (String Quartet No. 1) — The Boston Musical Intelligencer
-