David Eaton

DAVID EATON

With triumphs in music capitals from New York to Paris to Moscow, David Eaton has established a reputation as one of his generation's most accomplished musicians. Since assuming the position of music director of the New York City Symphony in 1985, Mr. Eaton has been instrumental in restoring the orchestra's reputation as one of New York's most important cultural institutions. He also served as conductor of the Goldman Memorial Band and led that historic ensemble in its summer concert series in New York City from 1998 to 2000.

In addition to leading the New York City Symphony in its highly acclaimed Lincoln Center concert series at Alice Tully Hall, Mr. Eaton has led the orchestra and its chamber ensemble and brass choir in numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, the Manhattan Center, Merkin Hall, Harlem's Apollo Theater, the United Nations, Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as concerts in Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. After his Carnegie Hall debut in 1989, the New York Daily News hailed the New York City Symphony as "one of America's finest orchestras." He has subsequently appeared with the NYC Symphony at Carnegie Hall on several other occasions including a concert during Carnegie Hall's Centennial Celebration.

Mr. Eaton made his professional conducting debut with the New York City Symphony Chamber Ensemble in 1977 and has since led that ensemble in numerous concerts in New York City as well as a United States tour. The tour included concerts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston. He led the NYCS Chamber Ensemble in a program at the United Nations as part of the U.N.'s 50th Anniversary celebration honoring its Non-Governmental Organizations. He has since returned to the U.N. for three subsequent concerts with the NYC Symphony including a performance in 2011 for the 10th Anniversary Memorial concert of the 9/11 attacks, the closing ceremony of the U.N.’s Interfaith Week proceedings in 2012, and the 70th Anniversary Concert of the U.N.s founding in 2015.

In 1988, he led the New York City Symphony on its first international tour. The tour included four concerts in Japan and seven performances at the Olympic Arts Festival in Seoul, Korea. The orchestra's appearance at the Seoul Arts Center marked the first time that a Western Orchestra had performed at that venue. That same year Mr. Eaton and the NYC Symphony introduced New York audiences to the music of the Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) The concert, presented at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, featured four of Tan's works including the world premieres of his Violin Concerto and Third Symphony.

In 1997 he served artistic director and producer of the World Culture and Sports Festival III in Washington, D.C. where he conducted two concerts with the NYC Symphony as part of the festival.

Mr. Eaton made his European conducting in 1989 debut with L'Orchestra Symphonique Francias at the Flaine Summer Music Festival and has made two return appearances with that ensemble in Flaine and at the Salle Geveau in Paris. Mr. Eaton also appeared as a guest conductor with the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra in a program of music by American composers at the Kiev International Music Festival and was subsequently invited to conduct an all-Mozart program with the Neri Symphony Orchestra of Moscow at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory as part of the International Mozart Bicentennial Festival in Moscow.

Other guest conducting appearances include concerts with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony, the Les Amis Chamber Ensemble of Toronto at the St. Lawrence Performing Arts Center, the Taipei City Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan, the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala, the Soo Won Symphony (Korea), the Asuncion National Symphony Orchestra (Paraguay), the Goldman Memorial Band at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Repertory Ballet, the Hanoi Philharmonic, the Prime Philharmonic (Korea) and the Chamber Players of the Americas at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.   In 2007 he conducted the Camerata Chamber Orchestra at the World Culture and Sports Festival. His appearance at the Hanoi Opera House (April, 2013) with the Hanoi Philharmonic was a part of the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Israel. In 2013 he returned to Taiwan to conduct the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Taipei with Israeli vocalist, David D’Or.

He conducted the Belgrade Philharmonic in the world premiere performance of his composition, Halelu---Songs of David in May, 2007. In October, 2008 he conducted a second performance of Halelu with the Sofia (Bulgaria) Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

In 2007 he was a featured conductor, composer and arranger in the “Three Sopranos Peace Concert” held in Asuncion, Paraguay in collaboration with sopranos Gloria Criscione, Seiko Lee and Mzuri Moyo. In November, 2008 he conducted members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at the Global Peace Festival in a program that included several of his compositions and arrangements including excerpts from his The Hope of All Ages suite.   In 2017 he was invited by soprano, Seiko Lee to conduct a benefit concert for Syrian refugees at the Syrian Orthodox church in Vienna, Austria. The concert included several movements of his cantata for peace, Halelu: Songs of David. He returned to Vienna in 2018 to conduct the Austrian Youth Chamber Ensemble. In 2018 and 2019 he conducted concerts with the Western Symphony Orchestra and in 2020 conducted a concert with newly formed Korean Modern Symphony Orchestra. In addition to he work in the United States and Europe, he is currently serving as an artist-in-residence and director of the Hyo Jeong Youth Orchestra in Gapyeong, Korea.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Eaton studied at the Cleveland Music Settlement, Ohio State University and the Tanglewood Institute of Music. He has attended conducting master classes with Seiji Ozawa, Herbert von Karajan, Roger Norrington, Zubin Mehta, Gustav Meier and Gunther Herbig.

COMPOSING & ARRANGING

In addition to his conducting career he has been a prolific composer, arranger and producer with fifty-two original compositions and over 600 original songs and arrangements to his credit. Mr. Eaton was the lead orchestrator on American composer Kevin Pickard’s ballet score Shim Chung, The Blindman’s Daughter, which won the award for “Best Entry” in the 1988 Olympic Arts Festival in Seoul, Korea.

Two of his compositions, Fantasie for Violin, Cello, Piano and Strings and his Three Miniatures for Chamber Orchestra were performed at Carnegie Hall by the New York City Symphony under his direction. His symphonic band work, Melavations was dedicated to and premiered by the Goldman Memorial Band at Lincoln Center. Another recent composition, Morning's Calm for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra, was premiered at the United Nations as part of the International World Peace Assembly.

His orchestral settings of Sephardic folk songs, The Alhambra Suite, received two performances by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in 2004 and 2005, and was also presented at the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival in 2005.

In observance of the first anniversary of the tragedy of September 11, he was commissioned to write music for the International and Interreligious Federation for World Peace Conference in New York in 2002. The resulting music, The Hope of All Ages featured narrated texts by world leaders in the realms of religion, diplomacy and human rights. This music received subsequent performances at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in September 2005 at the inaugural ceremony of the Universal Peace Federation, with the Royal Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in London in 2008 and at the United Nations General Assembly in 2011 and 2012.

Several of his arrangements have been featured by soprano Seiko Lee in 2009 and 2010 concerts and recitals in Japan, Nepal and South Korea as part of Ms. Lee’s Pink Ribbon Concerts for breast cancer awareness. His recent composition, Heavenly Order, for Soprano and Orchestra was recorded by Ms. Lee in 2012.

One of Mr. Eaton’s recent composition projects, the Cantata for Peace, Halelu---Songs of David, is a collaboration with the prominent Israeli vocalist, David D’Or. In conjunction with Mr. D’Or, he produced a recording of the cantata in Tel Aviv in 2006 featuring the Ra’anana Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Chorus of Israel. Halelu received its world premiere performance in Belgrade, Serbia under Mr. Eaton's direction in 2007. That concert was televised to six other Eastern European countries. A second performance of Halelu took place with the Bulgaria Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and excerpts of the cantata were choreographed by the Salzburg Ballet’s prima ballerina, Cristina Uta, for a performance at the European Dance and Arts Festival-Salzburg (EDAS) in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Excerpts from Halelu were performed at Bard College in the spring of 2014.

In 2010 Mr. Eaton composed a suite for electric viola and orchestra for Alexander Mishnaevski, principal violist of the Detroit Symphony and a new arrangement for David D’Or’s appearance with the Israel Philharmonic. Mr. Eaton’s collaboration with Hip-Hop artist, Kenny Mohammed was featured as part of the History Channel’s People With Super Human Abilities, which was part of the History Channel’s 2010-2011 programming. The Kokolo String Ensemble and Kenny Muhammed performed his piece Kenny’s Joy at the Brooklyn Museum’s “First Saturdays” concerts in 2011.

Two movements of Juxtapositions, for Electric Viola and Orchestra, Op. 42 were performed by members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in March, 2011 as part of the DSO’s “Baroque to Rock” concert. A second performance of Juxtapositions took place in September, 2011 and the Lexington (MI) Bach Festival under Mr. Eaton’s direction and he conducted a third performance with the DSO in June 2012. Maestro Eaton conducted his Hope of All Ages as well as excerpts from the Halelu peace cantata at the General Assembly of the United Nations in September, 2011 as part of the U.N.’s 9/11 Commemorative Program and returned to the U.N. in February, 2012 with the NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble to perform his Hope of All Ages at closing ceremonies of the U.N.’s Interfaith Week.

Maestro Eaton recently completed a harp concerto, Angelic Vibes, Op. 49, for Patty Masri-Fletcher, harpist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He conducted a performance of his Pavane for orchestra with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan in 2013. In September of 2013 he arranged music for the state of New York’s “Better than Before” television ad campaign. In June of 2015 he conducted the premiere of his latest work (70 and Counting!) as a tribute for the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations with the NYC Symphony at the U.N. General Assembly Hall. In 2017 and 2018 he conducted the Austrian Youth Ensemble in concerts that featured excerpts from his Halelu cantata and a new hymn as part of the “Peace Starts With Me” Culture Festival in Vienna.   Mr. Eaton recently conducted a concert with the Western Symphony in Korea that featured Britain’s Got Talent award-winning vocalist, Paul Potts. In 2019 he conducted and second concert with the Western Symphony Orchestra with Paul Potts and soprano, Seiko Lee. The concert featured the premieres of Mr. Eaton’s two most recent compositions; Onward and Upward (Op. 69) and The Grand Entrance (Op. 70).

As an arranger/conductor/producer he worked with a wide array of artists including Gennifer Holliday, Philip Michael Thomas, Paul Sorvino, SONY Records’ Jazz artist, Richard Bona and the Grammy-award winning band, Imagine Dragons for Saturday Night Live in 2014. In the recording studio he has produced numerous tracks utilizing MIDI sequencing synthesizers as well as conventional instrumentation.