David was born in New York City (1972) and studied at the Manhattan School of Music. Acclaimed by audiences and critics as a creative force in the performing arts, he has recorded and performed internationally with composers and ensembles including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Talujon Percussion Quartet, New Band (performing on instruments invented by Harry Partch), the New Music Consort, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Yo-Yo Ma, Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Tan Dun, Louis Andriessen, Cecil Taylor, Nobukazu Takemura, Iva Bittova, Glenn Kotche (Wilco), Bryce Dessner and Aaron Dessner (The National), Ornette Coleman, Henry Threadgil, Kyaw Kyaw Naing, Thurston Moore, Lee Renaldo (Sonic Youth), Don Byron, Real Quiet Trio, and Bo Didley.

David has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Radio France, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sao Paulo State Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestra della Fenice, Hong Kong Symphony, and the Singapore Symphony.

Numerous theater projects include collaborations with Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and director Peter Sellars. David was featured as the percussion soloist in Tan Dun’s Grammy and Oscar winning score to Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. More recently, he contributed to Carter Burwell’s sound track to the film Where the Wild Things Go, directed by Spike Jonze.

As an active composer and instrument designer, David has been interested in expanding the limits of traditional percussion. He ventures into other art forms at the intersection of music, creating sonic installations and video pieces that have been presented in galleries and exhibition spaces in New York, Italy, Germany and Spain. Often, he has contributed to other artists’ pieces.

Featured in an endless number of recordings, he became himself an active producer, enjoying the production work as an extension of his musical process. Some of his recording projects include works by Talujon Percussion Quartet, Real Quiet Trio, Bang on a Can, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang among others.

He is the music director and curator of Sound Res, an international and interdisciplinary residency program for artists in Southern Italy, which also includes a music festival and a summer school. A variety of American musicians, composers and artists have been invited to the program, conceived to support collaborative projects and commission new works, presented as world premieres.

David has taught and given master class in several universities and conservatories in the US and abroad. He recently founded a music school for young children in the Lower East Side of NYC, developing a peculiar curricula and methodology in order to pass his musical and artistic experience and passion to the youngest. With the same spirit, he has devoted himself to a number of out reach programs in the NYC area.