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David Avshalomov has written over 150 works.

Overview

David Avshalomov is a distinguished third-generation classical composer and orchestral conductor, and an accomplished vocalist. He was born in New York City in 1946, grew up in Oregon, and has for some time been based in Santa Monica, California. He represents a musical lineage whose story stretches from the Caucasus to Siberia, through China, to the US.

As a student, David sang in school choruses; studied piano, music theory, and percussion; played timpani in student orchestras, and learned the joys of madrigal singing at home. He began composing and conducting in high school, and wrote (and conducted) his first compositions for his high school chorus. He earned degrees in music from Harvard and in orchestral conducting from the University of Washington, with further conducting studies at Peabody, Aspen, and Tanglewood. His teachers included Leo Mueller, Jean Morel, Henry Holt, Samuel Krachmalnick, Herbert Blomstedt, Werner Torkanowsky, Seiji Ozawa, and Leonard Bernstein.

In college he became a professional chorister and soloist. He served a tour of duty in the Singing Sergeants of the USAF Band, also as soloist and arranger. In Los Angeles, he sang with several chamber vocal groups including Madrigalia, Cantori di Mezzogiorno, and Soffio di Viento. He currently sings as a professional section leader and soloist with the Anglican Chorale of Southern California, Cantori Domino, Vox Pro, and Camerata Singers of Long Beach, and performs solo recitals.

For over 20 years, Avshalomov worked professionally as a conductor of orchestras, choruses, bands, and opera. In 1980 he founded the Santa Monica Chamber Orchestra, which he led for a decade. He toured in the Far East and Europe, and recorded his own music and that of his grandfather Aaron in Russia. His conducting work garnered listings in Who’s Who in Music and Who’s Who in the West.

As a composer, David Avshalomov creates his works in an accessible modern romantic, neo-tonal style that balances a rich lyric gift with a characteristic rhythmic vitality and pungent harmonies. His composition teachers included Charles Jones (at Aspen), John Verrall, Robert Suderberg, and William Bergsma (at University of Washington). He has composed works for solo voice, choruses, orchestra, band, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments, in forms ranging in scale from songs and incidental pieces to full-length oratorio. Recently he has been writing much choral music. He is receiving an increasing number of commissions from such ensembles as the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Mission Chamber Orchestra, Odyssea Chorus of Lisbon, Los Angeles Flute Orchestra, LA Clarinet Orchestra, Westwood United Methodist Church (LA), the Anglican Chorale of Southern California, and Camerata Singers of Long beach. His compositions are performed professionally across the U.S., increasingly in Europe, and in Russia, and have been recorded on the Albany and Naxos labels. He has earned composition grants from Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, the American Composer’s Forum, and the Durfee Foundation.

In Avshalomov’s words, “Melody is the thread of my daily life. I still find new paths through traditional musical forms, and fresh expression based in folk idioms and drawing on old melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic roots.”