Meet Our Artistic Director

As Artistic Director of the Montgomery County Chorale and Orchestra, David serves as the principal conductor of the Chorale and orchestra. In addition to his artistic responsibilities, he works with the board and other committees to ensure the internal success of the organization. Since his appointment, MCCO has seen substantial growth, including a 70% increase in donations and 30% increase in concert attendance.  In addition, the organization has welcomed over 75 new members in just four years. As Artistic Director and Conductor Designate, David was instrumental in creating many new initiatives, goals, and ideas to ensure MCCO’s future success in the greater Philadelphia region. Most recently, David was named the Artistic Director of the Wheatland Chorale in Lancaster PA.

 

Prior to his appointment with MCCO, David was Director of Music and the Arts at Doylestown Presbyterian Church (DPC). In this capacity, he conducted the Chancel Choir, the DPC orchestra, two hand bell choirs, and a middle school children’s choir. He also founded and conducted the 80-voice Bucks County Ecumenical Choir (which grew from 25 to 80 singers in four years). As the administrator of the program, David oversaw three staff members, a graded children’s choir and hand bell program, the “Celebrate the Arts” performing and visual arts series, and the overall administrative needs of the program. David always seeks to develop and nurture relationships while seeking opportunities to think creatively. At DPC, he created several new initiatives to the music program, including three new ensembles, additional annual concerts, and a children’s summer camp. During his tenure, David increased participation in the music program from 90 to 200 members, and he increased sponsorship for the Celebrate the Arts program by 70%.

 

From 2016-2019 David served as the Assistant Conductor of the Bucks County Choral Society, a 100-voice auditioned community choir. In this capacity, he assisted the artistic director with any artistic necessities, aided in the preparation of all concerts, and helped plan programming for each concert season. He was responsible for the direction of the chamber choir, the family Christmas concert, the Singing for Seniors program, and the Voices of the Future scholarship program. David has also served as the Assistant Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, in Philadelphia, PA, and Director of vocal studies at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, NJ. In addition, he served on the conducting staff at Rutgers University-Camden and the Greater South Jersey Chorus.

 

A strong advocate for commissioning and premiering new music from a diverse group of composers, David has commissioned works by Dr. Rollo Dilworth, Dan Forrest, Nancy Gifford, Andrea Ramsey, and Tom Shelton. As Artistic Director of MCCO, he created the Michael Kemp Fund for New Music to honor the founder and only other conductor of the organization. Through this fund, MCCO will commission composers, focusing on women, and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), and other under-represented composers, to write pieces for choir and orchestra every two years.

 

David is an honors graduate of both Westminster Choir College and The University of Arizona. He studied conducting with Dr. Bruce Chamberlain, Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt, Dr. James Jordan, Sun Min Lee, Dr. Andrew Megill and Dr. Elizabeth Schauer. He also holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Drexel University.