David Aaron Carpenter (born 5 April 1986) is an American violist and was the first Prize Winner of the 2006 Walter W. Naumburg Viola Competition.
He continued to pursue both instruments at the pre-college divisions of Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Italy’s Accademia Chigiana, Switzerland’s International Music Academy, and the Verbier Festival Academy, studying with Pinchas Zukerman, Roberto Diaz, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Mann, Nobuko Imai, Boris Belkin, and Yuri Bashmet.
In 2008, he was Maxim Vengerov’s last-minute replacement for performances of Benjamin Yusupov's Viola, Tango, Rock Concerto with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland.
He has performed in the United States at Avery Fisher Hall, Chicago’s Krannert Center, and San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, among other venues.
In September, David released his first recording on the Ondine label with a viola version of the Elgar Cello Concerto (arr.
[citation needed] Together with his siblings he formed the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, soon turning it into a professional venture with David directing concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It quickly gained a reputation as one of New York’s top young groups, comprising recent graduates from the major conservatories and Ivy League universities such as Yale and Princeton.