David Johnson Dalton (January 18, 1934 – December 23, 2022)[1] was an American violist, author, and professor emeritus at Brigham Young University (BYU).

[3] David was born the third child of five, and grew up "pitching hay, threshing grain, and doing all those farm activities.

[4]: 4 Dalton began taking lessons soon after that, first from the local high school music director, Harmon Hatch, and later with John Hilgendorf.

[4]: 5  When he entered high school, Dalton studied with Lawrence Sardoni, the director of the BYU Symphony Orchestra.

[4]: 6  Dalton began studies at Brigham Young University himself in the fall of 1952, where he was named Concertmaster of the BYU Symphony Orchestra.

[5] In these early years of his musical training, Dalton often played at church and community events, both as a soloist and as a part of trios, quartets, and the Springville Civic Orchestra.

[4]: 4–5  In 1954, Dalton halted his studies at BYU and spent two and a half years in Germany on a proselyting mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

[7] At the conclusion of his mission, Dalton enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music, returning to Utah six months later.

"Blown away" after hearing Primrose practice, Dalton decided to permanently shift his focus from the violin to the viola.

[4]: 14  After graduating from Eastman, Dalton received the Bavarian State Music Scholarship to study at the Munich Hochschule für Musik, which he attended from 1961 to 1962.

[14] After a year at Southwestern he was invited to join the faculty at Brigham Young University in the fall of 1963.

He was a long-time member of the Deseret String Quartet beginning in 1970,[24] served as the director of the Young Chamber Players of Utah (1985-2001),[25] and directed the music for several Brigham Young University opera productions including Falstaff, La Bohème, and Jenůfa.