David Eaton (composer)
David Eaton (born July 2, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer and conductor who has been the music director of the New York City Symphony since 1985.
He has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras in Asia, Canada, Israel, Europe,[3] Central and South America,[4] Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
He has attended conducting master classes with Seiji Ozawa, Roger Norrington, Gustav Meier, Zubin Mehta and Gunther Herbig.
He has since returned to the U.N. on six subsequent occasions with the NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble and orchestra, including a performance in 2015 at the General Assembly Hall of the U.N. as part of the U.N.'s 70th anniversary concert.
That same year Eaton and the NYC Symphony introduced New York audiences to the music of the Academy Award winning composer Tan Dun.
The concert, presented at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, featured four of Tan's works, including the world premieres of his Violin Concerto and Third Symphony.
On September 9, 2011, he conducted the NYC Symphony at the General Assembly of the United Nations as part of the UN's 10th Anniversary Commemorative Program honoring the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
He conducted the NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble in a return performance at the United Nations in February 2012 at the closing ceremony of the U.N.'s Interfaith Conference.
He has also written articles and appeared at speaking engagements (including at the United Nations) promoting the utilization of art and music in the effort of creating an atmosphere conducive to inter-cultural and inter-religious harmony.
[23] His professional relationship with Japanese soprano Seiko Lee[24] has resulted in numerous concerts, musical arrangements, and recordings that advocate the ideals of peace and reconciliation.
In addition, he is the President and co-founder of the Peace Music Foundation, a non-profit organization that has sponsored an international peace-song writing contest and various peace-related cultural activities.
In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Universidad Metropolitana de Asunción (Paraguay) in recognition of his efforts to promote peace through the art of music.
In 1986 he was the lead orchestrator for the Universal Ballet Company's production of Shim Chung, The Blindman's Daughter (music by Kevin Pickard), which won the award for best entry in the Seoul Olympic Arts Festival.
Two of his compositions, Fantasie for Violin, Cello, Piano and Strings and Three Miniatures for Chamber Orchestra, were performed at Carnegie Hall by the New York City Symphony under his direction.
[25] Another recent composition, Morning's Calm for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra, was premiered at the United Nations in 2001 as part of the International World Peace Assembly.
The resulting music, The Hope of All Ages, featured narrated texts by world leaders in the realms of religion, diplomacy and human rights.
In 2008 and 2009, excerpts of the Halelu Cantata were choreographed and presented at the European Dance and Arts-Salzburg (EDAS)[29] in Cyprus (choreography by Lyn C. Wiltshire, artistic director for EDAS Cyprus and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and Cristina Uta of the Salzburg Ballet), and by the Kashet Chaim Dance Ensemble of Los Angeles.
He has conducted excerpts of the Halelu cantata in New York, Vienna, Vietnam, South Korea, Israel and at the United Nations on two occasions.
In 2014 members of the New York City Symphony appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live with the Grammy Award-winning group, Imagine Dragons.
