David Eaton

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David Eaton (born: July 2, 1949, Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer and conductor who has been the music director of the New York City Symphony since 1985. He has also been an active composer and arranger with 40 original compositions and over 600 arrangements and original songs to his credit. He has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras in Asia, Canada, Europe, Central and South America, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Several of his compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations and by orchestras in the United States and Europe.

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[edit] Early musical studies

David Eaton began his musical training at age 10 while a student at St. Charles elementary school in suburban Cleveland and began composing and playing the piano at age 14 while at Parma Senior High School. He studied formally at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, Ohio State University and the Tanglewood Institute of Music.

He has attended conducting master classes with Seiji Ozawa, Roger Norrington, Gustav Meier and Gunther Herbig.

He composed his first symphony at age 19 and has been an active composer and arranger for over 40 years.

[edit] Early professional experience

While a student at Ohio State (1967-1974) David Eaton performed, composed and arranged for several jazz and rock groups in the northern Ohio area including The North River Street Rock Collection, The Jeff Kutash Review, Euphrates and the Wunderlee Rock Orchestra.

During this time he continued to compose works for chamber ensembles, orchestra, mixed chorus and concert band. These composition include Rain: Four Symphonic Impressions (Op.5), Capriccio in F for Concert Band (Op. 7), Parallelograms for Brass (Opus. 11), Symphony No. 1 (Op. 19) and Essay No. 1 for Band (Op. 21).

He took up residence in New York City in 1975 and became a member of the New York City Symphony in 1976. In 1978 he resided in Boston and from 1979 to 1981 he toured extensively in California and college campuses throughout the United States as arranger and instrumentalist (trombone and keyboards) with the jazz/fusion ensemble, The Front Group. Upon moving back to New York in 1981 he became an active freelance arranger, conductor and recording producer.

[edit] Professional conducting career

David Eaton began his professional conducting career in New York City in 1977 conducting the New York City Symphony Chamber Ensemble in a series of concerts in Manhattan and has since led that ensemble in numerous concerts in New York City as well as a United States tour in 1995. The tour included concerts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C. and Boston.

In 1985 he was appointed music director of the New York City Symphony (a professional ensemble which was founded in 1926).

In addition to leading the New York City Symphony in its highly acclaimed Lincoln Center concert series at Alice Tully Hall, Mr. Eaton has led the New York City Symphony and its Chamber Ensemble and Brass Choir in numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, the Manhattan Center, Merkin Hall, Harlem's Apollo Theater, the United Nations and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He also served as conductor of the Goldman Memorial Band and led that historic ensemble in its summer concert series in New York City from 1998 to 2000 including concerts at Lincoln Center and Coney Island.

After his Carnegie Hall debut in 1989, the New York Daily News hailed the New York City Symphony as "one of America's finest orchestras." He has subsequently appeared with the NYC Symphony at Carnegie Hall on four occasions, including a concert during Carnegie Hall's Centennial Celebration.

In 1997 he led the NYCS Chamber Ensemble in a program at the United Nations during the U.N.'s 50th Anniversary celebration honoring its Non-Governmental Organizations. He returned to the U.N. for two subsequent appearances with the NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble in 1998 and 1999.

In 1988, he led the New York City Symphony on its first international tour. The tour included four concerts in Japan and seven performances at the Olympic Arts Festival in Seoul, Korea. The orchestra's appearance at the Seoul Arts Center marked the first time that a Western orchestra had performed at that hall.

That same year Mr. Eaton and the NYC Symphony introduced New York audiences to the music of the Academy Award winning composer Tan Dun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). 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.

Mr. Eaton made his European conducting debut in 1989 with L'Orchestra Symphonique Français at the Flaine Summer Music Festival. In 1990 and 1991 he made two subsequent guest conducting appearances with that ensemble in Flaine and at the famed Salle Geveau in Paris.

Mr. Eaton appeared as a guest conductor with the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra in a program of music by American composers at the Kiev International Music Festival in 1991. The concert was broadcast nationally by the Ukraine National Television and Radio network. He was subsequently invited to conduct an all-Mozart program with the Neri Symphony Orchestra of Moscow at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory as part of the International Mozart Bicentennial Festival in Moscow.

Other guest conducting appearances include concerts with members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony, the Les Amis Chamber Ensemble of Toronto at the St. Lawrence Performing Arts Center, the Taipei City Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan, the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala, the Soo Won Symphony (Korea), the Asuncion National Symphony Orchestra (Paraguay), the Goldman Memorial Band at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Repertory Ballet and the Chamber Players of the Americas at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

In 2007 he returned to Korea to conduct the Camerata Chamber Orchestra at the World Culture and Sports Festival.

He conducted the Belgrade Philharmonic in Serbia in the world premiere concert of Halelu---Songs of David in May 2007, a work that he co-composed with Israeli vocalist and composer David D'Or. In October 2007, he conducted a second performance of Halelu with the Sofia (Bulgaria) Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

In November 2007 he was featured conductor/arranger in the “Three Sopranos Peace Concert” presented in Asuncion, Paraguay, in collaboration with sopranos Gloria Criscione, Seiko Lee and Mzuri.

[edit] Music for Peace

A committed advocate for peace and interreligious reconciliation, David Eaton has traveled to the Middle East on numerous occasions since 2003 to produce concerts and conferences in association with the Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI). He has also written articles and appeared at speaking engagements to promote the idea of utilizing art and music in creating an atmosphere conducive to inter-cultural and inter-religious harmony.

It was at the MEPI Peace Concert in Jerusalem in 2004 where he first met the renowned Israeli singer-composer David D'Or, which resulted in a collaboration that resulted in the creation of the Cantata for Peace, Halelu--Songs of David.

His professional relationship with Japanese soprano Seiko Lee (right) has resulted in numerous concerts, musical arrangements and recordings that advocate the ideals of peace and reconciliation. Both are charter members of Artists Association for World Peace (AAWP), an organization that encourages artists to use their creative abilities in the most humanitarian and altruistic fashion. Miss Lee's recent concerts in North Korea are testimonies to the vision and ideals of AAWP. Mr. Eaton has also produced peace related concerts and conferences in Asia, South America and Europe.

In addition to his work with AAWP, 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. He was the producer of the CD, Peace Is In Our Hands, that features the five winning entries of the inaugural peace-song competition in 2005 as well as international artists representing South America, Israel and the United States.

In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Universidad Metropolitana de Asuncion (Paraguay) in recognition of his efforts to promote peace through the art of music.

[edit] Composing and arranging

In addition to his conducting career David Eaton has been a prolific composer, arranger and producer with forty original compositions and more than 600 original songs and arrangements to his credit. 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 (1990) and his Three Miniatures for Chamber Orchestra (1991), were performed at Carnegie Hall by the New York City Symphony under his direction. His symphonic band work, Melavations (2000), was premiered by the Goldman Memorial Band at Lincoln Center as part of that ensemble's 2000 summer concert season. Another recent composition, Morning's Calm for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra (2001), was premiered at the United Nations in 2001 as part of the International World Peace Assembly.

His orchestral settings of Sephardic folk songs, The Alhambra Suite was commissioned for the Second Assembly of the World's Religions in 1985. The suite recently received two performances by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in 2004 and 2005 and received a subsequent performance at the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival in 2005.

In observance of the first anniversary of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, he was commissioned to write music for the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace Conference in New York in September 2002. The resulting music, The Hope of All Ages, featured narrated texts by world leaders in the realms of religion, diplomacy and human rights. The composition received a second performance at New York’s Lincoln Center in September 2005 at the inaugural ceremony for the Universal Peace Federation.

His most recent composing project, the Cantata for Peace, Halelu--Songs of David, is a collaboration with the prominent Israeli vocalist David D’Or. The debut recording of Halelu was recorded in Israel in 2006 with the Ra’anana Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Chorus of Israel. Halelu received its world premiere performance in Belgrade, Serbia, under his direction on May 19, 2007, with David D'Or and soprano, Seiko Lee as the soloists with the Belgrade Philharmonic and the 120-voice choir of the Academic Cultural Artistic Society. The concert was held at the Sava Arts Center in Belgrade and was televised to six other Eastern European countries.

He conducted a second performance of Halelu in Sofia, Bulgaria with David D'Or, Seiko Lee and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus on October 8, 2007.

As an arranger/conductor/producer he has worked with a wide array of artists including Jennifer Holliday, Philip Michael Thomas and Paul Sorvino. In the recording studio he has produced numerous tracks utilizing MIDI sequencing synthesizers as well as conventional instrumentation. From 1991 to 1995 he served as a house producer and arranger at the Manhattan Center in New York, arranging and producing scores of songs for a wide array of artists including Columbia/Sony jazz artist Richard Bona.

He arranged the 16 songs on soprano Seiko Lee's recent CD, Liberation--Songs of My Spiritual Country, which was produced to promote reconciliation and peace between North and South Korea. In recent years has conducted several of these arrangements with Miss Lee at peace concerts in New York, South America and Korea.

Several of his arrangements were featured in the Three Sopranos World Peace concerts held at the Teatro Lirico del Banco Central del Paraguay on November 14 and 15, 2007. Five of his original songs appear on the Heart to Heart and Peace Is In Our Hands CDs, produced by MEPI and the Universal Peace Federation.

[edit] Notable Compositions

  • The Three Hearts of God Ballet (1983/Revised 2006)
  • The Alhambra Suite on Sephardic Melodies (1985)
  • Festive Prelude for Orchestra (1988)
  • Fantasie for Violin, Cello, Piano and Strings (1990)
  • Three Miniatures for Chamber Orchestra (1991)
  • Variations on an Original Theme for MIDI Synthesizer (1994)
  • Instrumental Set No. 3 for String Quartet and Harp (1995/Revised 2007)
  • Kenny's Joy for Strings and Vocal Percussion (1998)
  • Melavations for Concert Band, (2000)
  • Morning's Calm for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra (2001)
  • The Hope of All Ages for Narrators, Strings and Harp (2002)
  • We Shall Live in Peace, Hymn for the Interreligious Peace Sports Festival (2003)
  • Two Poems for Narrator and Synthesizer, (2004)
  • Halelu--Songs of David, Cantata, (2005)

[edit] References

  • New Sunday Times: Music Section: "Voice From Heaven" by Subhadra Devan, July 29, 2007
  • Blic Zema Weekly: Arts: "Israel to Belgrade and Serbia," Belgrade, Serbia, May 21-27, 2007
  • Time Magazine: People Section, Vol. 137, No. 19, May 13, 1991
  • New York Times: Arts Section/Footlights by Lawrence van Gelder, May 27, 1999
  • New York Times: Music Guide by Allan Kozinn, June 9, 2000
  • New York Times: Music Review by Tim Page, July 1, 1986
  • In Touch Magazine: Article, "Cantata for Peace," by Gina Coleman, May, 2008
  • New York Daily News: Music Section: Review by Bill Zakariasen, November 10, 1989
  • New York Daily News: Music Section: Review by Bill Zakariasen, May 11, 1989
  • New York Daily News: Music Section: Review by Bill Zakariasen, November 1, 1988
  • New York Times: Music Review by Bernard Holland, November 12, 1989
  • New York Times: Music Review by Bernard Holland, February 9, 1988
  • New York Post: Music Review by Dan Aquilante, May 17, 1991
  • Black Star News: "Apollo Makes History Again," by Brenda Jeanne Wyche, June 14, 2006
  • The Arch Newsletter: Memorial Day Concert 2000, Vol I, Issue III, Fall/Winter 2000
  • La Nacion: Article, "The sopranos provided a spectacle of luxury CPB", November 16, 2007
  • La Nacion: Article, "Three Sopranos Began its International Tour Today, the BCP," November 14, 2007
  • New Sunday Times: Music Section, Article, "Voice From Heaven" by Subhadra Devan, July 29, 2007
  • Korea Times: Review by David Raher, October 8, 1988
  • The South Plainfield Reporter (NJ), Music Review by Bill Millard, May 31, 1991
  • New York City Tribune: Culture Section: Article by Tom Pniewski, August 30, 1988
  • New York City Tribune: Culture Section: Article by Steve Longier, October 7, 1988
  • New York City Tribune: Music Review by Ireland J. Randolph, May 8, 1987
  • World & I: Innovative Approaches to Peace, Article: "Peace Cantata Recorded in Israel," Fall 2006 Edition, Publisher: Universal Peace Federation, Washington, D.C.

[edit] External links