David Conte is the composer of over two hundred works published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company, including seven operas, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, band, and chamber music. He has received commissions from the San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton, and Dayton Symphonies, the Atlantic Classical Orchestra; Chanticleer, and from the American Guild of Organists. In 2007 he received the Raymond Brock commission from the American Choral Directors Association, one of the nation’s highest honors in choral music. His work is represented on many commercial CD recordings, including in 2015 Chamber Music of David Conte, on the Albany label; in 2016 Choral Music of Conrad Susa and David Conte, on the Delos label; and in 2018 Everyone Sang: Vocal Music of David Conte on the Arsis label. His opera The Gift of the Magi has received over 40 productions in the U. S., Canada, Europe, and Russia. Conte co-wrote the film score for the acclaimed documentary Ballets Russes, shown at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals in 2005, and composed the music for the PBS documentary, Orozco: Man of Fire, shown on the American Masters Series in the fall of 2007. In 1982, Conte lived and worked with Aaron Copland while preparing a study of the composer’s sketches, having received a Fulbright Fellowship for study with Copland’s teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris, where he was one of her last students. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from Cornell University, where he studied with Karel Husa. He is Professor of Composition and Chair of the Composition Department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he has taught since 1985. From 2011-2022 he served on the composition faculty of the European American Musical Alliance in Paris. In 2014 he was named Composer in Residence for Cappella SF, a professional chamber choir in San Francisco. In 2016 his song cycle American Death Ballads won First Prize in the NATS Composition Competition and was premiered by tenor Brian Thorsett and pianist Warren Jones at the NATS Conference in Chicago. In 2024 he was named Composer of the Year for the Biennial National Convention of the American Guild of Organists. A recording of his chamber music, including his Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Sonata for French Horn and Piano, Aria and Fugue for Cello and Piano, Elegy for Violin and Piano, and Piano Trio No. 2, was released on the Pentatone label in August, 2025. His Sinfonietta for Classical Orchestra is featured on a new recording by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.
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New CD: Sinfonietta for Classical Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic; Michael Poll, conductor
New CD: Intimate Voices: Chamber Music of David Conte
“...with its emphasis on clear melodic shaping, purposeful thematic development and control, a rich and varied harmonic palette constructed around solid tonal foundations, consummate command of instrumental resources and inventive use of established formal archetypes…Conte is a master of his own technique and craft.”
— Gramophone Magazine, September 2025
read full review
Gramophone Magazine Contemporary Composer profile, December 2025
AGO Names David Conte as 2024 Distinguished Composer
Conte Wins 2016 NATS Art Song Composition Award for “American Death Ballads”
www.nats.org
CD: Mundus Novus
“Of A Summer Evening” for Guitar Duo
Americas Guitar Duo; Vinicius Jacomin, Gillian Omalyev, guitarists
Listen to: Movement IV. “Fireflies”
Vocal Music of David Conte
"Conte proves himself a master of the singing line... Moments of palpably exciting
drama are interposed with those of quiet reflection, containing Conte's trademark
exquisite flowing melodic lines... David Conte is a major composer of our era.”
- David DeBoor Canfield, FANFARE MAGAZINE