David Conte (b. 1955, Denver, Colorado)

David Conte teaches music history, theory, and composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in California. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he studied with Wallace DePue and Ruth Inglefield. He continued his education at Cornell, where he received his MFA and DMA and studied under Karel Husa, Robert Palmer, Steven Stucky, and Thomas Sokol. Conte also studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger on a Fulbright scholarship, was a Ralph Vaughan Williams Fellow, and attended the Aspen Music Festival as a Conducting Fellow. Conte has worked with the American composer Aaron Copland and has taught at Cornell, Keuka College, and Colgate University and at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.

Conte’s music has been performed widely throughout the United States, and he has received commissions from such prestigious American groups as the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the vocal ensemble Chanticleer. He has composed works for orchestra, several operas, and various works for organ, voice, chorus, and combinations thereof. His music appears on numerous commercial recordings. Recently, Conte worked in collaboration with film composer Todd Boekelheide on the score for the documentary film Ballet Russes, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005.