“Electrifying,”--The New York Times' description of David Shohl’s music, from a 1998 review of The Locrian Chamber Players'concert featuring pianist Jonathan Faiman. Fanfare, in 2000, characterized Dr. Shohl as an “immensely talented” composer whose work is “dramatic and highly charged” in a review of music recorded by Jonathan Faiman on the Musician’s Showcase label. Elliott Hurwitt, writing in the Bulletin of the Society for American Music’s Spring 2001 issue, wrote that “David Shohl’s ‘Dynamophone’... [is] tough, muscular piano music, and genuinely exciting.”
Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, David Shohl lives in New York City. As an instrumentalist, he studied piano, violin, guitar, Sundanese gamelan and Ebo drumming. He began formalcomposition studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz (BA), and continued at the San Francisco Conservatory, Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music, where he completed his doctorate in 1999. Teachers include Nils Vigeland, David Cope and Ursula Mamlok.
Winner of ASCAP’s Young Composer Award, and recipient of grants from The MacDowell Colony and Meet the Composer, his music has been performed in Anchorage, Boston, Jerusalem, New York (Merkin Hall, The92 nd Street Y, Miller Theatre), Rome, San Diego, San Francisco andVerbier.
He has been honored with commissions from the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Kathleen Supové, BargeMusic, The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Windscape, David Jolley, Gregory Zuber, the Otto Luening Trust, and the New Music Consort.
In addition to above, many prominent musicians, such as Ursula Oppens, The Verbier Festival, North/South Consonance, theLocrian Chamber Players, the Talujon Quartet, the Glass Farm Ensemble and the Sitka Music Festival have premiered his music.
A popular speaker, Dr. Shohl has given seminars at LaGuardia High School, The Manhattan School of Music and regularly guest-lectures at The New School. In 2002, he was appointed Professor of Music at Concordia College, Bronxville.
