Dr. Schultz enjoys a diverse career as a conductor, violist, and composer based in Michigan. Equally at home in front of an orchestra of professionals, amateurs, or students, he has been lauded for his inviting demeanor, efficient rehearsals, and dynamic performances. An advocate for contemporary composers, he has conducted several world premieres by composers Marjan Helms, Daniel Tressel, Kevin Wilt, and more. An ardent lover of music genres aside from classical orchestral repertoire, he has collaborated with musicians in manifold styles such as Jazz, Blues, Rock, Hip Hop, Bluegrass, Klezmer, classical Arabic, and African drumming. David values music as a means of human connection and transformation, and is passionate about sharing the experience of making music with both performers and audiences alike.
Dr. Schultz is the music director and conductor of the Dexter Community Orchestra, the Livingston Symphony Orchestra, and the Mason Symphony Orchestra. Previous conducting positions include associate conductor of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, conductor of the Jackson Youth Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of the contemporary-music ensemble Musique 21 at Michigan State University. As a guest conductor he has worked with high school orchestra programs in Chelsea, Dexter, Jackson, and Okemos. In 2019 he was awarded Honorable Mention for the Respighi Prize in Conducting.
As a violist, David performs with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra among other orchestras in mid-Michigan. He also performs with the Chelsea Chamber Players, and is a violist and co-founder of the Lansing-based contemporary-music ensemble ConTempus Initiative.
As a composer, his original works and arrangements have been performed by the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Youth Symphony Orchestra, Livingston Symphony Orchestra, and Northwest Repertory Singers in Tacoma, WA. He has also scored films for Sisbro Studios’s “Riddle Solvers” series, and has arranged for artists such as Laith Al-Saadi and Stephanie Anne Johnson, both finalists on NBC’s “The Voice.”
David received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University, and holds a Master of Music in Viola Performance from Michigan State University, and a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from Lawrence University. He has studied music in Vienna, Austria, at the Aspen Music Festival, and has conducted in workshops with the Chamber Orchestra of New York, Boulder Chamber Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, at Bard College, and at the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival. His conducting mentors include Leon Gregorian, Raphael Jimenez, and Markand Thakar.
David lives in Dexter, Michigan with his wife Emily and their two children, Elinor and Julian.