a b o u t
David Vess (b. 1991) is an American composer, conductor and teacher who believes in the power of music to build community and transform lives. His music has been called everything from having “glowing vocal textures” to being “ a real barnburner” and has been featured in performances across the United States and the world. Dave is a versatile composer, having created scores for film, orchestra, wind ensemble, choir, chamber ensembles and electronic scores. In their review of his work “To Dream Again,” South Florida Classical Review said Vess “demonstrated real talent for choral scoring and great promise for his future as a composer.” He has worked with such ensembles as the GRAMMY Nominated Choir: Seraphic Fire, the Brockton Symphony orchestra, the Bridgewater State University Wind Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Shiki Duo, and many more.
As an educator, David has served for 4 years as the Instructor of Composition at Bridgewater State University, teaching music theory, music appreciation, career skills for musicians and composition. He currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Also in Miami, David teaches music theory at Frost Advanced Piano Prep, teaching students as young as 10 to pre-college. He serves as an instructor at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute teaching classes such as 'The Symphonies that Rocked the World', 'Understanding Film Music' and 'The Lost American Symphonies' which helps audiences learn the language of classical and media music. David cares deeply about connecting many different viewpoints of music together. It isn't uncommon for his music theory classes to reference music beyond the classical canon, including popular music, scores from film and video games and also musical theater. Mozart, Beethoven and Bach will all appear in class next to artists such as Jimi Hendrix, John Williams, the Alabama Shakes, Yoko Shimomura, Stephen Sondheim and more. When not pursuing his Doctorate at UM, David lives in Jacksonville, FL with his wife, Navy Fleet Band clarinetist, Sophie Kass.
