David Aaron Carpenter Viola

Recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award, First Prize Winner of the Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, David Aaron Carpenter is widely considered one of the most talented and charismatic musicians of his generation. 

David is a former Rolex “Protégé” for which he was mentored by Pinchas Zukerman. David made his solo debut at the Kennedy Center after winning the Presidential Scholar Award and the first-ever Gold Medal Award at the National Foundation For Advancement In The Arts. Since then he has performed with leading musicians and orchestras around the world, from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the Philharmonia, the Dresden Staatskapelle to the Lucerne Symphony. 

As a chamber musician, David has collaborated with such renowned artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Sarah Chang, Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, Alan Gilbert, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jan Vogler, and Yuja Wang. He is a regular guest artist at the Verbier Music Festival, and was proud to be an integral part of their 20th anniversary season.  He is currently the Artistic Director of the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, which he co-founded with his brother Sean and sister Lauren.

David received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from Princeton University in 2008.  David was featured in The New Yorker article “Musical Gold” by Rebecca Mead in July, 2014, on the cover of The Strad magazine in August 2013, and a few months earlier was the subject of a three-page article in The New York Times.  Along with the Salomé Chamber Orchestra, David released his Warner Classics recording featuring Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Shor's Twelve Seasons. His newest release on Warner Classics features the Bartok, Walton, Shor and Dvorak Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestros Vladimir Jurowski, David Parry, and Kazushi Ono.

David plays on a viola made by Michele Deconet, Venice (1766).