David Edgar Walther has written over 250 works for: chamber ensembles, orchestra, ballet, solo voices, chorus, opera and music theater. You can hear and watch several pieces in the pop-ups under "Watch and Listen." The works are listed under "Catalogue." David Walther has set all of the poems of James Joyce and more poems of Emily Dickinson than any composer in history. His music has been heard both in The United States and abroad and on both public radio and cable access television.
On October 24, 2017, baritone, Hartmut Schulz presented the European premier of Six Songs of Innocence and Experience to poems by William Blake in Cologne, Germany. In June of 2015, The Swallow and The Prince was performed under a grant from the town of Dedham, MA that benefited The Dedham Food Pantry.
In 2012 Hamlet, an operatic drama based on the play by William Shakespeare, was commissioned and partially performed by Boston Metro Opera. Also in 2012 Fire Chant was commissioned by Non-Verbal Sacred Chants. In 2011 Birthday on The Moon, an operatic drama in one act, won second place in The Long Leaf Opera Competition.
In 2010, Alone Gd. Sufficeth won a performance, recording, and The Director's Prize in The Longfellow Chorus Composition Competition. That same year, Walther's operatic drama Antigon won a performance, DVD recording with The Boston Metro Opera's Main-Stage Award in their International Composition Competition. Also in 2010 The Acting Singers Project professionally recorded his Edward II.
Mr. Walther's Scaramouche et Pulcinella for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, 'Cello and Piano (Pierot Ensemble) is in preparation for premier in Nagakute, Japan, at Aichi University of The Arts. Clarinetist, Romualdo Barone will also perform Three Pieces for Clarinet on the same concert. Up-coming recording projects include: six short music theater pieces and the operas: Hamlet, Lear (both to Shakespeare texts) and Ritual (text by Andrew Swan); as well as an unaccompanied solo vocal album of spirituals.
Mr. Walther's music has been performed by The Copley Square Ballet Company, Kinetic Dance Theater of Moscow, The M. I. T. Concert Band, Mobius, The North Shore Civic Ballet, and The Chirkov Theater Company. He has also served as composer-in-residence for The Putnam Court Musicians, Music Now and Now Dance, and Primetime for Kids at Brockton College. Invocation for Organ was commissioned by The American Guild of Organists and is published by E. C. Schirmer.
Mr. Walther wrote his first mass at age 12, which was performed in New York City at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine, and at St. Anne's Pro-Cathedral of Brooklyn, NYC. At age 13, his Organ Sonata was programmed on numerous concerts across New England by his father, Dr. Samuel Walter. His Passion According to St. Mark was written when he was age 17, and performed the next year at The Church of The Resurrection in NYC. At ages 19 and 20 his Cloud Blue and Masque of The Red Death were read by The Julliard Concert Orchestra.
Mr. Walther holds a Bachelor of Music in composition from The Juilliard School of Music, and a Master's degree in vocal performance from Trenton State Teacher's College. Later he pursued a Ph. D. in musical composition at Boston University. There he taught courses in Ear Training and Keyboard Harmony on a teaching fellowship. Subsequently he earned scholarships in opera at Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatory.
His composition teachers include: Vincent Persichetti, David Diamond, Otto Leuning, and Calvin Hampton. See 6 degrees of separation to the left for further, sometimes bizarre, tendrils to these and other teachers.
"May the Darkness of the season inspire you with the Saturnian vibe
you so long towards: Slow, Sad, Reflective, Dense, Obsessive, Complex,"
Andrew Swan, husband of 25 years.
Mr. Walther is the Artistic Director of The Acting Singers Project
The Acting Singers Project website is actingsingersproject.com
Please feel free to email David Walther at: hrwr@earthlink.net