BIOGRAPHY
Violinist David Rubin is an active performer and teaching artist with wide-ranging interests on modern and historical instruments alike.
Orchestral Work
As an orchestral freelancer in the Boston area, David is a member of the New Bedford Symphony and a frequent guest in the violin section of ensembles such as Rhode Island Philharmonic and Boston Pops Esplanade. Equally at home in leadership roles, David has appeared as guest concertmaster with Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Marsh Chapel Collegium, Schola Cantorum of Boston, and Cape Ann Symphony. From 2022-24, David spent summers performing with the orchestra of the Peninsula Music Festival (Door County, WI). He previously held orchestral fellowships at the Lucerne Festival Academy (Switzerland), Spoleto Festival USA, and Banff Centre (Canada).
Historical Performance and Contemporary Music
David frequently performs on gut strings and period instruments for projects with Upper Valley Baroque and Providence Baroque.
An experienced performer of contemporary music, David has appeared as a substitute with Boston’s Sound Icon (Georg Friedrich Haas’ HYENA, in 2023) and BMOP. In four summers with the orchestras of the Lucerne Festival Academy & Alumni, David studied and performed contemporary repertoire throughout Europe (Philharmonie Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, KKL) under the baton of conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Susanna Mälkki, Peter Eötvös, and Sir George Benjamin. Recent chamber music highlights include performances of Kurtág’s Kafka-Fragments with soprano Stephanie Lamprea, recorded collaborations with mentor Sharan Leventhal (premieres by David Wallace and Andy Vores, for Leventhal’s ongoing Duo Project), and recitals with pianist Anna Reiser.
Teaching Practice
After many years teaching for non-profit organizations such as musiConnects, Community MusicWorks, and the Community Music Center of Boston, David now maintains a busy private studio at the Cambridge Music Consortium. His students range from early beginners to advanced performers and are successful participants in summer festivals, youth orchestras, and chamber music programs in Boston and beyond. David was a 2021-23 recipient of the META (Music Educator and Teaching Artist) Fellowship jointly administered by the Klarman Foundation and Mass Cultural Council. In addition, he has pursued ongoing teacher training in the Suzuki (Units 1-3, with Christie Felsing, Ed Kreitman, and David Strom) and Kaleidoscopes (Practicum with Elise Winters) methods. In 2018, supported by a professional development grant from Community MusicWorks, David attended the Indiana University Retreat for Violin and Viola Teachers for pedagogy training with Mimi Zweig, Brenda Brenner, and Rebecca Henry. David has presented masterclasses as a guest artist at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and Lawrence University. From 2015-19, David served on violin faculty at Superior String Alliance in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Background and Training
David grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, where he studied violin with Kristin Cappelli-Hedlund and participated in pre-college (Merit School of Music, Chicago Youth Symphony), summer (Interlochen), and public school orchestra programs. He continued his studies with Sharan Leventhal at Boston Conservatory, Wen-Lei Gu at Lawrence University, and Johannes Leertouwer at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
David performs on modern and baroque violins by American luthiers Nathan Keck, Jeffrey Madry, and Timothy Johnson.