David Chavez

Position:

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Music Theory

Email: dchavez@su.edu

Employed Since:

2012

Conservatory Professional Highlights:

Dave Chavez has written works for choirs, instruments, nod electronics across a variety of genres and styles. Recent premieres include Norton: A Civil War Opera, commissioned by Loudoun Lyric Opera with libretto by Meredith Bean McMath; the premiere was followed by a lecture recital on the opera at the Chautauqua Institution. Recent works include Christmas Cantata (chorus/soloist/string trio/bassoon), Three Orchestral Songs (orchestra/soloist), It Starts with One (clarinet/live electronics), The Passion According to Mark (soloist/chorus/electronics), Ubi Caritas (chorus), Though the Doors Were Locked (wind trio/electronics), Remember You Are Dust (chorus/piano), Early Church (Acts 2:37-47) (amplified bassoon/rhythm section), Ruach (singing handbells), Magnificat! (chorus) and various arrangements for rock band. Chavez’s works, including the one-act operas The Wolf and the Lamb and Overtones, which have been premiered and performed in Europe and the United States by artists and performing groups including Elisabeth Stimpert of Alarm Will Sound, Crittenden Opera, National Opera Association, ArtScape, BYU Opera, Penn State University Opera Theater, and Shenandoah Conservatory Opera Theater. Chavez served as a collaborative pianist at the 2013 Castleton Festival directed by Lorin Maazel, and performs regularly with Opera on Tap DC Metro (an organization that produces opera concerts in bars and wineries in and around Washington, D.C.). Residencies include Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities where Chavez composed his first opera, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts where he began the work on Norton: A Civil War Opera.

Divisions:

Conservatory Academics

Educational History:

B.M., M.M., Pennsylvania State University; D.M.A., George Mason University