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David Biedenbender's first musical collaborations were in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist and in wind and jazz bands as a bass trombone and euphonium player. His creative work is inspired by his diverse artistic interests and experiences, and he seeks to fuse the energy and clarity of those influences with his own musical language.David has had the privilege of collaborating with many talented performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Detroit Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Randall Hawes, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Washington Kantorei, the Boston New Music Initiative, Composer's Inc. (San Francisco), the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Choir, and the Vivo Sinfonietta. Recent awards and grants include an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award, regional winner of the SCI Student Composer Competition, the Third Millenium Ensemble’s Composition Prize, honorable mention for the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize and the Michigan Music Teacher’s Association Composition Competition, and a Composer Assistance Program Grant from the American Music Center. His music has been heard in diverse venues such as Symphony Space (New York City), the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (NYC), the German Embassy (Washington, DC), the Middle East (Boston, MA), the Antonín Dvořák Museum (Prague, CZ), the Old First Church (San Francisco, CA), the Settlement Music School (Philadelphia, PA), the Interlochen Center for the Arts (Interlochen, MI), Hill Auditorium (Ann Arbor, MI), the University of Michigan Museum of Art (Ann Arbor), and on WNYC’s (New York City Public Radio) Soundcheck with John Schaefer.
In addition to composing, David maintains a private studio of composition students and is a graduate student instructor in music theory at the University of Michigan, and was a member of the composition/theory faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp and at Oakland University. Current and upcoming commissions and projects include works for the United States Navy Band and saxophonist Jonathan Yanik, Dark in the Song (bassoon quintet), and cellist Jeremy Crosmer. Currently working on the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, David received the Master of Music degree in composition at the University of Michigan and the Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory from Central Michigan University. He has also studied South Indian Carnatic music. His musical mentors include Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Evan Chambers, Stephen Rush, Kristin Kuster, Erik Santos, David R. Gillingham, José Luis-Maurtúa, and John Williamson.