MUSIC DIRECTOR

David Montgomery was a pupil of the French conductor-composer and Schoenberg disciple, René Leibowitz.  Montgomery trained first as an opera coach, then as a conductor and eventually made his debut at the Lyon Opera in France, followed by engagements in Europe and the United States. His film debut as a conductor took place at Columbia Pictures in 1993, and behind the scenes as historical consultant for Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence. For some years he worked for Sony Classical in New York, London and Hamburg as an editor and performance advisor.  For Sony, BMG, Deutsche Grammophon, Denon, BIS and others he wrote essays and annotations that have appeared throughout the world in various languages. From 1995 to 2000 he served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Jena Philharmonic in the former East Germany, bringing that orchestra into international prominence for the first time since it was conducted in the early 20th century by Max Reger. He has made seven recordings with the Jena Philharmonic on the BMG Arte Nova label in repertoire ranging from Beethoven and Berwald to Hanson, Bernstein, Shostakovich and Villa-Lobos.              
 
Pianist, fortepianist and harpsichordist, Mr. Montgomery has appeared throughout the U.S. and Europe as a soloist, as a four-hand player with partners Paul Hersh and Camelia Sima, and as a chamber musician. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory with Joseph Schwartz and later with the Viennese pianist Paul Badura-Skoda. He offers the concertos of Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as a wide range of recital and chamber music repertoire. He also has a great love for early jazz and ragtime, as well as jazz-related concert music. He has recorded for RCA Victor Red Seal, BMG Arte Nova and Klavier Records International.

David Montgomery is widely known as an authority on historical performance in the baroque and classical periods. He is the author of Franz Schubert’s Music in Performance (Pendragon Press), as well as many articles in the international scholarly journals. He holds the Ph.D. from U.C.L.A. and has given lectures and seminars at distinguished universities, including U.C.L.A., U.C. Berkeley, University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the University of Halle in Germany.  He has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and as a visiting professor at Vassar College, Tulane University and the College of William and Mary.  David Montgomery is Executive Music Director of the Prince William Symphony Orchestra and Prince William Baroque, which serve northern Virginia and the greater Washington D.C. area.