David Wakefield
Meet The Little Orchestra Society's Principal French Horn, David Wakefield!
While still a doctoral student at the Juilliard School, David Wakefield became a member of the American Brass Quintet and joined the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival. Recently observing his 28th year with the American Brass Quintet, he now serves on the horn and chamber music faculty at the Juilliard School, and has played thousands of concerts all over the world in a career notable for its depth and variety.
He has performed as a member of the Quintet throughout North and South American, Europe, the Far East and at such distinguished international festivals as Shiraz in Iran, Edinburgh in Scotland, Casals in Puerto Rico and Nagoya in Japan. He has performed on radio and TV around the world, including nationally televised performances attended by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. And as a member of the American Brass Quintet, he was one of the first American brass players invited since the Cultural Revolution to teach and perform in the Peoples Republic of China.
Principal horn of the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the Little Orchestra Society, he was also principal horn with Concordia: A Chamber Symphony, P.D.Q. Bach, and the Joffrey Ballet. In addition, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, and Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, New York City Ballet, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Opera Orchestra of New York. He has also performed extensively on Broadway and in commercial recordings.
A passionate advocate of new music, Mr. Wakefield has premiered over 250 new works. He has worked closely with such composers as Elliott Carter, Jacob Druckman, Charles Wuorinen, Milton Babbitt, David Sampson, Eric Ewazen, Ellen Taafe Zwilich, William Schuman, Virgil Thomson, Luciano Berio, Robert Starer, William Bolcom, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Hans Abrahamsen, Shulamit Ran, and George Tsontakis. As a member of The Music Project, Parnassus, the New Music Consort, and the Princeton Contemporary Players, he has recorded for Deutsche Gramophon, RCA, Columbia Records, Nonesuch, New World, Crystal, Japan Victor, Delos, CRI, and Opus One Records.
He lives in New York City with his wife, flutist Brli Nugent, and their children Nan and Spencer and was Senior Associate Dean at The Juilliard School for five years.
