David Bloom — conductor, clarinet, co-artistic director

In addition to his work as co-artistic director of Contemporaneous, David Bloom is conductor of Symphony Z, an eclectic, Brooklyn-based chamber band dedicated to performing the music of composer William Zuckerman. Called by Sequenza21, “the charismatic busybody behind the group Contemporaneous,” David is a dedicated advocate for new music, regularly working with composers from around the globe to bringing new and recent works to life. David has conducted over 20 world premieres at such venues as Lincoln Center, Galapagos Art Space, Roulette, and The Stone. He studies conducting with Alan Pierson and at Bard College with James Bagwell and Harold Farberman. He is also artistic assistant at the Brooklyn Philharmonic and conductor of the Bard College Opera Workshop.

As a composer, David’s music has been called “pensive and expressive” by the Birmingham News and his works have been premiered by David Shifrin, Hsin-Yun Huang, Jeewon Park, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Sursum Corda, and students at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, among others. He studies composition at Bard with Joan Tower and George Tsontakis and has previously worked with composers such as David Ludwig, Stephen Coxe, Melinda Wagner, and Christopher Theofanidis.