David Eaton (born July 2, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American composer and conductor who has been the music director of the New York City Symphony since 1985.The New York City Symphony was "purchased/rescued" by Rev. Sun Myung Moon in 1973. From 1985 through 1990, the organization received the bulk of its funding in the form of an annual grant/subsidy from the International Cultural Foundation, a church-related entity. The ICF subsidy ended in 1990, and since 1991 the orchestra has received support (grants, contributions, in-kind, earned income) from a variety of sources (National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council of the Arts, NY Daily News, SONY/Columbia, New York Stock Exchange, The Turkish Embassy, Uptown Chamber of Commerce, Universal Peace Federation, e.g.)The New York Times, Review by Will Crutchfield, June 1985 He has also been an active composer and arranger, with 105 original compositions and over 900 arrangements and original songs to his credit. He has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras in Asia, Canada, Israel, Europe,New Sunday Times: Music Section, "Voice From Heaven" by Subhadra Devan, July 29, 2007 Central and South America,La Nación: "The sopranos provided a spectacle of luxury CPB", November 16, 2007 Russia, Ukraine and the United States. His compositions and arrangements have been performed at Carnegie Hall,New York Post: Music Review by Dan Aquilante, May 17, 1991The South Plainfield Reporter (NJ), Music Review by Bill Millard, May 31, 1991 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations and by orchestras in the United States, Asia, Israel, South AmericaLa Nación: "Three Sopranos Began its International Tour Today, the BCP", November 14, 2007 and Europe. He also served at the conductor of the historic Goldman Band from 1998 to 2000 conducting the ensemble in concerts throughout the New York metropolitan area including performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. From 2018 to 2024 we was the principal conductor of the Hyo Jeong Youth Orchestra in South Korea. In 2022 he self-published his first book, What Music Tells Me: Beauty, Truth and Goodness and Our Cultural Inheritance.
Early musical experience He studied formally at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, Ohio State University, and at the Tanglewood Institute. He has attended conducting master classes with Seiji Ozawa, Roger Norrington, Gustav Meier, Zubin Mehta and Gunther Herbig. He composed his first symphony while a freshman at Ohio State University and has been an active composer and arranger for over five decades. During his time as a student he performed, composed and produced professionally in the northern Ohio area. In 1974 he became a member of the Unification Church and has worked in the performing arts department in the church since 1976, providing him extensive performing opportunities in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and internationally."Witnessing Summit, New York-New Jersey", David Eaton, January 14, 2008. In 1976 he became a member of the New York City Symphony.
Professional conducting career
Eaton began his professional conducting career in New York City in 1977, conducting the New York City Symphony Chamber Ensemble in a series of concerts in Manhattan, and has since led that ensemble in numerous concerts in New York CityThe New York Times: Music Review by Tim Page, July 1, 1986 as well as a United States tour in 1995 that included performances in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In addition to leading the New York City SymphonyNew York City Tribune: Culture Section: Tom Pniewski, August 30, 1988. in its highly acclaimed Lincoln CenterNew York Daily News: Music Section: Review by Bill Zakariasen, November 10, 1989 concert series at Alice Tully Hall, Eaton led the New York City Symphony and its Chamber Ensemble and Brass Choir in numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall,New York Post: Music Review by Dan Aquilante, May 17, 1991 Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall,The New York Times: Music Review by Bernard Holland, February 9, 1988 the Manhattan Center, Merkin Hall, Harlem's Apollo Theater,Black Star News: "Apollo Makes History Again", by Brenda Jeanne Wyche, June 14, 2006 the United Nations, Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
He also served as conductor of the Goldman Band, and led that ensemble in its summer concert series in New York City from 1998 to 2000, including concerts at Lincoln Center, BrooklynThe Arch Newsletter: Memorial Day Concert 2000, Vol I, Issue III, Fall/Winter 2000 and Coney Island.The New York Times: Music Guide by Allan Kozinn, June 9, 2000.
After his Carnegie Hall debut in 1989, the New York Daily News hailed the New York City Symphony as "one of America's finest orchestras."New York Daily News: Music Section: Review by Bill Zakariasen, May 11, 1989. He later appeared with the NYC Symphony at Carnegie Hall on multiple occasions, including a concert during Carnegie Hall's Centennial Celebration.Time: People Section, Vol. 137, No. 19, May 13, 1991
In 1997 he led the NYCS Chamber Ensemble in a program at the United Nations during the U.N.'s 50th anniversary celebration honoring its non-governmental organizations. He has since returned to the U.N. on six subsequent occasions with the NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble and orchestra, including a performance in 2015 at the General Assembly Hall of the U.N. as part of the U.N.'s 70th anniversary concert, as well as a performance celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of ECOSOC in 2026.West Essex Tribune, Vol. 87, No. 29, July 30, 2015
In 1988, he led the New York City Symphony on its first international tour.Korea Times: Review by David Raher, October 8, 1988 The tour included four concerts in Japan. and seven performances at the Olympic Arts Festival in Seoul, Korea. The orchestra's appearance at the Seoul Arts Center marked the first time that a Western orchestra had performed at that hall.
That same year Eaton and the NYC Symphony introduced New York audiences to the music of the Academy Award winning composer Tan Dun. The concert, presented at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, featured four of Tan's works, including the world premieres of his Violin Concerto and Third Symphony.The New York Times: Music Review by Bernard Holland, February 9, 1988
He made his European conducting debut in 1989 with L'Orchestra Symphonique Français at the Flaine Summer Music Festival. In 1990 and 1991 he made two subsequent guest conducting appearances with that ensemble in Flaine and at the Salle Geveau in Paris. He also appeared as a guest conductor with the Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra in a program of music by American composers at the Kyiv International Music Festival in 1991. He was subsequently invited to conduct an all-Mozart program with the Neri Symphony Orchestra of Moscow at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory as part of the International Mozart Bicentennial Festival in Moscow.
Other guest conducting appearances include concerts with members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Chamber Ensemble (UK), the Los Angeles Chamber Symphony, the Les Amis Chamber Ensemble of Toronto at the St. Lawrence Performing Arts Center, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei City Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan, the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala, the Suwon Symphony (Korea), the Asunción National Symphony Orchestra (Paraguay), the Goldman Band at Lincoln Center, the Hanoi Philharmonic, the Prime Philharmonic (Korea), the Metropolitan Repertory Ballet (NY) and the Chamber Players of the Americas at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. In 2007 he returned to Korea to conduct the Camerata Chamber Orchestra at the World Culture and Sports Festival. His guest conducting appearance with David D'Or and the Hanoi Philharmonic at the Hanoi Opera House in 2013 was a part the 20th Anniversary celebration of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Israel. In 2013 he returned to Taiwan to conduct the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Taipei.
He conducted the Belgrade Philharmonic in Serbia in the world premiere concert of Halelu---Songs of David in May 2007,Blic Zema Weekly: Arts: "Israel to Belgrade and Serbia", Belgrade, Serbia, May 21–27, 2007 a work that he co-composed with Israeli vocalist and composer David D'Or. In October 2007, he conducted a second performance of the Halelu cantata with the Sofia (Bulgaria) Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. In 2018 and 2019 he conducted concerts with the Western Symphony Orchestra featuring Britain's Got Talent award-winning vocalist, Paul Potts. In February 2020 he returned to South Korea conducted another program with Paul Potts and the Korean Modern Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2007 he was featured conductor/arranger in the "Three Sopranos Peace Concert" presented in Asunción, Paraguay. On September 9, 2011, he conducted the NYC Symphony at the General Assembly of the United Nations as part of the UN's 10th Anniversary Commemorative Program honoring the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The program included excerpts of the Halelu cantata and his "Hope of All Ages" music. He conducted the NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble in a return performance at the United Nations in February 2012 at the closing ceremony of the U.N.'s Interfaith Conference.
In 2017 Mr. Eaton was invited to conduct three movements of the Halelu peace cantata with the Vienna Youth Chamber Ensemble as part of a benefit concert for Syrian refugees at the Syrian Orthodox Church in Vienna, Austria.
Music for Peace
A committed advocate for peace and interreligious reconciliation, Eaton has traveled to the Middle East on numerous occasions since 2003 to produce concerts and conferences in association with the Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI). He has also written articles and appeared at speaking engagements (including at the United Nations) promoting the utilization of art and music in the effort of creating an atmosphere conducive to inter-cultural and inter-religious harmony.
It was at the MEPI Peace Concert in Jerusalem in 2004 that he first met the renowned Israeli singer-composer David D'Or, which resulted in a collaboration that led to the creation of the Cantata for Peace, Halelu—Songs of David.World & I: Innovative Approaches to Peace, "Peace Cantata Recorded in Israel", Fall Edition, Publisher: Universal Peace Federation, Washington, D.C., 2006
His professional relationship with Japanese soprano Seiko Lee"New Jerusalem Family Church: Summit Report" - NY/NJ - January 14, 2008 by David Eaton. has resulted in numerous concerts, musical arrangements, and recordings that advocate the ideals of peace and reconciliation. Both are charter members of Artists Association for World Peace (AAWP), an organization that encourages artists to use their creative abilities in the most humanitarian and altruistic fashion. He has also co-produced peace-related concerts and conferences in Asia, South America, and Europe.
In addition, he is the President and co-founder of the Peace Music Foundation, a non-profit organization that has sponsored an international peace-song writing contest and various peace-related cultural activities. He was the producer of the CD, Songs for Peace, that features the winning entries of the inaugural PMF peace-song competition in 2005. He also co-produced the "Heart to Heart" CD (2004) for MEPI and the Peace Song Competition CD, "Peace Is In Our Hands", for the Universal Peace Federation in 2006. In 2020 and 2021 he conducted several concerts in Korea as part of the North-South Korea peace initiative sponsored by the Universal Peace Federation.