Bio

David Bloom (he/him) is a conductor equally at home in orchestral repertoire, opera, and new music, noted for his “dazzling precision and grace” (San Francisco Chronicle), “intelligence, elegance, and passion” (Opera News), “ferocious and focused” (The New York Times) performances, and “breathtaking and inspired programming” (Shepherd Express). He dedicates his work to collaborating with artists and communities to inspire creativity, empathy, and joy.

In such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, and Park Avenue Armory, Bloom has guest conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Jacaranda, The Crossing, Ensemble Connect, Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and Kronos Quartet and worked with soloists Dashon Burton, David Byrne, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Helga Davis, Isabel Leonard, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Courtney Love, Hila Plitmann, Dawn Upshaw, Andrew Yee, and many more. In June of 2024, he will conduct the opening of Lincoln Center’s 2024 Summer for the City festival with a program of operatic standards and original songs with famed drag artists Sapphira Crystál, Monét X Change, and Thorgy Thor.

He is Principal Conductor of the orchestras at New York University, where he conducts core orchestral literature, opera productions, and new works and teaches conducting. In 2023, he became Artistic Director of Queer Urban Orchestra, the only orchestra in the Northeast rooted in the LGBTQ+ community. He has focused on increasing the orchestra’s impact and visibility, diversifying the programming, and collaborating with leading soloists. As a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic, he has worked with such conductors as Susanna Mälkki, Santu-Matias Rouvali, and Dalia Stasevska and soloists Brandford Marsalis, Anthony McGill, and Golda Schultz.

Especially active as an opera conductor, among the productions Bloom has led are Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, Don Giovanni (Teatro Grattacielo), Philip Glass’ Les enfants terribles (Opera Omaha), Michael Gordon’s Acquanetta (Beth Morrison Projects), Kamala Shankaram’s Miranda (Tri-Cities Opera and Opera Omaha), Idomeneo and Amahl and the Night Visitors (NYU Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Kaufman Music Center), Matt Marks’ Mata Hari (PROTOTYPE Festival), and numerous productions for the American Opera Project, Opera on Tap, and Experiments in Opera, for whom he conducted Everything for Dawn, an opera by 10 composers created as a 10-episode TV series that streamed on the Opera Philadelphia Channel and PBS. He has premiered over 50 operas, including the orchestral version of Glass’ La Belle et la Bête with Jean Cocteau’s 1946 film.

In new work, he has conducted over 450 world premieres and collaborated with such composers as Clarice Assad, Courtney Bryan, Raven Chacon, John Corigliano, Donnacha Dennehy, Du Yun, inti figgis-vizueta, Michael Gordon, Nathalie Joachim, David Lang, Tania León, Andrew Norman, and Julia Wolfe. He is Co-Artistic Director of Contemporaneous, which he co-founded with composer Dylan Mattingly in 2010, and has built the group into one of the finest new music ensembles in the country. In 2023, he conducted the group in the premiere of Mattingly’s six-hour opera Stranger Love at Disney Concert Hall, in a performance lauded as “exact and detailed, but also lively and openly dancing” (The New York Times). He is also Co-Artistic Director of Present Music, a legacy new music ensemble in Milwaukee. His work has strengthened the organization, revitalizing its programming and connection to the community. In 2021, he led the ensemble in the world premiere of Raven Chacon’s Voiceless Mass, which went on to win the 2022 Pulitzer Prize.

Bloom has served as an artistic advisor for activist orchestra The Dream Unfinished since the organization’s founding in 2015. He taught at Kaufman Music Center for eight years, serving as conductor of new music youth orchestra Face the Music and launching the orchestra program at the Center’s public high school, Special Music School. He has been a clinician for Carnegie Hall’s Music Educators Workshop and led residencies at such institutions as Princeton University, Mannes School of Music, City University of New York, Williams College, and his alma mater, Bard College. He has recorded for the Sony Masterworks, Cantaloupe, New Amsterdam, Innova, New Focus, Starkland, Kairos, and Navona labels.

“Conductor David Bloom presided over the performance with dazzling precision and grace.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“David Bloom conducted Mattingly’s pitfall-ridden score with a sure hand. Occasionally, his hips betrayed an urge to groove, but even then he remained unflappably precise.” — The New York Times

“commanding and effective” — San Francisco Classical Voice

“Conductor David Bloom made an auspicious WNO debut at the podium, ably managing both the orchestra, spread out unevenly at the back of the stage, and the singers.” — Washington Classical Review

“Bloom led the ensemble to an exciting conclusion with some real rock star energy… beautiful conducting, with gestures imbued with meaning.” — Urban Milwaukee

“David Bloom conduct[ed] with precise, balletic grace, his hands gathering in each note and sending it aloft.” — Prufrock’s Dilemma

“Bloom masterfully articulated the music through wrist and fingertips with the swagger and command of an animation dancer.” — Medusa’s Musings