Born in Seoul, Korea, David immigrated to the United States in 1985. David received a variety of music lessons during his childhood in Palos Verdes, California before focusing his energy exclusively on the piano. He later attended Oberlin College and Conservatory where he received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance.
In 1996, David won the E. Nakamichi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and was awarded the Arthur Dann Prize at the Oberlin Conservatory. In 1999, while acquiring his Master of Music in Piano Performance at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, David was invited by Robert Spano and Seiji Ozawa to attend the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center as a Merrill Lynch Conducting Fellow. David was then invited by Larry Rachleff to study at Rice University where he served as guest conductor for the Shepherd School Orchestras while acquiring his Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting. David was subsequently invited by the Vienna Philharmonic to serve as an Assistant Conductor. As the recipient of the Karajan Fellowship, David has enjoyed residencies at the annual Salzburg Festival in Austria. In 2003, David was invited by Leonard Slatkin to participate in the National Conducting Institute during which time he made his début with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
During the 2003-2004 season, David was selected to spend a year as the Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony under the mentorship of Michael Tilson Thomas. While on tour with the New World Symphony in New York City, David made his Carnegie Hall début conducting works by Copland and Tchaikovsky. During the orchestra’s Rome tour, David made his début at the Academy of Santa Cecilia conducting works by Luciano Berio and John Adams. David was then invited by his mentor Larry Rachleff to serve as the Resident Conductor of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra from 2004-2006. During the 2006-2007 season, David held the Bruno Walter Resident Conductor Chair with the ensemble.
During his tenure as the Associate Conductor of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera (2006-2011), David won First Prize at the Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition in Mexico City which resulted in numerous conducting engagements in Europe, Asia and South America. He has conducted the symphonies of Seattle, Houston, Austin, Memphis, Fort Wayne, Baton Rouge and Shreveport. He has collaborated with such guest artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Chang, Daniel Müller-Schott, Jennifer Koh, Leila Josefowicz, Jennifer Frautschi and Alexander Kobrin. During previous summers, David made appearances at the Aspen Music Festival and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
After heralded guest appearances with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra in 2007 and 2009, David was appointed as the orchestra’s seventh Music Director in 2011. He began his tenure with the LSO in the 2012-2013 season and is now actively involved in community engagements.