"...a heady and touching revelation."

—San Francisco Chronicle

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Well-known and often performed, composer David Garner’s body of work reflects his historical knowledge, theatrical flair and humor. David has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1979, acting as chairman of the Department of Musicianship and Music Theory for 16 years. Trained as a pianist and cellist, David has performed from the solo classical concert stage

to jazz-rock fusion bands. A composition autodidact, Garner’s recent accomplishments include winning the 2015 American Prize in Composition, a Silver Medal for the 2016 Global Music Awards, finalist for the 2014 American Prize, and winning the 2014 Hal Leonard Labor of Love online publishing prize.

Garner co-founded Ensemble for These Times in 2007 with soprano Nanette McGuinness

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David's vocal chamber music and art-song is featured on Pentatone Classics: the 2009 solo album, Phenomenon, and other vocal chamber masterworks on And if the Song be Worth a Smile, The Hours Begin to Sing, December Celebration, and the just-released Out of the Shadows. In April 2016 Centaur Records released the critically acclaimed Surviving: Women’s Words, a CD comprising four of Garner’s song-cycles setting poetry by women survivors or contemporaries of the Holocaust. (There is an excellent review of Surviving: Women's Words in The Whole Note, September 2017.) Since then Ensemble for These Times continues to release award-winning recordings through Centaur Records.

In 2014 Garner developed a compositional system he names :Tonal Serialism" Based on the Second Viennese School's 12-tone compositional process, Garner's system seeks tonal centricity rather than avoids it. His String Quartet No. 2, Capriccio for Cello and Piano, Mein blaues Klavier, and most recently Trio for Five Instruments, commissioned by Stephen Tramontozzi of the San Francisco Symphony.

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Future plans include 2 EP recordings: one of his collected solo keyboard works, recorded by pianist Dale Tsang and organist Joby Bell, the second of his collected small chamber compositions with the Del Sol String Quartet and pianist Dale Tsang.

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