At age 20 and still a student at the Juilliard School, David was engaged by Sarah Caldwell as Chorus Master of the Boston Opera. Two years later he joined the Metropolitan Opera, where he served for eight years as Assistant Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor, and he also assisted Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony in preparing the world premiere of Sir Michael Tippett's "Byzantium". A powerful influence in his musical training was long-term study with Metropolitan Opera vocal coach Alberta Masiello and voice teacher Franco Bertacci.

His own conducting career has included appearances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Opera, Nashville Opera, Sarasota Opera and the Anhaltisches Theater, Dessau, Germany. He is now in his sixth season as Artistic Director of the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra.

David often performed as a pianist on Texaco's Met radio broadcasts and has appeared as recital accompanist for many Met stars including Robert Merrill and Luciano Pavarotti. As piano concerto soloist, he performed Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Beethoven's Emperor Concerto with the Anhaltische Philharmonie under the baton of Bertrand de Billy, and he has also taken the solo part in the Emperor Concerto with WCO.

David is particularly dedicated to introducing young people to classical music. He has made it a tradition to feature the Kingston High School Choir in one of the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra concerts each season, earning this critical praise from music reviewer Leslie Gerber in the Woodstock Times, November 27, 2008:
"When I first read that a local high school chorus was going to perform this music [the "Gloria" from Bach's B Minor Mass], I reacted with skepticism, but this ensemble of regular high school students sang like angels, with beautiful sound and balance, bringing out the complex textures of Bach's polyphonic writing like a professional chorus. It was an amazing and heartening display of fine musicianship."