Biography

A recipient of both the American-Austrian Foundation's 2003 Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, and 2005 International Richard-Wagner-Verband Stipend, David Alexander Rahbee (USA) has enjoyed an increasingly busy schedule.

As part of his fellowship and residency at the 2003 Salzburg Festival, Mr. Rahbee was assistant conductor of the International Attergau Institute Orchestra (under the patronage of the Vienna Philharmonic), where he assisted and worked with members of the Vienna Philharmonic and guest conductors including Bobby McFerrin. As a result he has regularly attended rehearsals of the Vienna Philharmonic since 2003.

He appeared in concert with orchestras such as the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Dresden Hochschule orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Loja, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Schoenbrunner Schloss Orchester, and the Divertimento Ensemble of Milan. With these ensembles he has lead a wide variety of works from the baroque, classical, romantic, and modern eras. Between 2002 and 2005, he was was an assistant of Marcello Viotti.

Hilda van Heel of the "Luxemburger Wort" in wrote in July 2007:

"David Rahbee appeared as an experienced conductor, giving the "Finale" (from Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg) presto with brilliant and rhythmic airs of dance, which brought out intense and intoxicating, evocative colors."

From 1997-2001, David Rahbee was conductor of the Fidelio Chamber Orchestra in Cambridge, Massachusetts, selecting its talented young members from Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, and Boston University. In addition to his work in Boston with the FCO, David Rahbee has worked as guest rehearsal conductor at the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (GBYSO), the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestras (RIPYO), and at the New England Conservatory, where he has prepared orchestras for distinguished guests such as Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. From 1997 to 2000, he served as assistant conductor of the Hingham Symphony in Massachusetts.

Mr. Rahbee's principal conducting teachers were Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School. He holds degrees from Indiana University (BM, violin and composition, 1996), and from the New England Conservatory (MM, orchestral conducting, 2000). He has also participated in post-graduate conducting classes at the Universität fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna. Mr. Rahbee has taken part in conducting masterclasses given by Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Jorma Panula, Zdeněk Mácal, Peter Eötvös, Zoltan Pesko, and Helmut Rilling.