BIO

Born in Buffalo, NY in 1959, David attended SUNY@Fredonia, earning his Master’s Degree in Music Composition in 1991.

David’s original compositions span a wide spectrum, from sacred choral music with strings, to piano solo compositions, to original New Wave rock songs that he recorded and performed at Buffalo’s punk club, “The Continental” in the 80’s. He also composed a New Wave Ballet that was performed at the Paderewski Train Station in 1981. His ‘Nocturne for String Orchestra’ was premiered in 1995 in Buffalo by the Ars Nova Ensemble String Players, which consisted mostly of members of the Buffalo Philharmonic. David also received high commendations from Dave Brubeck regarding his a cappella sacred choral composition “Ave Verum Corpus”.

David’ Butler’s teaching mission, “Music for Life,” has produced many successful musicians, including Grammy Award winning pianist and composer JJ Wright. Wright’s album, “O Emmanuel” climbed to number one on the Billboard Charts in October of 2016.

Two of David’s former students, his son Patrick, and Phil Shore, premiered their first EP on Infine Records of Paris in Spring of 2020 as an electronic duo, Bottler.