About David

Kathy and David Crowe at the top of Mount Mitchell in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

I feel very fortunate to have been able to make music for so many years and in so many different ways: as a composer, conductor, percussionist and teacher.

People often ask me what kind of music I write and I never know what to say. Many of my compositions have come out of collaborations, either with other artists or as part of larger educational projects, so they seem to encompass a wide range of styles. Yet, I believe they all speak with the same musical voice.

I am very grateful to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and its visionary Educational Director Susan Miville for providing me with the opportunities to explore and develop some truly innovative and exciting programs. Our most successful venture, "Mill Village, A Piedmont Rhapsody" has been widely performed throughout the region and has received a national award from MetLife for excellence in community engagement.

For several years I was associated with the Moving Poets Theater of Dance, an innovative dance/theater company, which, alas, has since moved out of Charlotte. Several scores for their productions feature an eclectic ensemble comprised of flute, cello, classical guitar, electric bass, and Middle Eastern and ethnic percussion. This group, Without Borders, has recorded its first CD, which includes many pieces from past Moving Poets shows.

Many of my orchestral compositions have been written for one of my favorite organizations, The Foundation for Art and Music in Elementary Education, better known as "FAME," in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Thanks to FAME, its founder Dorothy Kittaka, and my old friends at the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, I have a career as a composer today.

This web site was designed by my immensely talented wife, Kathy. Go to her web site to see more samples of her great work.

"When a person learns music, he need not necessarily learn to be a musician or to become a source of pleasure and joy to his fellow man; no, but by playing, loving and hearing music, he must develop music in his personality. The true use of music is to become musical in one's thoughts, words and actions. We must be able to give the harmony for which the soul yearns and longs every moment. All the tragedy in the world, in the individual and in the multitude, comes from lack of harmony. And harmony is best given by producing harmony in one's own life." —Hazrat Inayat Khan