He is a trumpet player who studied at the University of Illinois for his Bachelor of Music degree and the Juilliard School for his Master’s. While still a student he performed for five years with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra until he graduated in 1979
He became Principal Trumpet with the Dallas Symphony before becoming a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1995. He has since performed as a soloist on many occasion with the orchestra.
Other orchestras and ensembles he has performed as a soloist with include the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Dallas Symphony, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Oakland Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philharmonic Virtuosi of New York. He has also performed recitals in many cities throughout the United States and Canada.
As a chamber musician he has made a recording of electroc-acoustic music with the composer Meg Bowles as well as giving performances and appearing on recordings with ensembles that include the Canadian Brass, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Empire Brass, the National Brass Ensemble, the New York Trumpet Ensemble and Saint Luke’s Chamber Ensemble.
Recordings he has featured on include The Kids from Wisconsin, Trumpettissimo: Trumpet Concerts from the Baroque, Wind Concerti, From the Dark Earth by Meg Bowles and J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos No.s 1-6 by the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society along with other recordings that include Music for Ceremony and Celebration by Dallas Symphony Brass and Percussion, Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Sinfonietta in B Major Op. 5/Violin Concerto in D Maor Op. 35 by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Blues for the Bad Man by John Ellis, Gabrieli by the National Brass Ensemble, Trumpets in Stride, Georg Frederich Handel and The Heroick Mr. Handel by the New York Trumpet Ensemble, Ewald: Brass Quintets Nos. 1 & 3, Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”/Dumka and Peter Tchaikovsky: Brass Quintets Nos 1 & 3 by The Philadelphia Orchestra and Record #105 by the University of Illinois Symphonic Band along with George Gershwin: The Birth of Rhapsody in Blue and Cancer Blows.
In the field of musical education he has been a teacher at the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Hamamatsu International Festival and Academy, the National Orchestral Institute and the Pacific Music Festival. He has been on the faculty of the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, a guest artist at the Peabody Institute. He is a faculty member of the Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and the Curtis School of Music and has given master classes at numerous universities and schools of music.
Sources:
- http://www.davidbilger.com/biography”>http://www.davidbilger.com/biography
- https://www.philorch.org/your-philorch/meet-your-orchestra/musicians/david-bilger/
- https://myso.org/alumni-play-on-david-bilger-1979/
- https://www.pcmsconcerts.org/blog/artist-interview-david-bilger-trumpet/
- http://www.davidbilger.com/discography
- https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/3306907-David-Bilger?type=Credits&filter_anv=0
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-bilger-mn0000948047/credits
- https://curtis.edu/person/david-bilger/
- https://music.northwestern.edu/faculty/profile/david-bilger
- https://www.nromusic.org/event/trumpet-masterclass-with-david-bilger/
- https://artistworks.com/trumpet-lessons-david-bilger