David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez (born 1956, New York) is an American artist. He has developed a career as a storyteller, poet, playwright, musician, public speaker, actor, and producer. His creative work has been included in several anthologies and albums and his productions have been performed in major theaters in the U.S. and abroad.

Early life and education Gonzalez was born in the Bronx. His father was Cuban and his mother Puerto Rican. He spent his early childhood in Cuba and returned to the Bronx when he was three. His love of storytelling began at the age of seven, when his uncle gave him a set of puppets and his mother made a curtain for their performance. He subsequently incorporated myths into his creative work, as well as his work with children and adults with disabilities.

Presentations and performances As a musician he is a guitarist, pianist and composer. He has written, composed, performed and choreographed most of his shows. It was commissioned by the New Victory Theater in 1998.

In Mytholojazz (1999) he played the role of Orpheus with the DD Jackson Trio with an original score by D.D. Jackson. In it he fused Greek and South African myths with D.D. Jackson's jazz style.

In City of Dreams (2004) he shared the stage with a Latin jazz quartet, mixing his poetry with ancient Afro-Cuban rhythms, mambo-flavored house grooves, funk, metal-edged rock, and modern jazz.

In 2021, Gonzalez premiered Gonzo’s Multiverse - a virtual variety show with a mix of digital and live-action storytelling, interviews with artists and explorations of miniature wonders of the natural world.

Hard Dinero premiered in fall of 2022, was a fully bilingual production, it utilized monologues, music, video, poetry, and sound design to deliver narratives about immigrants based on their true stories.

Collaborations David Gonzalez wrote the lyrics, co-composed the music and starred in a collaboration with Yomo Toro, and Larry Harlow, Darryll McDaniels (DMC), he composed music for, and accompanied Oliver Lake, on City of Dreams; he wrote the book and performed in MytholoJazz with D.D. Jackson; he wrote, and directed Falcon Ridge in collaboration with bluesman Guy Davis, and many others; and with producing partners such as Mass MoCA (The Frog Bride), The Kennedy Center (Man of the House), Lincoln Center (As if the Past Was Listening), The Royal National Theatre (Mytholojazz), and others.

The New York artist has received grants from The National Endowment for the Arts for Finding North, The National Endowment For The Humanities/National Writing Project for Falcon Ridge, The New York Council on the Arts for Hard Dinero, The Jerome Irving Foundation for Crisalida, Artists Planet Earth for Wounded Splendor, The Burroughs-Wellcome Fund for A Spork In The Road, and others.

He was co-host along with Florence Barrau, of New York Kids" between 1992 and 2000 on WNYC/New York Public Radio. The program lasted two hours, along with rotating pairs of hosts from a different school each week.

His poems and stories explore cultural identity and steps towards transcendence.

David Gonzalez composed and performed the music for the poems of the Spanish poet José María Márquez Jurado "Gopala": "No para mi alma de reír", "Despacio" and "Contemplar la luna".

Awards and recognition Pushcart Prize Nomination 2022. Joseph Campbell Foundation Fellow - 2010 Helen Hayes Performing Artist of the Year – 1999 International Performing Arts for Youth "Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustained Excellence" (2011)

Publications Academic Mythopoetic Music Therapy (Doctoral Dissertation) 1992. "Like singing with a bird: Improvisational music therapy with a blind four-year-old girl." Case Studies in Music Therapy, 1990. Mythopoetic music therapy: A phenomenological investigation into its application with adults, 1992. Listening with a larger ear: Three case studies. Ear Magazine, Sept. 1984.

Poetry Soundings, The Poetry Box, 2022

Children's books Tito and the Bridge Brigade, 2020. Tio Jose and the Singing Trees, 2020.