Biography.guide
Home › People › Conductor › David Rosenboom
Portrait of David Rosenboom

David Rosenboom

b. 1947

American composer

Don't just read it — keep itBiographies to ownE-book · Audio · Video From $7 →

About David Rosenboom

Born 1947. David Rosenboom is an American conductor, pianist, composer, pedagogue, musicologist and violinist.

David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer, performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music.

Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, new techniques in scoring for ensembles, multi-disciplinary composition and performance, cross-cultural collaborations, performance art and literature, interactive multi-media, new instrument technologies, generative algorithmic systems, art-science research and philosophy, and extended musical interface with the human nervous system. He is a pioneer in the use of neurofeedback and compositional algorithms.

An active teacher, he was Faculty at The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts from 1990 to 2023, and before that taught at other institutions such as Mills College, York University, and the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at the State University of New York in Buffalo. His students include Jin Hi Kim and Gino Robair.

As a young student, he studied (never finishing an undergraduate degree) composition, performance, and electronic music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Salvatore Martirano, Lejaren Hiller, Kenneth Gaburo, Gordon Binkerd, Bernard Goodman, Paul Rolland, Jack McKenzie, Soulima Stravinsky, John Garvey, and others. Working with Don Buchla, he was one of the first composers to use a digital synthesizer. He has performed at CalArts with Trichy Sankaran.

Rosenboom was married to performance artist and vocalist Jacqueline Humbert until 2012. He has three children from the union — Daniel, Dorothea, and Lindsay.

Discography Suitable For Framing/ Is Art Is/ Patterns for London (A.R.C., 1975) Collaboration In Performance (1750 Arch, 1978) A Live Electro-acoustic Retrospective (Slowscan, 1987) Systems of Judgement (CRC, 1991) Two Lines (Lovely, 1996) with Anthony Braxton Brainwave Music (A.R.C., 1976 - EM, 2007) Future Travel (Street 002, 1981 - New World, 2007) How Much Better If Plymouth Rock Had Landed On The Pilgrims (New World, 2009) Life Field (Tzadik, 2012) Naked Curvature (Tzadik, 2015) Jacqueline Humbert And David Rosenboom: J.Jasmine: My New Music (Unseen Worlds, 2018)

As sideman With Anthony Braxton Five Compositions (Quartet) 1986 (Black Saint, 1986)

Biography shop

Don’t just read it —
keep it.

Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.

  • E-book
  • Audio
  • Video
Browse the shop — from $7

Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free

Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Education
University of Illinois System, Experimental Music Studios
Employers
California Institute of the Arts

People in David Rosenboom's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped David Rosenboom's

Frequently asked questions

Who is David Rosenboom?

American composer

When was David Rosenboom born?

David Rosenboom was born on 9 September 1947 in Fairfield.

What is David Rosenboom's occupation?

David Rosenboom is a conductor, pianist, composer, pedagogue, musicologist and violinist.

What nationality is David Rosenboom?

David Rosenboom is American.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: David Rosenboom

· Wikidata: Q2343813

· DBpedia: David Rosenboom

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). David Rosenboom. https://biography.guide/david-rosenboom/

MLA: "David Rosenboom." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/david-rosenboom/.

Chicago: "David Rosenboom." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/david-rosenboom/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

Page generated 2026-09-27 05:11 UTC