About

About

David Spelman's career as an artistic director, curator, and music advisor for international festivals and performing arts centers, and as a producer of film soundtracks, has embraced classical, jazz, rock, avant garde, and world music, as well as poetry and the visual arts.

Educated at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and the New England Conservatory (which named him one of their One-Hundred Most Distinguished Alumni), he worked in the early '90s for Jay K. Hoffman & Associates, a boutique classical music publicity firm, before founding his own New York-based public relations and event production company representing some of the most distinguished artists and institutions in classical music. In 1999 he launched the first New York Guitar Festival, now an annual event that presents the world’s finest guitarists in innovative, cross-genre, multi-media presentations.

Following on the success of the New York Guitar Festival, Spelman has been appointed artistic director and guest curator for major festivals at the University of Illinois' Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Australia’s Adelaide Festival Centre, Toronto’s Luminato Festival, as well as Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other iconic Manhattan institutions.

His projects have attracted worldwide press coverage, and have been broadcast on public radio stations across the United States. He has enjoyed the support of funders as diverse as Apple Computer, the Government of South Australia, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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I'd describe my work as trying to give audiences what they are looking for, but always with something more; sometimes warm and familiar. . . at times challenging or complex. I’m looking for ways to touch people. To make them listen. To pay attention.

Questions I like to ask myself...

How many ways can music and art touch a community?

How might we best activate a space—be it a concert hall, a theater, a church or a public park?

If we only focus on what audiences think they want, why should they want to leave the comforts of their home?