About David Lee Grossman

DAVID LEE GROSSMAN is a Charleston-based composer, orchestrator, arranger, and conductor specializing in music for film and video games. He is a graduate of both Westminster Choir College (BM in Music Theory and Composition), studying under Drs. Ron Hemmel and Stefan Young, and the Seattle Film Institute (MM in Film Composition), where he studied under two-time Emmy Award-winning composer Hummie Mann (Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Picture Windows, Language of the Heart, Year of the Comet).

He has composed and recorded scores for the indie films Charlie Mike, Idiosyncratic, and Jerad Davis Throws a Dinner Party, and has conducted seven recording sessions of original scores including a 52-piece orchestra session at Bastyr University Chapel. He has had works premiered by The Citadel Cadet Chorale for their Christmas Candlelight Services, the Princeton Area Homeschool Choir, and The Bells of Heath Village. 

Since 2013, David has written original intro music for several mystery dinner theater shows for the StageCoach Theatre Company in Loudoun County, Virginia, and created new orchestrations for their 2014 Christmas Cabaret. He also composed all of the underscore music for their 2016 Halloween production Trick or Treat.

In December 2014, The Citadel Cadet Chorale premiered two of his choral compositions, Christ Was Born on Christmas Day and See the Child, during The Citadel’s annual Christmas Candlelight Service in Charleston, South Carolina. The Charleston Men’s Chorus performed a TTBB arrangement of Christ Was Born on Christmas Day on their 2022 Christmas concert. The Juniata College Concert Choir, directed by Dr. Russ Shelley, premiered his setting of the World War I text “In Flanders Fields” during their tour of Ireland in the summer of 2014. The Princeton Area Homeschool Choir has also premiered several of his works, including a setting of the traditional Irish Blessing “May the Road Rise to Meet You” dedicated to the graduating seniors during their Spring 2014 concert, and Christmas is Here, an original carol, during their annual winter tours in Philadelphia beginning in 2016. In 2023, Palmetto Bronze premiered his new arrangement of the Advent hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel that was written for their Christmas concert. 

David began his conducting studies in 2012 with Denise Hayes, the director of the Princeton Area Homeschool Choir. The following year, he began his studies in orchestral and recitative conducting under Ryan Brown (MM, Eastman School of Music; DMA, Indiana University). He studied advanced choral conducting with Dr. James Jordan as a two-time participant in the Westminster Choral Conducting Intensive course, and in masterclasses for the Westminster Summer Choral Festival under Drs. John Russel, Amanda Quist, Joe Miller, and Stephanie Council. As part of his studies at SFI, he studied conducting for recording sessions and conducted sessions of his own music.

He made his conducting debut in 2014, directing the Kindred Singers division of the Princeton Area Homeschool Choir in his high school senior composition recital and the choir’s spring concert, performing his “May the Road Rise to Meet You.” In 2018, he presented his senior composition recital at Westminster Choir College, opening with a Lauridsen-esque choral setting of the “O Magnum Mysterium” text performed by a student choir under his direction. David has also conducted a small group of Charleston Men's Chorus singers for two church services in Charleston, and has served as a substitute conductor for the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

When not composing, David is also an avid choral singer and handbell musician. He sang with the Princeton Area Homeschool Choir from third grade until he graduated high school, and was a founding member of their advanced Treble Singers division and a member of the auditioned, touring Kindred Singers division. At Westminster, he sang with the Westminster Symphonic Choir for two years in performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, and was a five-time participant in the Westminster Summer Choral Festival. He also began his formal vocal training while at Westminster, studying with Nancy Froysland-Hoerl and Guy Rothfuss. He currently sings with the Charleston Men’s Chorus, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and the CSO Chamber Choir for their annual Messiah performances. 

He started playing handbells in middle school, and rang with the famous Westminster Concert Bell Choir for two years. He has participated in several handbell festivals including the International Handbell Symposium and Distinctly Bronze, as well as local festivals along the east coast. He currently rings with Palmetto Bronze and the Chancel Bells of Bethany UMC, serves as Palmetto Bronze's vice president, and has taught classes on musicality and visual presentation for the Lowcountry Handbell Workshop.