Since 2000, David Harman has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Penfield Symphony Orchestra.  Dr. Harman has conducted professional, civic, university, youth, and honor orchestras throughout the U.S. and abroad.  Professional appearances include return engagements with the Louisville Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Tucson Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, Opera Theater of Rochester, and Cordancia.

In 2005 he received the Richard H. Snook Award from the Monroe County School Music Association for his contributions to music education.  The Rochester Chapter of the professional music fraternity Mu Phi Epsilon selected him as Musician of the Year for 2008.  He has also served as the conductor of the Strong Medical Center Orchestra.

Dr. Harman conducted concerts for the Penfield Symphony Orchestra in 1998 and 1999 before becoming Music Director in 2000.  Dr. Harman served as professor of music and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Rochester’s River Campus for twenty-four years. He is also Music Director Emeritus of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.  Prior to returning to Rochester, he was a Professor at the University of Louisville (KY), conductor of the Louisville Civic Orchestra, and assistant conductor of the Louisville Orchestra.  He frequently conducted the Opera Theater of Louisville, and served as executive secretary of the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.  He held similar positions at the University of Connecticut and Colorado State University. On several occasions, Dr. Harman has served as an international juror for graduation exams in conducting and performance at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montréal and Québec City.

A native Californian, Dr. Harman earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University at Sacramento.  He studied in Paris as a French Government Scholar and at the Aspen Music School, and he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School in 1974.  Dr. Harman has also led an active solo career as a clarinetist with three solo recordings, numerous recital appearances in major concert halls in London and New York, and several national broadcasts recorded for French (ORTF), British (BBC), and American Public Radio (NPR, WQXR).  He and his wife, Lori Foster, live in Rochester.