David T. Little

David T. Little is a contemporary American composer and Grammy nominee especially known for his operas JFK and Soldier Songs. He also composes chamber and orchestral music, and he teaches composition at Mannes School of Music. Little was born in Blairstown, New Jersey, in 1978, and he began studying music when he was eight years old. His rural hometown didn't have much to offer in terms of youth programs and activities, so he joined every music ensemble that he could. His first performing experiences took place in a drum and fife corps that performed repertoire from the time of the American Revolution in the late 1700s. He also joined the choir, band, and jazz ensemble at his school, and when he was 12, he started playing in rock bands with his friends. He became inspired to compose after he heard Danny Elfman’s music for the film The Nightmare Before Christmas, around 1994. After high school, he studied percussion and composition at Susquehanna University with Patrick Long and David Mattingly. Seeking further refinement, he earned his master's degree from the University of Michigan in 2002, where he studied with William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty. Little moved to Boston after his graduation and studied privately with Osvaldo Golijov. It was around this time that he composed his first opera, Soldier Songs, which was filmed in 2022 and nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2009, Little began collaborating with librettist Royce Vavrek, which resulted in several popular works, including Dog Days, Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera, and JFK. Little earned his PhD from Princeton University in 2011 under Paul Lansky and Steven Mackey, and in the following year, he was appointed director of composition at Shenandoah Conservatory. He composed several commissioned works around this time, including Archaeology, AGENCY, and Hellbound, and he joined the composition faculty at Mannes School of Music in New York in 2015. Little held the William Bolcom Residency in Composition in 2016, and he served as the composer-in-residence for the Apples and Olives Festival in Zurich, and with the Opera Philadelphia and Music Theatre Group from 2014 to 2017. Since 2020, his music has been featured on Blythe Gaissert's Home, Matt Haimovitz's Primavera I: The Wind, and David T. Little & Royce Vavrek: Am I Born, with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street conducted by Julian Wachner.
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