David Whitwell studied conducting at the Akademie fur Musik, Vienna, with Hans Swarowsky, and with Eugene Ormandy. He has conducted resident ensembles in Austria, Switzerland, Israel, Japan, Wales, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Bolivia, Peru, Korea, Taiwan, Russia and the United States, among them the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Radio Orchestras of Brno and Bratislava, and The National Youth Orchestra of Israel. David Whitwell was named as one of six men who have determined the course of American bands during the second half of the twentieth century, in the definitive history, 'The Twentieth Century American Wind Band' (Meredith Music), and he is one of nine men described by Paula A. Crider in 'The Conductor's Legacy' (Chicago: GIA, 2010) as 'the legendary conductors' of the twentieth century.