More info about my composition on that page––

  • COMPOSITION
    ––White Nights, opera, after Dostoevsky, excerpts performed live on Minnesota Public Radio by the Rochester Symphony & Chorus
    ––Canticle, In Praise of the Divine Feminine, for Chorus and Orchestra, as dance oratorio, O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, Saint Paul
    ––Ashoka, Beloved of the Gods, as dance opera, O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, Saint Paul
    ––Triumph of Truth & Time, for Trumpet and Organ, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis

Places I have played

Sitar

After all these years I am finally paying attention to this site.

I will be adding and fixing this a little every day now, as of August, ‘26.

  • SITAR‍ ‍
    —Town Hall, New York
    —Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
    —Gandhi Center, Washington, DC
    ––Harvard University, Boston
    —Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
    —O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, Saint Paul
    —Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
    —London, England
    —Granada Theater, Santa Barbara
    —National Public Radio
    ––Minnesota Public Radio (Interview)

  • ORIGINAL THEMED INDIAN ORCHESTRATION
    ––Ragamala, for Sitar, Tabla, Narrator and Bharatanatyam dance, sixty locations throughout the United States and Canada
    ––The Puppet Master, for Sitar and Bharatnatyam Dance, Southern Theater, and for the Guthrie Theater Company, Minneapolis

And back in the day, in another life––

  • HORN
    —Town Hall, New York
    —Avery Fischer Hall, Lincoln Center, New York
    —Cooper Union, New York
    ––Brooklyn Symphony, Brooklyn, NY
    ––Greenwich Village Chamber Orchestra, New York
    ––New York City Opera
    ––Bennington Chamber Music Festival of the East

Purchase recordings of

David’s Sitar with poets

Robert Bly & Coleman

Barks

Rumi Voice of Longing

In the seven centuries since the death of Jelaluddin Rumi in 1273, the world has come to know and thrill to his sacred poetry. In concert with David Whetstone, sitar, and Marcus Wise, tabla, his writing is part of a religious tradition that is believed to excite "spiritual heroism," embracing the holiness of love, lamentation, battle, and the longing for God. Rumi: Voice of Longing collects nearly 100 of Rumi's most memorable quatrains, presented here for the first time on two superbly remastered CD recordings. Includes a special appearance by renowned poet Robert Bly.

Translated and performed by the Rumi scholar Coleman Barks, these works echo with a spiritual complexity that defies their outward simplicity. As Sufism acknowledges the truth of other religions, so does Rumi's poetry reflect universal themes: the search for the highest truth, the mystery of surrender, the longing to overcome ego imprisonment. Rumi: Voice of Longing captures the silence, the love, and the playfulness that make each experience with this work one of sacred wonder.