David Winkler is the Composer in Residence of the Long Island Concert Orchestra (LICO – Enrico Fagone Music Director) and Chamber Players International (CPI). He has composed over 200 works for orchestras and ensembles worldwide. In 2026-27, his current commissions include new works for the Berlin Philharmonic String Ensemble (Fantasy Quintet premiered Feb 23 and 25, 2026 Salamanca/Vigo, Spain), The Orchestra del Fruili Giulia (Violin Concert No. 2), Psalm 23 for Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra for the Opera Teatro Coccia (Novara, Italy – November 4, 2026), a new Septet with Harp for the Cacciaconti Festival in Tuscany in 2027, as well as a new opera – “DaPonte Liberato” (in Italian) for the Jerusalem Lyric Opera for premiere in October 2027. The “DaPonte Liberato” commission has come about owing to the success of his other recent opera , “Rossini Perduto”, (May 22, 2025) opera in three acts (in Italian). That work received principal production support from Casa Italiana (NYC) and had its world premiere at the St Jeans Theatre in New York City. A 10 minute Documentary on the making of Rossini Perduto is here: Vimeo link.
David Winkler has received recent commissions from Opera Coccia (Novara, It), the Berlin Philharmonic Quintet (2026), the Martha Argerich Project, the Cacciaconti Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy with performers from the LaScala Orchestra (2027), a Leonard Bernstein Composer Fellowship, and additional commissions from the Verbania Arts Center, the Kennedy Center Nat’l Symphony Orchestra, i Musici di Parma, two symphonic commissions from the Suoni dal Golfo Music Festival in Lerici, the symphonic “Pacifica” for the City of Guayaquil (July 4, 2024) Ecuador, the Alabama Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica Conservatorio Superior De Musica in Murcia, Spain, the Fromm Foundation, the Aspen MusicFestival, New York Philharmonic Ensembles, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ecuador, Houston Grand Opera, a BMI Young Composer Award and a special ASCAP award, etc, etc.
He is also the Composer in Residence designate for the new American Contemporary Classical Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) in its inaugural 2026-27 season. Other recent commissions/premieres of his compositions include: “Adriatica” – Concert Overture for the Long Island Concert Orchestra premiered April 30 and May 2, 2024 at the Tilles Center, LI, NY, “Encore “ concertino for Double Bass and Orchestra commissioned by the Bottesini Orchestra August 2024 (Crema, Italy), the symphonic “Pacifica”for the City of Guayaquil (July 4, 2024) Ecuador, his Organ Symphony, premiered Oct 27, 2023 in Quito, Ecuador, Double Concerto for Violin/Cello and Strings, Oct 31, 2023 LICO in NYC, Mannheim Preludes (Large Form) November 11 with The Rome Orchestra, Rome, Georgia (USA), ”Omaggio al LVB” piano trio for the Parma Festival, Parma, Italy (October 26, 2020), “Homenaje a Guayaquil” in celebration of that Ecuadorian city’s 200th anniversary of independence and the new full-length ballet, The Little Prince Ballet.
Prior commissions/premieres have included his 2nd Piano Concerto for the renowned La Toscanini Orchestra at the Lerici Festival in 2022 and his Toccata for Piano and Strings for both the Lunigiana and Pietrasanta in Concerto Festivals in 2022. His 4th Symphony was presented in August 2019 at the Suoni Dal Golfo Music Festival in Lerici, Italy (where he was composer in residence) and his “Lyric Preludes for Strings” which was premiered in February 2019 in Lugano, SW by I Musici di Parma under the direction of Enrico Fagone. 
David Winkler will be the composer in residence for the American Contemporary Classical Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) for 2026-2027 and has previously been composer in residence with the Vahktang Jordania International Conducting Competition, Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Opera/Omaha ,the Chautauqua Opera and the Lincoln Center Institute. Previous commissioned premieres include Rhapsodies for Violin and Orchestra premiering on July 4, 2018 at the US Embassy in Ecuador, Toccata for Piano and Winds (December 2018 in New York). Previous premieres in 2016 and 2017 included his Concert Prelude No. 3 by the Karoly Vary Symphony, Prague, Czech Republic, String Quartet No. 4 by the Amernet String Quartet, and recently the Piano Quintet for the Martha Argerich Project/Lugano Festival and the orchestral Concert Prelude No. 2 for the Philadelphia International Music Festival last July and the Symphonic Overture “Forza Vita” for the International Beethoven Festival-Chicago, Illinois:
Other previous premieres include those by The Orchestre du Chamber Francais (Dubai, Sharzah, South Korea), The National Symphony of the Ukraine; The Symphony Un Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina; National Symphony Orchestra of Bolivia, The Korean Broadcasting System, Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, Queen’s Chamber Band (NYC) , Houston Grand Opera, Kharkov Philharmonic (Ukraine) as well as commissions from The Alabama Symphony (Birmingham, AL), Long Island Mozart Festival (NY, USA), The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Symphony, and the Aspen Music Festival. His works have been recorded on Naxos International including the “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” and “Elements Concerti” on Crystal Records, “Warhol Appassionata” and on the DaVinci Label featuring his Piano Quintet commissioned by the Martha Argerich Project. His theatrical works include the recent one-act opera, “Pullman Car Hiawatha”, based on the play by Thornton Wilder, the three act “Rossini Perduto” and the upcoming three-act “Da Ponte Liberato” – and new ballets “The Alice Ballet”, and “The Little Prince Ballet” based on the famous book by Antoine de St. Exupery. He has also received a fellowship grant by the New York Foundation for the Arts to support the creation of a variety of new symphonic works; and a commission grant by the New York State Council on the Arts for choral music.
David Winkler serves as the Executive and Artistic Director of Chamber Players International and the Long Island Concert Orchestra (LIconcertorchestra.org). He is also noted in IMDb for his film score for the award winning dramatic short”The Waltz”, directed by Trevor Zhou. And has also collaborated with world renowned photographer Robert Dutesco (The Wild Horses of Sable Island) by scoring the original music to Mr. Dutesco’s film/video “Universality”.