David Starobin

David Starobin (born September 27, 1951 in New York City) is an American classical guitarist, record producer, and film director. He is married to Rebecca Askew Starobin (married 1975), and is the father of Robert Joseph Starobin III (b. 1979), and Allegra Rose Starobin (b. 1987).

Starobin started playing the guitar at the age of seven, studying first with Manuel Gayol, then Albert Valdes Blain and at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore) with Aaron Shearer. While at Peabody he became Shearer's assistant, directing Peabody's chamber music program for guitarists (1971–73). During this period Starobin worked closely with pianist Leon Fleisher, becoming a member of Fleisher's Theater Chamber Players of The John F. Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.).

David Starobin has toured in the USA as a recitalist, chamber player and orchestral soloist performing at festivals including Marlboro, Aspen, Santa Fe Chamber, and Tanglewood, and with orchestras and ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, and the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Since 1978 he has made annual solo tours in Europe, performing at festivals and making radio and television broadcasts. Starobin is a member of the new music ensemble Speculum Musicae, with whom he has performed and recorded as guitarist and conductor. He also recorded and toured since 1969 with the baritone, Patrick Mason. With the percussionist Daniel Druckman, Mason and Starobin have performed and recorded as the trio, "Crazy Jane".

Starobin has chaired guitar departments at Brooklyn College, Bennington College, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the State University of New York at Purchase, and, from 1993 to 2004, the Manhattan School of Music. He remains on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music (2010). In September 2010, Starobin was appointed to the newly created "Fondation Charidu Chair in Guitar Studies" at the Curtis Institute of Music. Starobin was joined by guitarist Jason Vieaux to create the school's guitar program. Starobin was the first guitarist to have been awarded Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Career Grant (1988); was honored by Peabody Conservatory with its "Distinguished Alumni Award" (1999); and was given with his wife, Becky Starobin, ASCAP's 'Deems Taylor Award' for their work with Bridge Records (2007). In 2011, Starobin was inducted into the Guitar Foundation of America's "Hall of Fame" and was given the GFA's "Artistic Achievement Award", becoming, at age 59, the youngest recipient of this honor. In May of 2012 Starobin, his wife Becky, and their children Robert and Allegra, were honored by ASCAP with a special award celebrating the 30 year anniversary of Bridge Records. This followed a full-page Sunday New York Times feature (September, 2011) devoted to the label's anniversary.

Starobin's own guitar recordings, made mainly for Bridge Records, have presented first performances of dozens of new compositions, as well as a broad range of repertoire from the 19th and 20th century. In 1990 he made the first recording of the newly discovered Giulio Regondi (1822–1872) "10 Etudes", a work now regarded as a landmark in romantic-period guitar repertoire. In 2005 he was filmed (London) performing works of Sor and Giuliani on a 1923 Herman Hauser parlor guitar for a DVD released by Mel Bay, Inc. (St. Louis).

Starobin's work with period guitars and in collaboration with living builders has also been noteworthy. In the 80s, Starobin began to perform and record 19th century music on period instruments, notably by Panormo, La Cote, and Stauffer. At the same time, he was performing modern repertoire on traditional Spanish style instruments, including guitars by Herman Hauser, Daniel Friedrich and Thomas Humphrey. Starobin's close working relationship with Humphrey led to the design of the Humphrey's first "Millenium" style instrument- a guitar with a raised fingerboard that allowed improved access to the upper positions of the guitar's neck. This instrument came to be used by many of the guitar world's leading performers. Later, Starobin worked closely with the British builder Gary Southwell to develop Southwell's "A" series. These instruments utilized a version of J.G. Stauffer's adjustable action, combining this old device with more modern design. In recent years, Starobin has played instruments built by Steven Walter (North Carolina) and the Chicago-based Richard Brune-an instrument that combines significantly smaller neck size, and a top bout cutaway.

In 1981, Starobin and wife Becky, formed the record label Bridge Records, Inc., a company that has released more than 370 CDs and DVDs (February, 2012). Bridge Records has been nominated for twenty-four Grammy Awards and has received three - for Best Contemporary Composition for George Crumb's "Star-Child" (2001) (BRIDGE 9099 David Starobin, Producer); for Best Classical Vocal Recording for Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Peter Serkin's performance of Peter Lieberson's "Rilke Songs" (BRIDGE 9178, David Starobin, Producer)(2007); and for Garrick Ohlsson's Beethoven Sonatas, Vol. 3 (2008) for Best Solo Instrumental Recording (BRIDGE 9207, Adam Abeshouse, Producer). In addition to his Grammy Award as Producer, Starobin has been nominated for two Grammy Awards as performer: on guitar for his "Newdance: 18 Dances for Guitar 1996-97" (Best Instrumental Solo Recording); and on mandolin for "George Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children" (Best Small Ensemble Recording) (2006).

Starobin's major projects as record producer include Bridge's ongoing complete George Crumb Edition, begun in 1982 with a recording made by mezzo-soprano, Jan DeGaetani and pianist Gilbert Kalish (BDG 2002, LP). Bridge's Crumb recordings were all made in collaboration with the composer, who attended all the recording sessions, and also recorded for the series as pianist, percussionist and narrator. The Bridge Records Crumb series culminated in 2009 with the release of the film 'George Crumb, "Bad Dog!"' (2009), directed by Starobin. The film's first public screening was presented in London by the BBC, as part of a festival devoted to the music of Crumb. Starobin has also worked closely with the pianist Vassily Primakov, producing recordings of concertos by Mozart, Chopin and Dvorak, and solo recordings of Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Schubert, and Schumann.

In 1995, Bridge Records, Inc. signed an agreement with The Library of Congress to co-produce the CD series: "Great Performances from the Library of Congress", featuring previously un-issued concert performances recorded in the LOC's Coolidge Auditorium (1937–present). Artists appearing on the first 25 volumes of the series include Nathan Milstein, George Szell, The Budapest String Quartet, Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber, Cecil Taylor, Leopold Stokowski, Jan DeGaetani, Aaron Copland, The Golden Gate Quartet, Josh White, John Barrows, Berl Senofsky, Gary Graffman, Dorothy Maynor, Artur Balsam, Henryk Szeryng, Buddy Collette, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Marcel Grandjany, Gustave Langenus, and Zino Francescatti. The Bridge/LOC series has been noted for its re-mastering of the LOC's original materials, in restorations supervised by Adam Abeshouse and David Starobin. The Bridge/LOC series is best known for its complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets, performed by the Budapest String Quartet between 1941 and 1962.

Starobin has given the premieres of numerous contemporary works.