Conductor, Broadcast Personality, Music Educator, Performer
David is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, with a bachelor’s degree in double bass performance and a master’s in music education with an emphasis in conducting. While at UNC, he played in six orchestras, was principal bass in three of those, and was the first (and to this day, the only) double bassist in the history of the university’s music department to have won the annual solo competition. He was also heard as an announcer on KUNC, the local public radio station, which led to the aforementioned lengthy career as a host on Colorado Public Radio Classical.
His most recent musical post was an 11-year stint as Music Director for Stratus Chamber Orchestra, Colorado’s premiere innovative collaborative orchestra.
David spent 14 years as a well-loved, respected and award-winning host on Colorado Public Radio Classical. He was the voice of Sacred Classics on Sunday mornings and while he had been heard during every time slot, he spent most of his career as the listener’s companion as they were driving home, bringing insight and passion to the music he shared during the afternoon drive.
David was also Co-Founder and Music Director of Rocky Mountain Youth Orchestra and Valor Symphonics Youth Orchestra, and was a frequent guest conductor and exclusive rehearsal conductor of the Longmont Symphony. He was Director of Orchestral Studies and Music Education and continues to serve as adjunct faculty for Colorado Christian University. He still conducts shows for CCU and elsewhere, and enjoyed three years as Music Director and Conductor of the Pikes Peak Philharmonic in Colorado Springs. As a bassist, David has served as Principal Bass of the Cheyenne Symphony orchestra, as well as Assistant Principal Bass in the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra along with many years as a member of these and other orchestras along the front range and beyond.
As a public school educator, David has taught orchestra programs from the elementary through secondary level in Nevada, Wyoming and Idaho. He currently teaches at Fairview High School and Southern Hills Middle School in Boulder, CO. During his tenure in Wyoming, Rutherford was selected as a National Teacher Fellow at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. There he studied conducting with Elisabeth Schulze and Barry Jekowsky, then-Associate Conductors of the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as double bass with Bob Oppelt, Principal Bassist of the NSO. His orchestra program was featured on a national broadcast of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.
Since mostly retiring from musical activities along the Front Range, David is now a successful mortgage loan originator, working with his nephew’s brokerage, Low Cost Mortgage out of Colorado Springs.