David Gonzalez (multi-disciplinary artist)

David Gonzalez (New York, 1956) is an American multi-disciplinary artist: poet, playwright, musician, public speaker, actor, storyteller, and producer whose work spans numerous narrative and musical forms. Doctor of Arts, he was trained as a music therapist, and has developed a career joining art and human services. His creative work has been included in several anthologies and albums. He has worked with many notable artists, in poetry, theater, jazz, and opera. His productions have been performed in leading theaters throughout the United States and overseas.
== Biography ==
Born to a Cuban father and Puerto Rican mother, David spent his earliest years in Cuba then returned to his birthplace of the Bronx after the triumph of the Castro revolution.
His high school English teacher, Tom Porton, took special pains to introduce him to theater, music, and ballet, which opened up a world of possibilities for him. Around the same time, he began to study music seriously. 
After studying the guitar in Spain, David returned to New York University, earning a doctorate in music therapy. His work evolved into using myths to do depth work with people from all walks of life, though his focus was primarily on work with handicapped children and adults. 
The work of Joseph Campbell, professor of comparative mythology and comparative religion, brought him closer to the world of myth and legend and informed his music therapy work. In 2010, David became a Fellow of the Joseph Campbell Foundation.
== Professional Career ==
His professional life began in the field of music therapy, where he earned undergraduate, masters, and doctorate degrees from the New York University (1983-1992). He was an adjunct professor in New York University (1984 - 1998) and Director of Music Therapy at Long Island University (1985 - 1986). He has given lectures and workshops at universities and educational institutions in the United States, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, Costa Rica, and Canada.
After completing his doctoral studies, the union of art and human services shaped his artistic and life vision, which continues driving his creative work. For many years he worked at social service sites throughout the New York City area while honing his craft as a poet, musician, and storyteller. 
He has collaborated with artists such as Jessye Norman, Darryl McDaniels, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Oliver Lake, Yomo Toro, Larry Harlow (musician), D. D. Jackson, Damien Sneed, and many more, and with producing partners such as Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, The Royal National Theatre, and others. 
He has received grants from National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, The New York Council on the Arts, The Jerome Irving Foundation, Artists Planet Earth, The Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, and others.
He has received commissions from, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Cincinnati Opera, The Smithsonian Institution, The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The McCallum Theatre, The State University of New York at Purchase, Brooklyn College, The Rosendale Theatre, The Ulster County Historical Society, and more.
He has also composed and performed the music for the poems of the Spanish poet José María Márquez Jurado "Gopala": "No para mi alma de reír", "Despacio" and "Contemplar la luna".
Mr. Gonzalez was co-host along with Florence Barrau, of ''New York Kids" between 1992 and 2000 on WNYC/New York Public Radio. The program lasted two hours, along with rotating pairs of hosts from a different school each week.
== Shows ==
Over the many years of his career, he has offered presentations in the most varied theaters, educational institutions, universities and civic and cultural centers. 
His first hit, Sofrito!, a spicy stew of folk tales set to salsa, mambo, and jazz rhythms in collaboration with Larry Harlow and The Latin Legends Band, was commissioned and performed in the New Victory Theater, followed by Central Park Summerstage, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and many other venues.
In City of Dreams he shared the stage with a Latin jazz quartet, mixing his poetry with ancient Afro-Cuban rhythms, mambo-flavored house grooves, funk, metal-edged rock, and modern jazz.
In 2021, the artist premiered a “Gonzo’s Multiverse" - a virtual variety show with a mix of digital and live-action storytelling, interviews with artists and explorations of miniature wonders of the natural world.
Hard Dinero was presented in 2022 at the Rosenthal Theater. It was a mesmerizing show of monologues, music, video, poetry, and sound design, narrated in English and Spanish, in which Mr. Gonzalez delivered exemplary multi-media narratives about immigrants based on their true stories.
== Awards ==
* Pushcart Prize Nomination 2022.
* Joseph Campbell Foundation Fellow - 2010 
* Drama Desk Nomination - 2006
* Helen Hayes Performing Artist of the Year – 1999Study Guide David Gonzalez, Cultural District
* International Performing Arts for Youth "Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustained Excellence" (2011)
== Publications ==
=== Academic ===
* Mythopoetic Music Therapy (Doctoral Dissertation) 1992 
* Like singing with a bird: Improvisational music therapy with a blind four-year-old girl. Case Studies in Music Therapy 1990 
* Phenomenology as research in music therapy. Music Therapy, Vol. 6 1986
* Listening with a larger ear: Three case studies. Ear Magazine, Sept. 1984 
=== Poetry ===
* Soundings, The Poetry Box, 2022
=== Children's Books ===
* Tito and the Bridge Brigade, 2020.
* Tio Jose and the Singing Trees, 2020.
Category:Musicians from the Bronx
Category:American theatre managers and producers
Category:1956 births
Category:People from the Bronx
Category:New York University alumni