David Benoit b. 1953

Credited with shaping and helping to define the contemporary jazz genre * Noted for his considerable skill as a composer, arranger, and conductor * Five-time Grammy nominee with 25 solo recordings to his credit * Record debut Freedom At Midnight (1987) and its Grammy-nominated follow-up Every Step Of The Way (1988) are considered classics in the Smooth Jazz genre * Long association with Charles Schulz led to more than ten years of composing music for Peanuts TV specials on CBS * Recorded 1996’s American Landscape with the London Symphony Orchestra and 2005’s Orchestral Stories with members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra * Has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the symphonies of London, Nuremberg, San Francisco, and many others * Acclaimed symphonic work Kobe performed by the Berkeley Symphony under Kent Nagano * Music Director of the Asia America Symphony and the Asia America Youth Honor Orchestra