David Michael Wolff is a musician, educator, pianist, conductor and entrepreneur, now in his seventh season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of The Carolina Philharmonic.  Under Maestro Wolff’s leadership, the orchestra has rapidly grown from a small chamber orchestra into one of the leading symphony orchestras in North Carolina.  Two of the Philharmonic’s first concerts were at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, and in the past few years the orchestra has come full circle with a meaningful partnership with the famed hall, bringing its education programs to the children of North Carolina. Along the way, Wolff was asked to create an interactive orchestral experience program for K-2 students called Encore! Kids, now serving thousands of children annually. 

Orchestra 2100 is the next step in Wolff's mission to reach at least one million children through music and technology within the next ten years. Wolff is rapidly assembling a consortium of technology vanguards, music educators, world-class performers, and entrepreneurial business leaders around this project of creating new possibilities for music education. The ensemble seeks to explore the future of the symphony orchestra as it tumbles into a world dominated by exponential developments in AI, VR, robotics, and nanotechnology. Wolff keenly believes that every tool, including nascent technologies, is invaluable to the symphony orchestra if it can enable the concert experience to tell a story, and give you a story to tell. 

Wolff made his orchestral début as piano soloist at the age of twelve. Three years later he entered the University of Washington on full scholarship majoring in Romance Languages and Piano Performance.  After obtaining his Master’s Degree in NYC under the direction of Byron Janis, celebrated pupil of Vladimir Horowitz, Wolff took up the baton.  Three years of study in Rome led to performances throughout Italy, conducting opera and symphonic works, as well as leading piano concertos from the keyboard.     

Along the way, Wolff won numerous prizes in international competitions, including grand prize in the Naomi Management International Competition in New York City.  Hundreds of performances across North America, Europe and Asia solidified his reputation as one of the foremost performing artists of his generation.  He has appeared over a dozen times at Carnegie Hall, both as pianist and conductor.  Wolff resides in Pinehurst, NC with this wife and daughter.

An avid linguist, Wolff is fluent in five languages and has been a sought-after coach of international opera stars as well as aspiring concert pianists. His diverse interests have led to collaborations with such artists as dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and choreographer Ruth Davidson Hahn and to numerous commissions to arrange and compose works for opera, modern dance and other multi-media projects.  Career highlights include a return to Carnegie with the Carolina Philharmonic, a performance for President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative in Arkansas, and performances in Shanghai at the World Expo and at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with renowned Diva, Angela Brown.   Wolff is author of Zen and the Art of Piano.