David Aks received his Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting at Oberlin College where he also earned a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance. Additionally he studied at the Minnesota Opera Institute, the Conductors Guild Summer Institute, The Academia Chigiana in Sienna, Italy, and the Tanglewood Conducting Program with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Colin Davis, Andre Previn and Gustav Meier.
Mr. Aks' guest conducting appearances have include the American Youth Symphony, The Fresno Philharmonic, The Black Sea Philharmonic (Romania), The Nashville Symphony and The Antelope Valley Symphony. In addition, hehas conducted the orchestras of Bogota, Medellin and Cali in Colombia, S.A. Mr. Aks also served as Assistant Conductor to Seiji Ozawa for Tosca with the Boston Symphony.
As cellist, Professor Aks has played with the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, American Ballet Theater and has toured Europe, Russia and the U.S. with the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.
Professor Aks has guest conducted the All-State Honor Orchestras of Kentucky and California (twice) as well as the CODA (California Orchestra Directors Association) Honor Orchestra. He has served on the faculty of OperaWorks Summer Intensive Program, the Altenburger Musiktheater Akademie in Germany and the ASTA Summer Institute of Chamber Music. He is a past president of The American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Greater Los Angeles Chapter. He has previously taught at the University of South Florida and the College of St. Catherine.