He is a cellist raised in Florida who started to play the cello when he was 12 years old and took lessons in high school from the time he was 14.
His debut as a soloist was in a performance with the Miami Symphonic Society Orchestra when he was about 15 and he went on to gain scholarships at the Eastern Music Festival, the Florida State University summer orchestra festival, the London Symphony Institute and the University of Miami summer orchestra festival.
In 1974 he became a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra after being appointed by Sir Georg Solti. As of 2021 he was the last member remaining after five decades from the Principal Cellist Frank Miller’s cello section.
He has also performed with may other orchestras during his years with the CSO and these include taking the position of Principal Cello with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Florida Symphony, Lake Forest Symphony and Northwestern University chamber and symphony orchestras, He has also been a cellist with Grant Park Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony.
As a chamber musician he played for 25 years as a member of the Montagnana Trio.
He became the founder of the Chicago Cello Society, of which he was president for 19 years, from 1979 to 1997, and in 2008 he performed and organised a concert of solo works by David Popper with five other cellists from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Recordings he has performed on include Corigliano: Symphony No. 1, Wagner: Overtures and Preludes, Arnold Schonberg: Verklarte Nacht Op. 4/Piano Pieces Op.11 & 19/Five Orchestral Pieces Op. 16, Brahms: Violin Concerto/Sonata No. 3 and the soundtrack to Lincoln by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
He has been the editor of The Cello Scroll newsletter and in musical education he has given seminars on orchestral playing and many master classes.
He owns one of the largest collections of books of string instruments in the world and has collected autographs and violin books since 1987.
Sources:
- https://cso.org/about/performers/cso-musicians/strings/cello/david-sanders/
- http://www.chicagosymphonymusicians.com/david-sanders.html
- https://csosoundsandstories.org/my-favorite-cso-david-sanders/
- https://slippedisc.com/2015/10/a-chicago-cellist-explains-why-we-work-only-20-hours-a-week/
- http://montagnanabooks.com/who.html
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/4262579-David-Sanders-6