David Paligora
Resident Mentor & Production Assistant
Raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, David studied classical performance at the University of Auckland and Te Kōki New Zealand School of Music. He is a member of the National Band of New Zealand, and has performed with Aotearoa’s leading professional musical ensembles, including New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal New Zealand Navy Band and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. He has extensively toured the country both as part of ensembles and as a soloist, including with the Rodger Fox Big Band on their album tour of “RFBB plays Hone Tuwhare,” a collection of music from New Zealand composers inspired by the poetry of the late Hone Tuwhare.
Community music is at the core of David’s musical journey. Music performed together and for each other helps each of us construct clearer versions of our own identities and our relations with others. This idea resonated through David’s core involvement in the brass band movement in New Zealand, one of the largest community music organizations in the country, and through being a member of the National Brass Band of New Zealand. He taught brass playing and led youth brass bands across his regional community in Auckland. This love of community music inspired musicological research into the strength of these constructions of identity, with David being recently invited to present his research at the ICTMD 2025 Ethnomusicology World Conference.
With the help of the Kiwi Music Trust, and as a Judith Clarke Memorial Fellow, David moved to Boston, Massachusetts in the summer of 2023 to pursue a Master in Music in Trombone Performance under James Markey of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, graduating in the Spring of 2025 with full honors.