Originally from Monterey, CA, David Arrivée has been fortunate to work with a variety of ensembles as a conductor, pianist and clarinetist. He is currently the Director of the Cal Poly Symphony and an Assistant Professor in the Cal Poly Music Department, where he teaches theory and coaches chamber ensembles.   He is also the Assistant Conductor of the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival.   Before moving to the Central Coast, he served as the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, and taught music theory at Northwestern University.   He has guest conducted the Green Lake Festival Orchestra, Princeton University Orchestra, Auros Ensemble for New Music, Bradley University Orchestra, South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the Northwestern University Philharmonic.

Arrivée received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from Boston University, where he studied with David Hoose. While in Boston, Arrivée was active as a clarinetist in the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, as a vocal accompanist and as a conductor. He served as the assistant for the Boston University Symphony Orchestra and the March Chapel Choir of Boston University, conducted the Auros Ensemble for New Music, and sang with the Cantata Singers. During a period abroad, Arrivée lived and worked in Leipzig, Germany, where he served as a pianist and conductor for the Schola Cantorum. He moved to Chicago to pursue a doctorate in orchestral conducting at Northwestern University with Victor Yampolsky, and wrote a dissertation on the use of other arts in educational concerts.

He has participated as a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, as a pianist in the Schumann Duos Program at The Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Study, England, and as a conductor at the International Workshop for Conductors in the Czech Republic.   He has studied under Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, Gustav Meier, Zdenek Macal, and Charles Bruch, among others.

He lives near the ocean with his wife, Dr. Janet Joichi, their son Spencer, and Mika, an exuberant black labrador retriever.

email: darrivee@calpoly.edu