Dr. David Littrell is a University Distinguished Professor of Music at Kansas State University where he conducts the University Orchestra and teaches or plays the cello, baroque cello, five-string violoncello piccolo, double bass, viola da gamba, and electric cello. He conducted a chamber orchestra formed from the KSU Orchestra that toured England and Scotland in 2008. As a reflection of his interest in the music education of young people, he is the Director of String Fling, an annual event at Kansas State that attracts 600 string students from Kansas. He also conducts the Gold Orchestra, which includes over 70 Manhattan area string students in grades 5-10. The Gold Orchestra has toured England, British Columbia, Colorado, and performed at Carnegie Hall in 2001 and 2006. They participated in the ASTA National Orchestra Festival in Dallas in March 2004, were in-residence at the YMCA of the Rockies in 2008, and will tour northern New Mexico and the Grand Canyon in 2010.
He served six years as Editor of the Books and Music Reviews section of the American String Teacher, and he is Editor of ASTA’s 2009 String Syllabus. He is the Editor and Compiler of three volumes of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra for GIA Publications.
Dr. Littrell twice received an Undergraduate Teaching Award at Kansas State University. In 1994 the Kansas Chapter of ASTA awarded him the Certificate of Merit. He was the national President of the American String Teachers Association in 2002-2004 and planned ASTA’s first stand-alone conference in March 2003. He represented ASTA on a trip to France in March 2004 to learn about import opportunities for French string instruments and bows. In 2007, he was named Kansas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
He adjudicates solo and orchestra contests and is a clinician and conductor throughout the United States. His sabbatical in 2010 will incorporate a solo cello recital tour in England: Devon, Coventry Cathedral, York, the Lake District and London.