David Philipson began studying north Indian classical music and bansuri [the north Indian bamboo flute] in 1978 with the late Professor Amiya Dasgupta, tabla and rhythmic concepts with the late Pandit Taranath Rao and South Indian music, Balinese and Javanese music and Ghanaian (Ewe) music and dance with the distinguished World Music faculty at California Institute of the Arts, where he received his BFA and MFA in World Music.

In 1984 he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in India with the leading exponents of the late Pandit Pannalal Ghosh lineage of bansuri performance; Pandit V.G. Karnad, Pandit Devendra Murdeshwar and Pandit Nityanand Haldipur. He has also received guidance from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Ravi Bellare and Pandit Rajeev Taranath.

Philipson performed in the US premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's composition "Sternklang" for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival.

He was the featured soloist for the US premiere of Trichi Sankaran's composition "Lagu Misra" for the 1992 CalArts World Music Festival.

Philipson has participated in the musical accompaniment for numerous Modern dance and Indian classical dance recitals. Dancers he has accompanied include Anjani Ambegaokar, Viji Prakash, Nandita Behera, Chitras Das and Oguri.

He was music director, composer and performer for the Guthrie Theater's 1993 production and US premiere of Girish Karnad's 'Naga Mandala' (Play with a Cobra), directed by Garland Wright and performed music for 'Midsummer Night's Dream' (winner of eight LA Ovation Awards) at the Stella Adler Theater in 1997.

Philipson was one of five featured artists in a concert of "Emerging Artists of Southern California" presented by the 'Ravi Shankar Music Circle' in Los Angeles in January of 1997.

He was a featured performer in Mystic Voices: Music of Devotion in Islam and Hinduism, a concert in the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles (Oct 12, 1999).

From 1995 - 2007 Philipson worked with the innovative trumpet player/composer Wadada Leo Smith as a member of his ensembles 'N'Da Kulture' and Silver Orchestra (West). He can be heard on Smith's CD releases Tao N'Jia , Golden Hearts Rememberance and Dreams and Secrets with Thomas Mapfumo.

Philipson has performed with Adam Rudolph's Go:Organic Orchestra, an ensemble featuring 12 woodwinds and 12 percussionists and can be heard on the ensemble's 3 CD releases.

In June 2009, David performed for The Music Circle in Los Angeles, becoming the first non-Indian performer of Indian music to be invited to play a solo concert for the Music Circle, which has been the premiere organization presenting Indian Classical Music in Los Angeles since 1976.

In 2012 he composed music for 'Silent Water', a short film by Mukesh Vidyasagar to help raise awareness about the need for water in Indian villages, and to raise money for Gramalaya, an NGO that helps villages in India get access to clean water.

Philipson resides in Los Angeles, California and performs and offers instruction on bansuri and lessons in Indian Classical Music in the greater Los Angeles area.

Film score: 'Silent Water' (2012), a short film by Mukesh Vidyasagar to help raise awareness about the need for water in Indian villages, and to raise money for Gramalaya, an NGO that helps villages in India get access to clean water.
[view video here]

Film and TV recording credits include 'Outsourced' [feature], 'The Other End of the Line' [feature], Xena: Warrior Princess, MTV 2000 Millennium programing, 'Man from Elysian Fields' [feature], 'Perfumed Garden' [feature], 'Leela' [feature], Score for 'Jungle Book' attraction for Disney World, 'The Valley' [feature].

Nityanand Haldipur, Mark Nauseef, Wadada Leo Smith, Miroslav Tadic, Abhiman Kaushal, Javad Butah, Amit Chatterjee, John Bergamo, William Roper, Glen Horiuchi, Leonice Shinneman, Adam Rudolph, Sonship Theus, Karen Bakunin, Jai Uttal, Ron Marinelli, Zakir Hussain, David Trasoff, Montino Bourbon, Gregg Johnson, Lakshmi Shankar, Shubo Shankar, Joseph LoDuca, Joseph Jarman, Mala Ganguly, Gopal Marathe, Tom Buckner, Hamza El Din, James Newton, Anthony Marinelli, Ralph Jones, David Rosenboom, Thomas Mapfumo, Yusef Lateef, Benny Maupin, Bruce Fowler, Brad Dutz, Frank Ballofet, Scott Breadman, Phil Bunch, Alex Cline, John Lindberg, Harris Eisenstadt, B.C. Smith, Jacob Yoffe, Ches Smith, Debasish Chaudhuri, Tari Khan, Gulab Khan, Ramesh Misra, Omkar Gulwady, Vijay Kangutkar, Miles Shrewsbery, Neelamjit Dhillon and Min Xiao-Fen.