David Soyer was an American cellist.

He was born in Philadelphia and began playing the piano at the age of nine. At 11, he started the cello. One of his first teachers was Diran Alexanian

Diran Alexanian

Diran Alexanian was an Armenian cello teacher. He studied cello with Friedrich Grützmacher in Leipzig, as well as played chamber music with Johannes Brahms and violinist Joseph Joachim...

. Later on he studied with Emanuel Feuermann

Emanuel Feuermann

Emanuel Feuermann was an internationally celebrated cellist in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...

 and Pablo Casals

Pablo Casals

Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...

. He debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

 under Eugene Ormandy

Eugene Ormandy

Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...

 in 1942, playing Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...

's Schelomo

Schelomo

Schelomo is a cello concerto written by Ernest Bloch, first published in 1916 and receiving its first premiere on May 3, 1917 in Carnegie Hall, New York City. This Rhapsodie hébraïque pour violoncelle et grand orchestre was completed during Bloch's "Jewish Cycle," which lasted from 1912 to 1926...

.

Chamber music was a special love of his. He was a founding member of the Guarneri Quartet

Guarneri Quartet

The Guarneri Quartet was an American string quartet founded in 1964 at the Marlboro Music School and Festival. During the quartet's early years the members were in residence at Harpur College in upstate New York....

 in 1964 and played with them until retiring from the quartet in 2002. As a member of the Guarneri he collaborated with many of the world's most famous classical musicians, including Leonard Rose

Leonard Rose

Leonard Rose was an American cellist and pedagogue.Rose was born in Washington, D.C., his parents were immigrants from Kiev, Ukraine...

, the Budapest String Quartet, Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...

, and Arthur Rubinstein

Arthur Rubinstein

Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...

. He gave the New York premieres of the Solo Cello Sonatas by Zoltán Kodály

Zoltán Kodály

Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....

 and George Crumb

George Crumb

George Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...

. Before joining the quartet he played in various venues including the Navy Band (**) during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and later with the NBC Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arturo Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini

Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...

.

Soyer was on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music

Curtis Institute of Music

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

, the Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

, and the Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

. Many of his students, such as Ronald Thomas

Ronald Thomas (cellist)

Ronald Thomas is an American cellist known for his work as a soloist and chamber musician. Thomas has made guest appearances with some of the world's finest orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony...

, have gone on to have successful performing careers.

He taught many of today's most prominent contemporary cellists and musicians. He spent many summers teaching and performing at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.