David Nisbet Stewart is a composer, pianist and organist. His career began in academia and migrated into computer technology from 1979 onward. His style of composing also changed as he pursued a new occupation.
He believes that leaving academia for the business world was a great benefit to his art. Music is the business of entertaining. The composer must satisfy, even delight, the paying audience. His compositions connect with the listener’s ear and heart.
Prior to 1979 he was a college professor of music theory, composition, and electronic music. He taught at Eastern Michigan University and Kent State University. In Ohio, as a member of the Cleveland Composers Guild, he received many performances of his chamber music. He won several awards.
In 1979 his career changed to computer systems and consulting. He worked for Stanley Tools, Fanuc Robotics, and Valassis, among others. He has been a church musician most of his adult life and is currently the organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ferndale, Michigan.
His music has had many performances in the United States and abroad. Recordings of his major works are on the Parma Recordings’ label Navona Records.
Stewart was born 1941, in Miami, Florida, and has a B.Mus. degree from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, 1965, and a M.A. degree from Smith College, 1969. He lives with his wife Xina in Huntington Woods, Michigan. Their daughter Sarah is the senior minister at First Unitarian Universalist of Worcester, Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband Andy and two sons. Their son Andrew is a Chartered Financial Analyst working for Exchange Capital Management in Ann Arbor. He lives in Huntington Woods with his wife Nicole and daughter Eliza.
