Biography

David Paul brings a truly rare combination to his performances. He has more than 21 years experience and training as a classical  musician and over 21 years of daily practice in the ancient regenerative art of Tai’ Chi Gung.  

As a classical musician, he studied violin and piano at St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN where he finished a Bachelors Degree in   violin performance.  He led the orchestra as their concertmaster, and was chosen as a tour soloist performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. He graduated with departmental distinction and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

He went on to complete a Masters Degree in orchestral studies at Rice University in Houston, TX studying with Ruben Gonzalez, the Concertmaster of the Houston and the Chicago Symphony. Mr. Paul attended Rice with a full graduate fellowship as a member of the   honors string quartet and served as Maestro Gonzalez’s graduate teaching assistant.

Following graduation, he joined the Jacksonville Symphony as a first violinist where he played full time for seven years.  During his tenure there, he appeared as a soloist with the orchestra twice, and played the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto as a guest soloist with the Brunswick Civic Orchestra.

Music and Tai’ Chi Gung

He was introduced to Rasaji six months into his first year as a symphony violinist when he attended his Tai’ Chi Gung class.  What began as a simple search for stress relief grew into a passionate pursuit of  regenerative health and longevity.  Doing Tai’ Chi Gung transformed David’s musical life.

The system of Tai’ Chi Gung that Rasaji shares comes from an ancient Tibetan tradition that goes back in an unbroken lineage for more than 3000 years.  Rasaji lived and trained at the original school in Tibet with Bo-Yang, the current world authority of the Tai’ Chi Gung system. (www.rasaji.com)

Mr. Paul soon expanded his interest into other styles of music, composition and improvising.  Over the past 21 years pursuing Tai’ Chi Gung and applying its principles to music, he has developed an uncommon versatility.  He has command of classical, pop, jazz, Celtic, bluegrass and folk styles, and he can switch from one to the next at a moments notice.  All of these musical traditions make an appearance in his shows. 

Most of Mr. Paul’s original music flows out of his daily Tai’ Chi Gung practice.  His audiences typically leave a concert performance with a profound sense of peace. His music has the capacity to touch the soul deeply and restore harmony in ways that words sometimes fail to do.  His music is majestic and bold,   intimate and tender, passionate and at times almost celestial.  The expressiveness of his violin will remind you of the nuance of the human voice.  His tone so rich at times that a cello, not a violin comes to mind.

He has two CDs of original music for violin and piano available. He composed, arranged and performs all the music for both albums.  They are “Walking in Paradise” and “Innocence”.  

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