David Salge is a product of the Houston music scene, studying with Tony Russo and Don Slocomb of the Houston Symphony and Jeffrey Lerner of the University of Houston, culminating in a master's degree in clarinet performance. As a Houston freelancer, he was a member of the Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera orchestras, Texas Chamber Orchestra, and Houston Pops, as well as being a regular sub in the Houston Symphony.  Highlights include George H.W. Bush’s Vice Presidential Inauguration Ball with the Pops, Emmy-winning PBS broadcasts of HGO productions of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and John Adams’s Nixon in China (world premiere), and performances at the grand opening of the opera house in Cairo, Egypt.

David has accompanied such varied performers as American Ballet Theater, Tony Bennett, Bolshoi Ballet, Jose Carreras, Carol Channing, Cher, Dame Margo Fontaine, The Kingston Trio, Joffrey Ballet, The Moody Blues, Rudolph Nureyev, New York City Ballet, Luciano Pavarotti, Bernadette Peters, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, and The Smothers Brothers.  He was also a regular with Houston swing bands and groups of various ethnic flavors, recording with The Gypsies, Alpenfest, and The Best Little Klezmer Band in Texas.

David also worked full time at Houston-based Valco Instruments, where a temporary “day gig” turned into a 44 year career!  For the last several decades of that period, he and his wife, Rebecca Crow, comprised the company’s in-house graphics department.  They have been residents of Gig Harbor since 1997.

David currently does solo recitals and performs with Harbor Winds, the Bremerton Symphony Orchestra, and smaller chamber ensembles comprised of orchestra members.  (He also might be occasionally observed in funny clothes at Oktoberfest celebrations.)