DAVID DONNELLY

DAVID DONNELLY- OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY

David Donnelly is an award-winning American filmmaker, writer, and visual artist. He has written, directed, and produced music videos, video installation art, short films, docu-series, and feature-length documentaries.

Donnelly was born in northern Kentucky and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2003. He moved to Los Angeles immediately after graduation to pursue a career in film.

In late 2015, Donnelly released his first feature-length documentary, Maestro, starring Grammy-award winners Paavo Jarvi, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, and Lang Lang. Since then, Maestro has been translated into a dozen languages and has aired on networks spanning five continents. Most importantly to Donnelly, it is utilized as a much-needed resource for music educators. Maestro was followed up with two more feature documentaries focused on the world of classical music, Nordic Pulse, and Forte. The result is a trilogy of documentaries that represents one of the most comprehensive portraits of the world of classical music ever captured on film. Donnelly’s work has also experienced a resurgence of interest with the recent invasion of Ukraine, as both Maestro and Nordic Pulse convey the story of the Estonian Singing Revolution and the small Baltic nation’s freedom from the Soviet Union. 

Donnelly’s work as a filmmaker has appeared in some of America’s most cherished cultural institutions including the Whitney Museum, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Curtis Institute of Music, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and various embassies and concert halls across the globe, including the National Arts Center (Ottawa), Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Beijing Music Festival, and the Arvo Pärt Centre.

In 2021, Donnelly co-founded the mission-driven production company CultureNet. His fourth feature film, The Cost of Convenience, marked a new creative direction exploring the merger of technology and culture. It is currently streaming on major US platforms and broadcasting on various foreign networks.

His fifth documentary, Forever Young, premiered at the 2025 Mill Valley Film Festival and won the audience favorite award in its category. Forever Young explores the revolution in the science of aging and integrates a science fiction storyline, showing a growing interest in fiction.

Donnelly’s travels have taken him to more than 50 countries across the globe, and he has filmed some of the greatest minds alive. He has a growing portfolio of visual art that is celebrated by private collectors across the globe.

In addition to developing his next film projects, he is writing The Last of the Analogs, a trilogy of science fiction novels.