David L. Eide-Altman

1960 -

David Eide-Altman, a pianist, organist, and accompanist, is active as a keyboard teacher and performer in the Washington, D.C., area and enjoys singing baritone and tenor in many concert choirs. He has also worked as a computer programmer analyst and web developer.

David started piano lessons at age five with his mother, Verna Altman, a pianist who also played violin. Three years later, he continued his study with Lillian Pierson in Fredericksburg, Virginia. His study with her culminated in a solo recital when he was in eighth grade.

David then studied under Constance Twomley during his high school years at Shenandoah Valley Academy in New Market, Virginia. He particularly enjoyed his study with her and made significant progress during that time. In the summer of 1977, he began study on the organ and later played the Sligo Adventist church pipe organ in Takoma Park, Maryland, when his grandfather remarried.

Following high school graduation, he enrolled at Columbia Union College, now Washington Adventist University, where he studied mathematics and also music, taking lessons on piano with Florence Clarambeau and organ with Van Knauss. In 1980 he married Rose Eide, a pianist, and they combined their talents and last names, becoming known as the Eide-Altmans. They have since played for countless services as a piano/organ duo in Washington, D.C., Seventh-day Adventist churches.

They have served as longtime worship leaders in the Hyattsville, Atholton, South Carrol Company, and (currently) Olney churches. The Eide-Altmans have also substituted at numerous other churches in the area.

David completed a B.S. degree with a mathematics major and music minor at CUC in 1983. After graduating, his primary vocation for the next 25 years was working as a computer specialist, first as a programmer at the SDA church world headquarters (1984-1991) and then as a programmer and analyst for the NASDAQ Stock Market (1991-2004). From 2007 to 2009, he was Senior Web Developer at Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.

During his college years, Eide-Altman had started playing in church services on both Saturday and Sunday, a practice he continues to the present. He presently serves as organist/pianist and choral accompanist for St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Sykesville, Maryland, and organist for the early service at the Wards Chapel United Methodist Church in Randallstown, Maryland. Both churches have small Moller pipe organs. He recently moved and assembled in his home a 1930s George Kilgen Petite Ensemble pipe organ with 215 pipes.

Over the years, David has enjoyed singing baritone with several concert choirs, including the Camerata Nuove Singers under Francisco J. de Araujo, The National Christian Choir under Harry Causey, and the Handel Choir of Baltimore under T. Herbert Dimmock. He also sings tenor in the Encore Singers, a chamber choral group directed by his wife.

Eide-Altman, who resides in Sykesville with his wife, a piano teacher and choral director, now is the primary piano teacher at the Atholton Adventist Academy in Columbia, Maryland, and is the music coordinator for the SDA Church in Olney Maryland. The Eide-Altmans have two daughters.

ds/2011

Source: Email, David Eide -Altman, 14 July 2011; Biographical information at www.rosespianostudio.com; Career information at www.linkedin.com.