Music Educator

David Doke is a dedicated and accomplished music educator with over 30 years of experience in orchestra program development and conducting. He currectly serves as Educational Liaison for the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras, and Director of the GYSO Philharmonic. He spent his teaching career in the Cobb County (GA) School System, where he holds the notable achievement of founding two high school orchestra programs. His teaching journey began in 1994 as the founding director of the North Cobb High School Orchestra, where he taught for 12 years. In 2006, he left North Cobb to establish the Hillgrove High School Orchestra program, where he served as Director of Orchestras, Advanced Placement Music Theory teacher, and Fine Arts Department Chair until his retirement in 2024.

As a music educator Dr. Doke cultivated a tradition of excellence among his students, earning recognition at state, national, and international levels. His ensembles were featured at the Georgia Music Educators State Conference on three occasions with the North Cobb Symphony (2001) and the Hillgrove Symphony (2010 and 2015). His ensembles have been recognized at the national level with performances at Symphony Hall in Boston (2006), the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC (2012), Orchestra Hall in Chicago (2013), and Carnegie Hall in New York (2011, 2014, 2017, and 2022). Internationally, he led his students in performances in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, China (2016); at the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in Sainte-Mère-Église and Paris, France (2019); and at Harpa Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland (2024).

Many of his students have continued their musical studies at renowned institutions such as the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the Berklee School of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. His influence extends beyond the classroom, with former students now performing in professional orchestras and serving as music educators across the country.

Dr. Doke received the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Honor Teacher Award in 2003 and was recognized as STAR Teacher at Hillgrove High School in both 2012 and 2024.