David Dzubay was born in 1964 in Minneapolis and raised in Portland, Oregon by his parents, architect Dale Dzubay and educator Edith Dzubay. Returning to the midwest for school, he earned a D.M. in Composition at Indiana University in 1991. Additional study was undertaken as a Koussevitzky Fellow in Composition at the Tanglewood Music Center (1990), at the June in Buffalo Festival, and as co-principal trumpet of the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado (1988, 1989). His principal teachers were Donald Erb, Frederick Fox, Eugene O'Brien, Lukas Foss, Oliver Knussen, Allan Dean and Bernard Adelstein. 

 David Dzubay's music has been performed in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Asia, by ensembles including the symphony orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Honolulu, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, Minnesota, Oregon, Oakland, St. Louis and Vancouver; the American Composers Orchestra, National Symphonies of Ireland and Mexico, New World Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra and New York Youth Symphony; and ensembles including Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montreal), Onix (Mexico), Manhattan Brass, Voices of Change (Dallas), the Alexander and Orion String Quartets, the League/ISCM, Earplay and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. His music has been championed by soloists including Thomas Robertello, Corey Cerovsek, Carter Enyeart, James Campbell, Liana Gourdjia, Eric Nestler and David Starobin, and conductors including James DePreist, George Hanson, David Loebel, Michael Morgan, Eiji Oue, Richard Pittman, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Carl Topilow, David Wiley, Samuel Wong, Kirk Trevor, Carlos Kalmar, JoAnn Falletta, Keith Lockhart and David Zinman. His music is published by Pro Nova Music, Dorn, and Thompson Edition and is recorded on the Sony, Centaur, Bridge, Innova, Crystal, Klavier, Gia, First Edition and Indiana University labels. 

 Recent honors include the 2015 Sackler Prize and a 2015 Fromm Commission, a 2011 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim (2007), Bogliasco (2013), MacDowell (2006, 2007), Yaddo (2008), Copland House (2008) and Djerassi (2007) fellowships; the 2010 Heckscher Foundation-Ithaca College Composition Prize, 2009 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, 2007 Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition, 2005 Utah Arts Festival Commission, 2005 Columbia Orchestra American Composers Competition, 2004 William Revelli Memorial Prize from the National Band Association, 2003 Commission from the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, 2001 Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, 2000 Wayne Peterson Prize; 2000 Fromm Foundation commission; and grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music for all-Dzubay CDs by Voices of Change (innova 588) and the Manhattan Brass (Bridge). Dzubay has also received awards from the NEA (1992-1993), BMI (1987, 1988), ASCAP (1988, 1989, 1990), the American Music Center, Composers, Inc., Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Indiana State University, Indiana University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Cincinnati Symphony.

 David Dzubay is currently Professor of Music, Chair of the Composition Department, and Director of the New Music Ensemble at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. He was previously on the faculty of the University of North Texas in Denton. Dzubay has conducted at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and June in Buffalo festivals. He has also conducted ensembles including the League of Composers Orchestra in New York, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Greater Dallas Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music from China and Voices of Change. From 1995 to 1998 he served as Composer-Consultant to the Minnesota Orchestra, helping direct their "Perfect-Pitch" reading sessions, and during 2005-2006 he was Meet the Composer/American Symphony Orchestra League Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra. Since 2011, Dzubay has taught composition for three weeks each summer at the Brevard Music Center, including conducting composer readings with orchestra and band. During 2017, he taught for two weeks at Yonsei University, one week each at June in Buffalo and in Costa Rica, and was featured guest composer at the University of Louisville New Music Festival. Traveling to China twice in 2019, Dzubay was guest composer at the China-Asean Music Festival in Nanning (May 27-June 2) and taught at the Beijing International Composition Workshop (July 13-21). He had works premiered in 2019 by the Pacifica String Quartet, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and the Grossman Ensemble of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition on a concert he conducted that also included premieres by Kate Soper and Steve Lehman. In March 2019, Thomas Wilkins led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in eight performances of Dzubay’s Ra!. Just prior to the pandemic, Dzubay had Autumn Rivulets for soprano and orchestra premiered by Mark Russell Smith and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and a flute concerto (FLOW) premiered by Alejandro Escuer with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México.