New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Sub Principal Second Violin, New Zealand.

David F. Gilling has pursued his career as an orchestral violinist in a number of orchestras across a wide range of roles. Most recently, he was the sub principal (second chair) of the second violins in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. His research focuses on the organizing of orchestral performance through the lens of the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961).