David Carlson (born 13 March 1952) is an American composer.
Carlson studied theory and composition at the Los Angeles High School of the Arts and with Leonard Stein at the California Institute of the Arts. From 1988 to 1992 he was coordinator of the San Francisco Symphony's New and Unusual Music series.
David Carlson's symphonic works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (United States), the San Francisco Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,... plus