Born in New York City in 1956, David Fetherolf started studying the violoncello at the age of five. Having been taught two clefs by the age of seven, he decided to learn the treble clef by himself, using both the piano in his parent's home and the organ in the chapel of the church where his grandmother worked.

As a young adult, he enrolled in the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a non-degree student to study Violoncello. While at Longy his focus shifted from performance to composition. Eventually he moved to Brooklyn in 1981 to work, as his wife finished her BFA at Pratt Institute. In the mid-90s he was asked to attend the  Purchase College Conservatory of Music in Purchase as a member of their revitalized MFA program in composition, even though he had no lower degrees, completing that degree with honors.

Mr. Fetherolf's views have been enriched over the years by many teachers, including: Guido Brand, Alvin Brehm, Bruce Coppock, Richard Cornell, Edgar Grana, Anthony Newman, Vladimir Padwa, and Nathan Stuch as well as by his close working relationships, as editor and engraver, with composers such as Chou Wen-chung, Leon Kirchner, André Previn, and Ursula Mamlok, among many others.

Fetherolf's works have been played in the United States, Japan, Europe, and Central and South America. He has received awards and grants from the American Music Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, the Mamaroneck Schools Foundation and the Chase Manhattan Bank, NYC DCA, and NYSCA, as well as several private grants and fellowships. His works have been premiered at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, at St. James Hall, London, and have been selected to represent his country by the United States Information Agency. He has been involved with five International Festival of New Music for Orchestra programs in Olomouc, Czechia, and received commissions from groups as diverse as The Mamaroneck Schools Foundation (USA) and the Gamavilla Quartet (CZ). For 15 years Fetherolf was one of the original members of a Queens based composer's group, which became one of the more active such groups in NYC; much of his chamber work was written during this time.

For over thirty-five years, Fetherolf worked as an editor and engraver for many composers as well as for publishers in both the US and Europe. His roster of clients was extensive and, in 1998, he was asked to join the production department at G. Schirmer/Associated Music Publishers, where he became the Editor and Production Manager of Premiere Works, working with all the GS/AMP roster of contract composers, until his retirement at the end of 2022. This work always kept him abreast of trends in new music. As part of his work at GS/AMP, he reconstructed and edited Kirchner's "Lily (for soprano and chamber ensemble)" for new performances. He also realized Previn's final, unfinished work, "Penelope" (soprano, narrator, chamber ensemble; text by Tom Stoppard), working closely with its performers, on time for its premieres.

From his earliest days in music school, he was sought out as a coach and teacher. He has lectured extensively to young people on the aesthetics and philosophies of 20th century music as well as music notation, and has worked closely to realize musical projects with artists as diverse as the composers Chou Wen-chung and Gabriela Lena Frank, pianist Steven Smith, and Rick Scott, of Cuneiform recording artists Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.

Fetherolf has recordings available on the Vienna Modern Masters and Albany Record labels; streaming on Spotify. His printed music is available through Subito Music Distributors (smd.subitomusic.com/)