David C. Bugli has a Bachelor of Science Degree in music education from Ithaca College, New York, where he studied composition for four years with Karel Husa. He has a Master of Music Degree from the University of Massachusetts. He has participated in Conductors Workshops presented by the American Symphony Orchestra League in San Francisco and St. Louis. In addition to conducting, he plays classical and jazz piano, tuba, and trombone, and he composes and arranges music.

David Bugli conducts the Carson City Symphony and plays piano in and leads the Mile High Jazz Band. For the Carson City Symphony, he arranges music that features guest artists on the Symphony's annual Holiday Treat and Pops Party concerts. In the past he organized the annual Reno TubaChristmas event and led the annual Capitol Tree Lighting on the steps of the Nevada State Capitol in Carson City. The latter featured performances by the Holiday Brass Ensemble (generally about two dozen players) and a group of about two hundred elementary school singers. He plays tuba in Zephyrus Brass Quintet, the Carson Valley Pops Orchestra, and the Ruby Mountain Symphony in Elko (before it folded). He taught class piano at Western Nevada College in Carson City from the fall of 2011 through the spring of 2015. He is the recipient of the 2007 Nevada Governor's Arts Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts.

David Bugli is also Secretary (and past President) of the Foundation for Carson City Parks and Recreation and is Secretary of the Carson City Historical Society.