David’s compositional quest began at the age of 7 with a series of short Bagatelles for solo piano. Soon after these first works were completed, the tutelage of Trevor Pierce was to guide and encourage a formidable body of work consisting of over a hundred solo violin caprices after Paganini (One of which was awarded a ‘highly commended’ in the 1996 ‘Sydney Morning Herald Young Composer Awards’), several sets of short piano pieces, a number of pieces for various chamber ensembles, movements for a Piano Concerto, Violin and Viola Concerto and two Violin Concertos to name but a few.

 

The proliferation of David’s enthusiasm for the art form was to take a more focused approach at the age of 12 when he was placed under the mentorship of Richard Gill. For the following 3 years, David’s compositional output consisted mainly of compositional exercises based on harmony (Riemenschneider) and counterpoint (Fux), which laid the basis for a number of works in the style of the past masters, most notably J.S.Bach. It is during this time that David entered Newington College as a music scholar where he was awarded the annual prize for composition for 5 consecutive years. After transferring to the Royal College of Music (London) from the Sydney Conservatorium in 2004, David drew upon the direction of such composers as Jonathan Cole (Professor RCM), William Mival (Head of Composition, RCM), Edwin Roxburgh, Robin Holloway and Mark-Anthony Turnage to aid the development of his own musical language. In addition to his activities at the RCM, David was invited to study with Rolf Martinsson as a guest of the Malmö Academy of Music (Sweden) for a short period in 2006.

 

David has had works played by a number of esteemed soloists, and groups including the Australian Youth Camerata, RCM Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Sinfonia and the London Contemporary Consort. Recent compositions have included: Impromptu Sessions for piano solo (written for Alexander Gavrylyuk) 2007, Introduction and Rondo for small orchestra (commissioned for the SSO Sinfonia as part of the Discovery Concert series at the Sydney City Recital Hall, Angel Place) 2009, Phantasmagoria for solo violin (commissioned for Sarah Curro as part of VOLUME 3 series at BMW Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne) 2009, The Legend of Nintendo for String Quartet (commissioned by Ensemble Urbane) 2012 and Tasting Notes commissioned for the Tarrawarra Estate (Yarra Valley), 2014.