Organist & Conductor

David holds the highest UK qualifications as an Organist - Fellow of the Royal College Organists - and as a prizewinning holder of the RCO’s Choral Training Diploma - FRCO(DipCHM). He gained the London University BMus(Hons) degree after study at the Royal Academy of Music with David Sanger and Arthur Wills.

David plays regularly at Christchurch Priory, assisting with the organ playing and direction of the Priory Choirs. Over the last few years he has performed Organ Recitals at Portsmouth Cathedral, Christchurch Priory and St Stephen’s Church, Bournemouth, as well as performing Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony with Westbourne Orchestra in 2017. In 2015, David performed Poulenc’s Organ Concerto in Winchester Cathedral with Bournemouth University Orchestra.

As a specialist in Church Music, he has very wide experience as an organist for Weddings & Funerals, but is also available for liturgical and concert and recital performance. Usually prepared to travel up-to 50 miles, David is also open to engagements further afield - please enquire.

David’s engagement as a Wedding Organist will includes phone or online discussion with the couple, to assist and advise on choice of hymns and organ music.

Music Educator

David has enjoyed a rewarding career in music education, mainly in the secondary sector. As Head of Music Department at Poole Grammar School for over twenty years, he has taught generations of students, many of whom have gone onto further education and careers in Music. In addition to his work in the classroom, David has led Poole Grammar School musicians in countless performances, both in school and further afield and in prestigious UK venues such as the Lighthouse Concert Hall, Poole, the Royal Albert Hall, London, the Symphony Hall and Town Hall, Birmingham, and the Millennium Dome, London.

Composer

Alongside his work at Poole Grammar School, David has maintained his active interest in composition. On Christmas Day 2014, his arrangement of “I saw three ships” was performed by Portsmouth Cathedral Choir on BBC Radio 4, and subsequently recorded by them on the CD “Verbum Caro Factum Est.” In 2017, David was commissioned to write “Hodie, Christus natus est” for the Christmas Festival of Carols at Derby Cathedral. David’s most recent orchestral piece is “One Giant Leap…” a large-scale piece written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by Apollo XI in July 1969. The music was commissioned by the Music Education Agency “SoundStorm” and first performed in a Festival at Upton House, Poole in July 2019.