David Curington - Biography

Photo © Mark Lewis Photography Back to home page © David Curington, 2011	David studied composition at masters’ level at the RNCM with Gary Carpenter whilst taking oboe lessons from Melinda Maxwell, graduating with the Soroptomist International Award for composers, and the Evelyn Rothwell Prize for oboists. He has recently been accepted onto the LPO Leverhulme Young Composers Scheme, which, after workshops led by Julian Anderson, will result in a performance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and is a recipient of the 2011 RPS Composition Prize, which, after workshops led by Unsuk Chin, will result in a commission for players of the Philharmonia in the Music of Today series. David was recently selected as a bursary student, supported by the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, to study at the 2011 Dartington Summer School with oboist Nicholas Daniel. During his time at the RNCM, David appeared as both composer and oboist in two RNCM Chamber Music Festivals and together with the Eblana String Trio, with whom he works regularly, was named the 2010 RNCM Ensemble of the Year. The latter resulted in a recital including a performance of the Carter Oboe Quartet and a premiere of his Oboe Quartet, described as “a suave reading” and “impressively unified” respectively by The Times. Amongst performances in various RNCM composer festivals, including two at the Wigmore Hall, David performed Ferneyhough’s Coloratura to the composer with pianist Richard Casey in the RNCM Ferneyhough Day and his ‘cello duo Two Journeys and Two Comparisons was performed to great acclaim at the 2010 PLG Young Composers’ Symposium by Tom Bayman and David McCann. David was selected as a composer for the 2011 RNCM Gold Medal Weekend, resulting in a collaboration with euphonium player Lewis Musson. Before his time in Manchester, David read mathematics at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a first class and a Distinction in Part III of the tripos, together with the Ryan Prize for Pure Mathematics and the Sir Rudolph Peters Prize for music. During his time in Cambridge, he was a member of the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra, two years spent as principal oboist, and had his work performed by CUMS 1 under Peter Stark and by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College under Geoffrey Webber, with whom he has appeared on a CD of medieval and contemporary choral pieces in Diana Burrell’s Creator of the Stars of Night for choir, cor anglais and organ pedals. He was for three years a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, finishing as subprincipal oboist, and worked with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Marin Alsop, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Tadaaki Otaka.
*"A dedicated and intelligent composer of considerable insight and technique."* Gary Carpenter, composer

David studied composition at masters’ level at the RNCM with Gary Carpenter whilst taking oboe lessons from Melinda Maxwell, graduating with the Soroptomist International Award for composers, and the Evelyn Rothwell Prize for oboists. He has recently been accepted onto the LPO Leverhulme Young Composers Scheme, which, after workshops led by Julian Anderson, will result in a performance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and is a recipient of the 2011 RPS Composition Prize, which, after workshops led by Unsuk Chin, will result in a commission for players of the Philharmonia in the Music of Today series. David was recently selected as a bursary student, supported by the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, to study at the 2011 Dartington Summer School with oboist Nicholas Daniel.

During his time at the RNCM, David appeared as both composer and oboist in two RNCM Chamber Music Festivals and together with the Eblana String Trio, with whom he works regularly, was named the 2010 RNCM Ensemble of the Year. The latter resulted in a recital including a performance of the Carter Oboe Quartet and a premiere of his Oboe Quartet, described as “a suave reading” and “impressively unified” respectively by The Times. Amongst performances in various RNCM composer festivals, including two at the Wigmore Hall, David performed Ferneyhough’s Coloratura to the composer with pianist Richard Casey in the RNCM Ferneyhough Day and his ‘cello duo Two Journeys and Two Comparisons was performed to great acclaim at the 2010 PLG Young Composers’ Symposium by Tom Bayman and David McCann. David was selected as a composer for the 2011 RNCM Gold Medal Weekend, resulting in a collaboration with euphonium player Lewis Musson.

Before his time in Manchester, David read mathematics at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a first class and a Distinction in Part III of the tripos, together with the Ryan Prize for Pure Mathematics and the Sir Rudolph Peters Prize for music. During his time in Cambridge, he was a member of the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra, two years spent as principal oboist, and had his work performed by CUMS 1 under Peter Stark and by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College under Geoffrey Webber, with whom he has appeared on a CD of medieval and contemporary choral pieces in Diana Burrell’s Creator of the Stars of Night for choir, cor anglais and organ pedals. He was for three years a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, finishing as subprincipal oboist, and worked with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Marin Alsop, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Tadaaki Otaka.