David Campbell is internationally recognised as one of Britain’s finest musicians and was described by the doyen of British clarinettists, the late Jack Brymer, as ‘the finest player of his generation’.
A large part of Campbell’s early career was spent as a clarinettist in the field of contemporary music as a member of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ chamber ensemble, ‘The Fires of London’ also playing regularly with the London Sinfonietta, Endymion Ensemble, and Lontano, but over the past twenty years David Campbell has developed the solo and chamber music strands of his career, performing in over forty countries with leading orchestras and ensembles.
His repertoire is wide-ranging but he still champions new works, many of which have been written for him. The most recent works are a clarinet quintet by Richard Blackford, a septet by the pre-eminent Welsh composer, John Metcalf and a trio for clarinet, cello and piano by David Earl. This summer he will perform a concerto by Kit Turnbull at Birmingham Town Hall and Cadogan Hall and Martin Ellerby’s concerto in Portugal.
As well as numerous broadcasts over the past thirty years, David has made many CDs, the most recent, ‘Reflections’, featuring concertos by Carl Davis, Gerald Finzi and Graham Fitkin, was released in April 2008 to great critical acclaim. It was included in the Classic FM ‘Hall of Fame’ top 300 over Easter 2009.
David Campbell particularly enjoys the genre of the Clarinet Quintet and has appeared as a guest artist with many fine string quartets including the Barbiroli, Bingham, Bridge, Brodsky, Copenhagen (Denmark), Coull, Danubius (Hungary), Delmé, Emperor, Endellion, Fine Arts (USA), Maggini, Medici, RTE Vanburgh, Sacconi, Solstice and Tippett. David’s performances of the Brahms and Weber Quintets with the Sacconi Quartet were televised in June 2008.
David Campbell is also passionate about music education. As well as giving masterclasses in many parts of the world, he holds positions as a Visiting Professor at Canterbury Christ Church University and Head of Woodwind at Westminster School. Since 2002 David has been Artistic Director of ‘Musicfest’, Aberystwyth’s International Festival and Summer School, and is Course Director of the International Clarinet Course at Harrogate. David is also the Woodwind Consultant at Wells Cathedral School, a regular coach of both the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain and the London Schools’ Symphony Orchestra. He examines regularly for the Royal College of Music and Goldsmiths’ College, University of London.
David Campbell is Chairman of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Great Britain and since 1998 has served as the UK Chair of the International Clarinet Association. He has represented the UK at the international clarinet conferences in London, Quebec, Lubbock, Ghent, Paris, Ostend, Arizona, Salt Lake City, Stockholm, Vancouver and Oporto.
