David Gibson began his musical training as a chorister and Lay Clerk in Chichester Cathedral Choir. As an Organ Scholar, he later studied music at the universities of London and Sussex. He has worked extensively as a pianist and organist but has been a freelance conductor for the past eighteen years, working with many of the top orchestras in the country, including the Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, The Hanover Band and the New London Sinfonia, which he founded in 1987.
In 1991 he was appointed Assistant Director of Music and Chorus Master of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He then worked for them as Guest Conductor, performing all the major G & S works, together with Die Fledermaus and Orpheus in the Underworld, throughout the UK. In 1994 he was appointed Musical Director of European Chamber Opera and took up a similar post with Opera Holland Park in 1996. He has also conducted extensively for Travelling Opera with repertoire including Carmen, Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Magic Flute, Barber of Seville, La Bohème, Tosca, Madam Butterfly and Un Ballo in Maschera, performing in Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Italy, Barbados, and the USA. Other engagements have included a return visit to the Barbados Opera Festival, a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Philharmonia and a series of concerts with the London Mozart Players as part of their 50th Anniversary. This included a world premiere of Michael Nyman's Suite from Drowning by Numbers. David has also worked as Musical Director in the West End for Raymond Gubbay in the highly successful D’Oyly Carte production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Queen’s Theatre.
Recent successes include further concerts with the London Mozart Players, a Michael Nyman opera at the Bridewell Theatre in London and a memorable performance of Belshazzar’s Feast with the New Queens Hall Orchestra.
In 2002, he took up the post of Director of Music of the Surrey Festival Choir, founded by Vaughan Williams, a post he held for five years. He was appointed Musical Director of the British Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004, performing in many of the major venues throughout the UK. The same year saw the release of a debut CD with the Occam Singers. As part of the commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, David conducted the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Britten' War Requiem with the Southampton Philharmonic and choirs from Portsmouth and Croydon. David recently made debuts with the Hanover Band and the Chelmsford Sinfonietta and directed his first concert at Cadogan Hall in June 2010.
He is currently Musical Director of the Southampton Philharmonic Society, Basingstoke Choral Society, the Occam Singers and the Croydon Philharmonic Choir.
David Gibson notches up twenty years as the Choir's Musical Director, October 2010
