David Bednall

David Bednall is recognized as one of the leading choral composers of his generation. He studied for a PhD in Composition with Professor John Pickard at the University of Bristol and is a House Composer at Oxford University Press. He has an extensive freelance playing and conducting career and is Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral. He studied with Dr Naji Hakim and David Briggs and was Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral. He won prizes in Improvisation and Performance at the examination for FRCO and a CD of improvisations with Malcolm Archer received excellent reviews. He has improvised on live radio, and performed extensively in the UK and abroad, including a recital at Notre-Dame de Paris. He appeared as stunt-organist on Dr Who. His compositions are widely performed, broadcast on Radio 3, 4, and Classic FM, and recorded. His first CD, Hail, gladdening light, was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, his Requiem received similar accolades, and Flame Celestial, received a Gramophone Recommendation. Welcome All Wonders, was commissioned by The Queen’s College, Oxford, and their recording on Signum garnered superb international critical acclaim. The recording of Stabat Mater on Regent with Jennifer Pike (violin) and the Chapel Choir of Benenden School under Edward Whiting was an Editor’s Choice in the Awards Edition of Gramophone 2016. Recent projects have included a BBC Commission for James Gilchrist, Philip Dukes, and Anna Tilbrook which was premiered in Hull, City of Culture, in July 2017 a commission for the Presteigne Festival, and Make we Merry which was released in 2019.