David Clegg

Countertenor

David Clegg began his career in 1983 when he was awarded the title of “Choirboy of the Year”. Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford he completed his postgraduate studies on the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is also an alumni of the Britten-Pears School for Advance Musical Studies.

Since leaving Oxford he has run a busy concert schedule in both a solo and choral capacity, touring and recording with groups such as The Monteverdi Choir (he was a regular member of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage 2000), The Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen, The English Concert, The New London Consort, The Kings Consort, Polyphony, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Ex Cathedra. As a soloist he has appeared all over the United Kingdom and Europe with ensembles such as the City of London Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Parley of Instruments, Florilegium, the Belmont Ensemble, the BT Scottish Ensemble, London Baroque and he made his debut on Radio Three in a concert with the Academy of Ancient Music broadcast live from the Barbican centre. He made his American debut singing Purcell with the University of Harvard Chamber Choir and was invited to give masterclasses. He has since returned to the States several times including performances of the St John Passion at the Lincoln Centre in New York.

A committed recitalist, he was the winner of the Concordia English Song Prize awarded annually by the Association of English Singers and Speakers which led to him making his South Bank recital debut with a sold out concert at the Purcell Room. Following this the pianist Graham Johnson asked him to sing the Canticles in his recent Britten festival, the performances of which have been released on compact disc. An interest in contemporary scores has resulted in performances of much new music including a new song cycle for counter tenor and baroque ensemble by the Israeli composer Nimrod Borenstein, the incidental music for a new production of The Duchess of Malfi for the National Theatre of Scotland and incidental music by Geoffrey Burgon for the BBC TV series Silent Witness.

Much of his time is now spent on the opera stage and his roles include Ottone (L’Incoronatione di Poppea), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), and Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). He has sung Handel and Britten at the Royal Opera House, and showcased 21st century opera with Almeida Opera at Sadlers Wells. The only British singer selected for the X Academy Baroque d’Ambronay for their recent European tour production of Handel’s Athalia conducted by Paul McCreesh, he has also appeared singing Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Chatalet Teatre in Paris.

He currently studies with David Pollard and Michael Chance.